BRUISIN’ BRUINS
With the 62-27 victory, UCLA extends its series lead over Arizona State to 19-11-1. The two teams have now split the last eight games at four wins apiece. For the second consecutive season, both teams entered the contest ranked in the AP Poll, which hadn’t happened previously since Oct. 4, 1986 when ASU was ranked No. 16 and UCLA No. 15.
THE FORCE GETS STRONGER
ASU wideout Jaelen Strong finished the game with 12 receptions for 146 yards. It’s the ninth time Strong eclipsed 100 yards receiving as a Sun Devil, and he trails only Derek Hagan (18) and Shaun McDonald (12) for the most 100-yard receiving games in program history. Strong’s 12 catches ties a career high set on Sept. 21, 2013 against Stanford. It also marks the second time this season Strong finished with 146 yards receiving, just shy of his 168-yard career-high.
400 CLUB
In his first career start, ASU quarterback Mike Bercovici tossed for 488 yards. The last time an Arizona State quarterback threw for over 400 yards came when Brock Osweiler finished with 487 passing yards against Arizona on Nov. 19, 2011. Bercovici also became the first Sun Devil quarterback since Rudy Carpenter in 2005 to throw for upwards of 400 yards in his first-career start.
CHUCKING THE ROCK INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
Mike Bercovici threw 68 passes on the night, completing 42 of them. Both of these are school records. In doing so, he surpassed Paul Justin’s mark of 63 passing attempts set versus Houston in 1990, as well as Jeff Van Raaphorst’s record of 38 completions, which he did twice.
ATOP THE NATION
Damarious Randall secured 10 solo tackles against the Bruins, and now leads all FBS players in solo tackles on the season with 36. He surpassed Joseph Peterson of Georgia State (31) for the top spot after entering the matchup tied for sixth in the nation.
IN-ZANE IN THE MEMBRANE
Zane Gonzalez kicked a 49-yard field goal for the game’s first score to put ASU up 3-0. The field goal was his longest make as a Sun Devil, as his previous career long stood at 43 yards.
CAM'S CAREER NIGHT
Cameron Smith finished the game with eight receptions for 95 yards, both career-highs. He also added a touchdown. To put it into perspective, Smith had only eight receptions in the entirety of 2013 for a total of 129 yards and no touchdowns. This season, prior to UCLA, Smith had roped in seven receptions for 103 yards and a score.
STRIKE FIRST
Thanks to a Zane Gonzalez 49-yard field goal to open the scoring, ASU has now scored first in 25 of the 31 games with Todd Graham at the helm. The Sun Devils are 19-5 in such contests when scoring first.
STRIKE FAST...OR SLOW
Arizona State entered its contest with UCLA with only one of its 22 scoring drives longer than three minutes (3:07). However, Thursday night, with Mike Bercovici captaining the offense, proved to be much different. Three of ASU’s five scoring drives exceeded three minutes, as the Sun Devils constructed scoring drives of nine plays in 3:10, 11 plays in 4:17, and 14 plays in 5:17, all of which chewed up more clock than the previous high entering the game.
START STRONG
Arizona State outscored UCLA 10-6 in the first quarter Thursday night. The Devils have now outscored opponents 63-13 in the first quarter this season and 341-152 under head coach Todd Graham.
EXPLOSIVE DEVILS
Head coach Todd Graham classifies an explosive play as a reception of 16+ yards and a rush of 12+ yards. The Sun Devils finished with 15 of such plays against UCLA, 11 coming through the air and four coming through the ground game. D.J. Foster led the team with four explosive plays, with receptions of 20, 17, and 16 yards, and a rush of 13 yards.
SUN DEVIL FIRSTS
ASU’s Edmond Boateng sacked UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley in the first quarter for a loss of five yards. The sack was the first of Boateng’s collegiate career and came on 3rd and 6 with the Bruins threatening in the red zone. Another first came for Kody Kohl, who caught his first-career touchdown pass with 3:34 to play in the first quarter. The 5-yard reception put ASU on top early, 10-3.
BERCO WATCH
Mike Bercovici’s 29-yard pass down the seam found Cameron Smith in the end zone and resulted in the longest touchdown pass of Bercovici’s career.
BREAKING BLACK
A total of 12,996 students were in attendance Thursday night, the most students to ever attend an ASU game. This mark beat the previous record of 10,341 set Nov. 19, 2011 against Arizona, also a blackout game.