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Herring, Carpenter rally Arizona State past UCLA

Nov 11, 2007 - 4:18 AM PASADENA, California (Ticker) -- It took a half, but Kim Herring and Arizona State got their act together.

Herring rushed for 116 yards, including a 71-yard scoring burst midway through the third quarter, as No. 9 Arizona St rallied to beat UCLA, 24-20, in a Pac-10 Conference thriller Saturday.

Rudy Carpenter completed 16-of-31 for 200 yards and a touchdown for the Sun Devils (9-1, 6-1 Pac-10) who rebounded from their first loss against Oregon last Saturday.

"We made some plays," Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson said. "You don't win nine games without making plays. We always seem to find a way."

Arizona State, which earned its first win in the Rose Bowl in 11 years, had started the year with eight straight wins before being tripped up in Eugene, 35-23, by third-ranked Oregon last week.

"This win is huge for our team," Carpenter said. "We hadn't won here since 1996."

This time, after trailing 10-0 in the first quarter and 13-10 at halftime, the Sun Devils use two big drives in the third to hang on for the win.

In the third period, after Arizona State pinned UCLA deep in its own territory, the offense took over at the Bruins 47-yard line.

Carpenter drove the team five plays that resulted in an 11-yard TD rumble by Dimitri Nance to give the Sun Devils their first lead at 17-13 with just over five minutes into the second half.

On Arizona State's next offensive possession, it was Herring's turn to take over.

In a drive which started at the Sun Devils 9, Herring rushed for 14 yards on the first play of the possession. After Carpenter completed a six-yard pass to Chris McGaha, before the 186-pound Herring swept to his right before cutting back all the way to his left for a 71-yard burst to make it 24-13.

"The big run by Herring in the third quarter was a play we'd like to have back," UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. "Other than that, we played well defensively most of the time."

It was the junior running back's third TD run of over 70 yards this season.

Following the score, UCLA's Matt Slater returned the kickoff 89 yards to cut the Bruins' deficit to 24-20. It was the third TD kickoff return by Slater, who broke the single-season school mark he had held with Maurice Jones-Drew and Brandon Russell.

The Bruins got their hands on the ball five more times in the game, but the Sun Devils' defense stiffened each time. Free safety Josh Barrett helped seal the win by intercepting Osaar Rasshan in Arizona State's end zone with 4:02 remaining.

Rasshan, the fourth quarterback used by UCLA this season, went 14-of-27 for 181 yards for the Bruins (5-5, 4-3), who lost for the fourth time in five games.

"Osaar did a nice job with his first start, fighting through some circumstances and some rough moments," Dorrell said.