TEMPE, Ariz. -- If you had managed to rescue a copy of Arizona State's defensive checklist from Thursday's dumpster fire at Sun Devil Stadium, there would have been a whole lot of unchecked boxes.
-- Don't give up big plays. Doh!
-- Force turnovers. Nope.
-- Tackle well and in numbers. Oops.
-- Pressure the quarterback. Um.
After three practice tests against Weber State, New Mexico and Colorado, a defense that lost nine starters from 2013 took its first real exam against the No. 11 Bruins before a national audience on Fox Sports 1.
It failed. Miserably.
UCLA racked up 580 total yards of offense, the Bruins managed eight plays of 20 or more yards and QB Brett Hundley (did you really think he wouldn't play?) accounted for 427 of his team's yards -- 355 passing and 72 rushing -- in a 62-27 win.
Most points allowed by ASU at Sun Devil Stadium
| Sept. 25, 2014 | UCLA 62, ASU 27 |
| Nov. 12, 1994 | UCLA 59, ASU 23 |
| Oct. 28, 2000 | Oregon 56, ASU 55 (2OT) |
| Nov. 9, 2002 | California 55, ASU 38 |
| Nov. 1, 2008 | Oregon 54, ASU 20 |
The 62 points were the most any opponent has scored at Sun Devil Stadium.
"I thought our D-line struggled getting lined up. I didn't understand why they were so winded. We only played 58 plays, with 105 plays on offense," an exasperated ASU coach Todd Graham said. "That's almost 50 more plays than UCLA got tonight. Geesh! It's catastrophic. We had plays that showed terrible inexperience and terrible preparation."
ASU quarterback Mike Bercovici's pick-6 just before halftime clearly was the swing play of the game, but the defense's demise began with ASU leading 17-6 and looking all the world like it just might pull off the upset.
On third-and-2 from his own 20-yard line, Hundley threw a hitch route to receiver Eldridge Massington and Sun Devils defenders Demetrius Cherry and Damarious Randall converged on him. They knocked each other off the tackle, linebacker Salamo Fiso missed another tackle and Massington went 80 yards for the touchdown that began a string of 28 straight UCLA points.
"The tackling was atrocious," Graham said. "That's coaching, that's technique and that's something that we've got to get better at."
The to-do list is long. UCLA entered the game as one of the worst team's in the nation at protecting its quarterback, having allowed 12 sacks in three games. ASU got Hundley once, early in the first quarter.
UCLA entered the game averaging 447 yards of offense this season. The Bruins had 432 by the end of three quarters Thursday.
And in a game in which its offense turned the ball over four times and its special teams had their own special moments, ASU's defense did not force a single turnover.
"I'm really confident in our defense. Sometimes, things just don't go your way," safety Jordan Simone said. "The way you react to adversity is ultimately how the team is going to be, not just in this game but in the future.
"When things start to go bad, we have to pick it up."
The inexperienced Devils defense will have to do that in a hurry or this could be the start of a catastrophic run. The next six games are at USC, home against Stanford, at Washington, home against Utah, home against Notre Dame and at Oregon State.
"It doesn't matter if you're inexperienced or not. There's no excuses. They've got to get ready to play. Our program's about winning championships, period," Graham said. "How did we answer the call tonight? Not very well. We've got to get better."
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