Pasadena, Calif. — As the ASU football team’s offense orchestrated one final fourth quarter drive, it was Alex Garoutte who stood on the sidelines kicking ball after ball into the practice net.
The redshirt freshman kicker knew his chance was coming.
The Sun Devils (6-3, 4-2 Pac-12) marched to the UCLA 29-yard line with four seconds left in the game. Like he’s envisioned hundreds of times in his career, Garoutte trotted onto the field in hopes of sealing the game for his team.
But this kick fell far short of the uprights as the Rose Bowl erupted in celebration. It was a disheartening ending to a mistake-ridden 29-28 loss.
ASU fell victim to a variety of missed opportunities throughout the contest, but the kicking game is what will be remembered.
Saturday’s loss was an especially difficult one for Garoutte, who missed all three of his field goal attempts from 48, 36 and 46 yards.
“It’s like any kicker, they have their days,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “The two ones that are 48, 46 those are hard kicks there’s no question about that. He just didn’t hit either of those two. The one that hurt us was the 36 when he pulled. That would have put us up by eight.”
Despite his struggles earlier in the game, the Sun Devils had the utmost confidence in their first-year kicker when he lined up for the final play.
“Alex has a big leg,” said junior quarterback Brock Osweiler. “We’ve seen him in practice make 55, 56, 57 yard field goals. So my goal is to get him around 50 yards at least. Like I said, guys stepped up, made plays, the offensive line protected, and we gave him a shot.”
Garoutte entered the game against the Bruins (5-4, 4-2) having made six consecutive field goal attempts. He nailed 38 and 46-yard kicks against Colorado last week after successfully connecting on 37 and 30-yard attempts in Oregon.
Yet his ability to split the uprights seemed to have disappeared in Pasadena.
With ASU trailing 16-14 after a Bruins’ touchdown in the second quarter, he lined up for a 48-yard field goal. It fell well short to help UCLA maintain its slim lead.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Sun Devils held a 28-23 margin over the Bruins. ASU had just scored a touchdown on an Osweiler rush before Bruin senior Josh Smith fumbled the ensuing kickoff return.
ASU recovered and Garoutte set up shop at the UCLA 20 only to sail the kick wide left for his second missed chance.
The third and final missed field goal then came as the clock expired and the Bruins celebrated their victory.
It was an all too familiar defeat for the Sun Devils who experienced disbelief in 2010 when they suffered a 34-33 loss to Southern California at the Coliseum. After a long ASU drive, then senior kicker Thomas Weber failed to make a 41-yard attempt and the Trojans held on for the win.
Heading into Saturday’s bout with the Bruins, Garoutte hadn’t missed a field goal since Oct. 1 against Oregon State. His lone attempt in that game was a 35-yard try that soared right of the goalpost.
With his three errant kicks on Saturday, Garoutte falls to 9 for 15 in field goal opportunities this season. He will undoubtedly be counted on to right the ship, as ASU must win out and UCLA lose one game for the Sun Devils to claim the Pac-12 South.
“He’s our kicker,” Erickson. “You just got to continue to work, continue to get better.”
Reach the reporter at greg.dillard@asu.edu
