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Published Nov 11, 2023
5 things to watch: Arizona State at UCLA
Tracy McDannald  •  BruinBlitz
Staff Writer
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@Tracy_McDannald

Game details

Who: Arizona State at UCLA

When: 6 p.m.

Where: Rose Bowl | Pasadena, Calif.

TV: Pac-12 Network

Last meeting: 50-36 UCLA (Nov. 5, 2022)

All-time series: UCLA leads 23-15-1

The music has stopped once again in UCLA's game of musical chairs at quarterback and this time it appears Ethan Garbers is the one left standing without anywhere to sit.

Garbers and freshman quarterback Dante Moore both exited early in last week's 27-10 loss at Arizona in the fourth quarter due to injuries. This week at practices, Moore, whose helmet hit the turf, quickly returned to action after observing Monday's session without a helmet.

Garbers also was held out of Monday's practice, but when the redshirt junior returned for the next two days he was visibly limited, with his right foot heavily wrapped and hampering his mobility.

The Bruins (6-3, 3-3 Pac-12), though, are the healthier team entering Saturday's showdown against Arizona State (2-7, 1-5).

The Sun Devils have had their own rotation of quarterbacks, with Trenton Bourguet, Drew Pyne and Jaden Rashada all earning at least one start this season. In addition, Jacob Conover had to handle of the majority of the snaps after Bourguet was knocked out of ASU's 55-3 loss at No. 18 Utah after just its third offensive play.

But there is plenty more attrition up and down the Sun Devils' roster. Here are five things to watch:

Wounded Sun Devils

ASU's depth chart this week tentatively lists Bourguet as the starter and Conover as the backup. Rashada and Pyne are both listed as injured.

Bourguet had plenty of success in last season's meeting, completing 38 of 49 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns with an interception.

It remains to be seen how much Bourguet, if he plays, and ASU's depleted roster will be able to do. According to Devils Digest, first-year head coach Kenny Dillingham had to "scale back practices" this week with injuries listed on the depth chart that include five others on offense and two on defense.

In all, though, 11 of the 14 players expected to miss the contest are starters. Among them is backup running back DeCarlos Brooks, who has run for 220 yards and three touchdowns this season. The list also includes five offensive linemen and a sixth is considered questionable, according to the Los Angeles Times.

As a result, the Sun Devils have relied heavily on running back Cam Skattebo. The Sacramento State transfer has run for 570 and seven touchdowns on 127 carries to go with 20 catches for 273 yards and a score.

Despite going up against a shorthanded team, Bruins head coach Chip Kelly said he expects "the whole gamut" from Dillingham, a former Oregon offensive coordinator whose decision to leave for Tempe allowed UCLA to swoop in and flip Moore's commitment last December.

"They’re going to give you a lot of exotic looks, they’re going to attack you in all sorts of different ways," Kelly said. "They run speed sweeps, they run unbalanced formations, they’re going to give you a lot of different things to make you kind of be off base a little bit in terms of where they are and what they do.

"Not sure who’s available at quarterback. We’ll prepare for all of them and we played against Bourguet last year. I think he’s a really talented player, gets the ball out of his hands very quickly and is really smart."

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