Arizona State's keys to upsetting UCLA in Week 10 Pac-12 college football game

Arizona State will attempt to repeat history when it hosts the No. 10/11 UCLA Bruins on Saturday night at Sun Devil Stadium.

The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown on FS1.

A year ago when ASU played UCLA at the Rose Bowl, the Bruins were also ranked in both national polls. Arizona State won that game on Oct. 2, 2021, 42-23.

The Sun Devils (3-5, 2-3 Pac-12) aren't strangers to playing ranked teams. This will be ASU's fifth game against a ranked team this season after Oklahoma State, Utah, USC and Washington. It went 1-3 in those games.

The team has played particularly well at home against ranked teams, a 38-14 loss to Utah earlier this season aside. Going back a few years, the Sun Devils have home wins against No. 21 Washington (2022), No. 6 Oregon (2019), No. 15 Michigan State (2018), No. 15 Utah (2018), No. 24 Oregon (2017) and No. 5 Washington (2017).

In the 2018 and 2019 seasons, the Sun Devils played a home-and-home with Michigan State. The Spartans were ranked both times and ASU claimed a pair of victories.

In order to turn back the Bruins (7-1, 4-1) for the second time in as many seasons, there are a few things the Sun Devils need to do right.

For subscribers: Arizona State-UCLA football scouting report: Can Sun Devils upset another ranked team?

ASU's defense must be stingy ...

The Sun Devils have only allowed 10 plays of greater than 30 yards this season. The defense needs to maintain that impressive mark, but it won't be easy

UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson is 167-for-231 passing for 1,971 yards. Among those completions is a 70-yarder that went to wideout Logan Loya. He is one of three receivers to have a play go for more than 50 yards. Six Bruins have caught a pass of at least 30 yards, with the average passing play going for 11.9 yards.

ASU's task won't be much easier when the Bruins run the ball. Thompson-Robinson, who is as much a threat with his legs as he is with his arm, has a 68-yard carry to his credit. Zach Charbonnet and Kazmeri Allen also have rushes of at least 49 yards.

ASU has allowed just one play of greater than 50 yards this season.

Pac-12 insider: Arizona State football will upset UCLA, make college bowl game

... and ASU must force turnovers

The Sun Devils are going to need as many "extra" possessions as they can get. That means takeaways. Dating back to last season, the Arizona State defense has an interception in 10 straight games and 15 of the last 16.

Adding in fumble recoveries, the Sun Devils have forced a turnover at least once in each of the last 17 games. That mark is second in FBS to Georgia State (20).

The ASU defense needs to keep those streaks running and get the ball back into the hands of its offense.

ASU's offense must keep it moving

Interim head coach Shaun Aguano took over play-calling duties last week and it made a difference.

Aguano favors a faster pace of play — having the ball snapped roughly 5 seconds faster than was the average last season. The Sun Devils were credited with 20 up-tempo plays against Colorado, according to PFF. In all of last season, the Sun Devils had just 10 such plays.

The biggest difference could be seen on second down for ASU. Against Colorado, the play clock dipped under 10 seconds on only 22.7% of second-down snaps. Entering the game, ASU had let the play clock hit 10 seconds 44.5% of the time.

How did that matter? Well, the Sun Devils picked up an average 9.6 yards on second downs against Colorado after averaging just 5.9 yards per second down for the first seven games of the season.

Who wins?: UCLA vs. Arizona State picks, predictions, odds

Great Scott! ASU center an ironman

This isn't something ASU needs to do as much as something that should be appreciated.

Center Ben Scott has played on 495 of ASU's 498 offensive snaps this season. The three he missed came in the final seconds of the blowout of NAU.

Being on the field is nothing new for Scott. At right tackle last season, he started all 13 games and played 794 of 808 offensive snaps.

How to watch: UCLA vs. Arizona State schedule, television

Reach the reporter at emily.horos@azcentral.com or 602-444-2426. Follow her on Twitter @ejhoros. 

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State football: Keys to upsetting UCLA in Pac-12 game Saturday