Arizona State Football: 3 takeaways from disappointing loss at UCLA

Arizona State football went to UCLA looking to remain in the Pac-12 South race but the Sun Devils came away with a disappointing loss.

Although this game was essentially over at halftime with UCLA leading Arizona State 28-7, the Sun Devils fought back and made things interesting before falling 42-32.

Herm Edwards must get back to the drawing board now with his team dropping to 5-3 on the season and 2-3 in conference play. It looks like the Pac-12 South title is out of reach unless a miracle takes place. Still, the Sun Devils are ahead of schedule and look like one of the more impressive teams in the Pac-12.

What’d we learn from Arizona State’s loss to UCLA?

3. Defense finally struggled

Arizona State’s defense had been impressive all season long, even holding Utah to just 21 points a week ago when the offense didn’t show up to play. The Sun Devils have been using their defense as a point of pride, but that wasn’t the case against Chip Kelly’s Bruins.

It’s been rare to see this side of the ball struggle this season under Herm Edwards’ watch, but it couldn’t seem to stop Joshua Kelley who rushed for 164 yards and four touchdowns and Dorian Thompson-Robinson even had a solid game, accounting for 191 total yards and two more scores. The Sun Devils would normally shut these two guys down.

Every defense gets a pass here and there, but the Sun Devils’ poor showing on Saturday may have ultimately cost them an opportunity to play for a Pac-12 title this season.

For once, the defense was the weakness while the offense got hot near the end of the game.