ASU Football: Sun Devils look to continue dominance over UCLA

After having UCLA’s number the past two seasons, ASU football will look to keep it going as they head to L.A. with a chance to gain bowl eligibility.

The Sun Devils currently sit at 5-4 with a favorable stretch of the schedule remaining. This weekend they will be at the Rose Bowl for the first time since their 2015 win against the highly ranked Bruins and they will be looking to knock off UCLA for the third straight year.

The Bruins come into this game with questions marks surrounding the program. Josh Rosen, their star quarterback and a generational talent in some people’s eyes, is coming off of a game where he sat on the sidelines after being put into concussion protocol the previous week against Washington. While he is expected to play, his performance dictates how this team will compete.

Simply put, UCLA is not a good team. They are a team that has begun the past three seasons, this one included, with hype surrounding the team because of Rosen.

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Once the team steps onto the field it is clear to see that there is no one on their roster that is even close to Rosen’s skill level and they are slowly decimated by injuries. This is a team that Arizona State should have no problems with match-up wise, not to count that Todd Graham is 2-0 in Pasadena.

For ASU, this game will by no means be a cakewalk. Rosen, when healthy, is still a top talent and has the ability to complete deep throws with ease. The defense against the deep ball this season has been a struggle for the Sun Devils at times, but since the bye week the defense has shown no reason to doubt their ability to limit a team’s strength.

The question mark surrounding ASU is still their offense. The offense has vanished since the bye week and the points have been hard to come by.

A good final score against Colorado looks even better if the offense wouldn’t have taken the first half to warm up and actually look like they were ready to play. Against a UCLA defense that ranks sixth worst in the nation in points allowed, allowing an average of 38.8 points per game, this will be the defense for the Sun Devils to figure out their struggles against.

Prediction:

Arizona State 42, UCLA 27

In the end, Arizona State should come out with the victory. While there is the very real possibility that the Sun Devils walk into the Rose Bowl thinking they have already won the game, and instead losing the game because of that mentality, it is very unlikely that Rosen can earn his first win against Todd Graham.

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