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Know Your Opponent: UCLA Football vs ASU Sun Devils

By Michael Chavez

Oct 1, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Manny Wilkins (5) throws the ball during the first half against the Southern California Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Manny Wilkins (5) throws the ball during the first half against the Southern California Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
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Last week the UCLA Football team knocked off an Arizona team that was reeling from injuries especially at the quarterback position. This week UCLA travels to Tempe, Arizona to square off with a Sun Devils team that has it’s own injury concerns at quarterback.

The 2015 match up of these two teams saw the UCLA Football team come into this game with an injury riddled defense and a young, although impressive, freshman QB in Josh Rosen. On the other side the Sun Devils were looking to bounce back after a blowout loss to the Trojans.

The Bruin defense was overmatched as it attempted to figure out just how to function without Myles Jack, Eddie Vanderdoes, and Fabian Moreau.

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Without those stalwarts on defense the ASU offense was able to move at will. Then Sun Devil QB Mike Bercovici dazzled with his arm and his legs and breaking off long runs including a scoring run of 34 yards. He wasn’t alone in his running success as both Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage were able to take advantage of an ineffective UCLA run defense to the combined tune of 138 yards and a score.

The Bruins rebounded last week from a tough loss to Stanford by taking care of business against Rich Rodriquez and the Wildcats. Although Colorado sits atop the PAC-12 South, there’s still plenty of season to be played and the Bruins will get their chance to face off with the Buffs later.

Just like last year the Sun Devils come into this game after a tough loss to the Trojans where they were simply shown up by new starting QB Sam Darnold. Will that loss help to spur them to consecutive victories over the Bruins or will they continue their losing slide?

2016 draws a lot of parallels to last season in that one team is woeful in one aspect of their defense and is dealing with numerous injuries. The catch is that this season that team is the ASU Sun Devils.