TEMPE, Ariz. — UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley passed for 355 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another score as the 11th-ranked Bruins overwhelmed 15th-ranked Arizona State 62-27 in a Pac-12 game at Sun Devil Stadium on Thursday.
Hundley, showing no ill effects from the left elbow injury that knocked him out in the first quarter of a victory over Texas on Sept. 13, threw 80-yard touchdown passes to wide receivers Eldridge Massington and Jordan Payton during a 42-3 run in the second and third quarters that turned a 17-6 UCLA deficit into a 48-20 lead.
Bruins cornerback Ishmael Adams scored on a 95-yard interception return with two seconds left in the first half and on a 100-yard kickoff return with 9:08 remaining in the third quarter for a 41-20 lead.
Bruins halfback Nate Starks scored on a 1-yard run two plays after Arizona State quarterback Mike Bercovici fumbled, making it 48-20 with 8:27 left in the third quarter.
UCLA (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) scored five touchdowns in an eight-minute, 46-span beginning with Hundley’s scoring pass to tight end Nate Iese with 2:13 left in the first half.
UCLA QB Brett Hundley (17) ran over and around the Arizona State defense all night long. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)
Bercovici, a junior making his first career start, threw for 488 yards with three touchdown passes and two interceptions. He finished 42-for-68, setting school records for attempts and completions while replacing senior Taylor Kelly, who sustained a foot injury in a 38-24 victory over Colorado on Sept. 13 and is expected to miss at least one more game.
Hundley completed 18 of 23 passes, tied a career high with the four TD passes and also rushed for 72 yards on eight attempts.
Arizona State (3-1, 1-1) produced 622 yards of total offense and committed four turnovers, three by Bercovici. UCLA had 580 total yards and no turnovers.
Sun Devils junior halfback D.J. Foster, who was fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision with an average of 170 rushing yards per game, was held to 30 yards on nine carries. He caught five passes for 68 yards.
UCLA halfback Paul Perkins ran 14 times for 137 yards, including an 81-yard run in the fourth quarter.
The teams traded field goals early in the first quarter before Bercovici threw a 5-yard scoring pass to tight end Kody Kohl, his first career touchdown, for a 10-3 lead.
Bercovici’s 29-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Cam Smith made it 17-6 two plays into the second quarter, before UCLA scored three consecutive touchdowns in the final 13 minutes of the half for a 27-17 lead.
Hundley threw an 80-yard scoring pass to Massington with 13 minutes left the in half, then hit Iese for a 3-yard score with 2:13 remaining to give UCLA its first lead, 20-17.
Adams intercepted an underthrown Bercovici pass at his 5-yard line and returned it for a touchdown with two seconds left in the half for a 27-17 lead. Adams took both of his interceptions back for touchdowns this season.
NOTES: The winner of the last two Arizona State-UCLA games won the Pac-12 South Division. The Sun Devils won 38-33 in Los Angeles last year, and the Bruins won 45-43 in Tempe in 2012. … During early warmups two hours before the game, someone from UCLA scuffed away some of the paint in the maroon and gold pitchfork at midfield to spell “UCLA.” Arizona State repainted the pitchfork and stationed a security guard at midfield to prevent further hijinks. … Sun Devils QB Taylor Kelly began the night on pace to set the school record for total offense per game (270.8 yards). … Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott attended the game. … Two former Arizona State and current NFL players, quarterback Brock Osweiler (Denver Broncos) and halfback Marion Grice (Arizona Cardinals), were in attendance.
