Sun Devils’ defense does it all

Early this season, the Arizona State football team lamented its inability to force turnovers. When the calendar turned to November, however, the Sun Devil defense not only started taking the ball away, but putting points on the board while doing it.

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On Friday, the concept was taken to ridiculous extremes, as defense was offense in a 34-9 victory against UCLA at Sun Devil Stadium. The ASU defense had a belated Thanksgiving feast, scoring three touchdowns on interception returns and one on a fumble recovery.

“In however many years I’ve been coaching, I’ve never seen a defensive effort like that,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “I’ve never seen that many points scored on defense in my life. It’s pretty special.”

Data immediately available indicated that Friday’s game was just the second time in major-college football history that a school has scored four defensive touchdowns in a game. Houston had four TDs, all on interceptions, against Texas on Nov. 7, 1987.

With the victory, the Sun Devils (5-6 overall, 4-4 Pac-10) kept their bowl hopes alive while eliminating UCLA (4-7, 3-5) from postseason consideration. ASU needs to defeat Arizona on Dec. 6 to earn a bowl trip for the fifth straight season.

“We have a shot at a bowl,” linebacker Mike Nixon said. “After the start to the season we had, that’s about all you can ask for.”

Conditions were ripe for a big performance by the Sun Devil defense.

UCLA, whose offense entered play Friday ranked 108th in the nation, had a leaky offensive line and a quarterback, Kevin Craft, who led the Pac-10 with 16 interceptions.

Craft added to that total with three picks on Saturday, and all were brought back for scores:

• A 38-yard return by linebacker Travis Goethel in the second quarter.

• A 100-yard return by safety Troy Nolan — tying a school record held by two others — in the fourth quarter.

• A 45-yard return by Nixon just 46 seconds after Nolan’s score.

The Sun Devils’ first touchdown came on the most bizarre play of the game.

Early in the second quarter, Craft fumbled after being pressured by defensive end Dexter Davis. The ball was picked up by Bruins running back Derrick Coleman, who — along with just about everyone else on the field — assumed that it was an incomplete pass.

However, no whistle had been blown, and Nixon did not even pursue the ball after batting it out of Coleman’s grasp. Defensive lineman Paul Unga — one of 15 seniors who played their final game at Sun Devil Stadium — did, and he returned it 17 yards to the end zone.

“I have never been a part of that kind of performance,” Unga said. “Somehow, we found a way to do it. …

“I don’t know which two players were standing next to the ball. I picked it up and started walking, and (rush end) Luis (Vasquez) said to go, and I ran with it. The play was reviewed, and it was upheld, which made me happy.”

The defense came to the rescue of the ASU offense, which mustered just 122 total yards, 21 of them rushing.

In the first quarter, Rudy Carpenter threw a pass for his 778th career completion, breaking the school record set by Andrew Walter.

And that was about as good as it got for the offense.

ASU had two field goals, both set up by special teams: a 64-yard punt return by Kyle Williams in the third quarter and a bad UCLA punt that set up good field position in the fourth.

Carpenter was 13-of-26 passing for 101 yards and an interception. The pick occurred when he badly underthrew a wide-open Nate Kimbrough on a deep pass, enabling safety Michael Norris to catch up to the ball.

“We haven’t played well all year on offense,” Carpenter said. “Our defense played great, and that’s the reason we won.”

Emmanuel Franklin (against San Diego State in 2001) and R.J. Oliver (against Northern Arizona in 2003) are the other ASU players with a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Nolan’s touchdown was his fourth on an interception return in his two-year Sun Devil career.

ASU 34, UCLA 9
Did you see that? This entry belongs to defensive tackle Paul Unga, who made his Senior Night memorable by being about the only player on the field to realize that UCLA fumbled in the second quarter. With those around him assuming an incomplete pass and that the play had been blown dead, Unga picked up the ball and ran 17 yards to a touchdown.

Thumbs up: Kyle Williams’ 64-yard punt return in the third quarter was ASU’s longest since Terry Richardson brought one back 84 yards against Southern California in 2005.

Thumbs down: The ASU offense was 2-for-13 in third-down situations.

Injury report: Defensive tackle Jonathan English tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and will undergo season-ending surgery.

Quotable: “All I know is we won the football game. Hopefully, we can find a way to be productive on offense against the University of Arizona (next week). There were a lot of remarkable plays. I’ll save the tape in my archive — the defensive side of it, anyway.” — ASU coach Dennis Erickson.

UP NEXT: ARIZONA STATE AT ARIZONA
When: 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6

Where: Arizona Stadium, Tucson

Records: ASU 5-6 overall, 4-4 Pac-10; Arizona 6-5, 4-4

Arizona this week: The Wildcats were idle.

Outlook: The Sun Devils’ postseason fate is on the line against the Wildcats, who have lost the last three games in the series.
Think quarterback Rudy Carpenter’s quote from 2007 — “I love keeping UA out of a bowl. I love doing it every year.” — will get some play next week in Tucson?