Our sports section in tomorrow’s newspapers will feature this story on UCLA running back Paul Perkins, examining his skill set as well as why he seems to stay under the radar.

Here’s a photo gallery with shot from each of Perkins’ games since the start of the 2014 season.

I was on Pac-12 Networks yesterday evening to talk a bit about UCLA football with Mike Yam.

UCLA defensive coordinator Tom Bradley talked about what he saw the Bruins do wrong against Arizona last Saturday, from his own playcalling to what opponents may do now that the team’s struggles against the zone read have been revealed.

UCLA fullback Nate Iese (32) celebrates a touchdown with defensive tackle Eli Ankou during the Bruins’ 62-27 win at Arizona State on Sept. 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

No. 7 UCLA Bruins (4-0, 1-0) vs. Arizona State Sun Devils (2-2, 0-1)
Kickoff: Saturday, Oct. 3, 4:30 p.m., Rose Bowl
TV: FOX (Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, Molly McGrath)
Radio: AM 570 (Bill Roth, Matt Stevens, Wayne Cook)

Scouting report: Has there been a more disappointing team in the Pac-12 than Arizona State? Oregon has an argument after falling on its face against Utah, but the Ducks at least had some good stretches prior to Saturday. A Sun Devils team that Todd Graham billed as his best yet fell from No. 15 to unranked after one game and hasn’t recovered. … Against UCLA, Stanford and USC last year, quarterback Mike Bercovici completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,243 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions. That set up big expectations for his ascension to full-time starter, but against Texas A&M and the Trojans this year, he’s fallen to 55.3 percent for 471 yards, one touchdown and one interception. … ASU ranked top-10 nationally in turnover margin in both 2013 and 2014. So far in 2015, it is stuck down at No. 98, averaging -0.75 per game. The team has already lost seven fumbles after totaling just 10 over the last two seasons.

Series history: UCLA leads the all-time series, 19-11-1, but neither team has held an extended win streak over the other. The Bruins’ longest capped out at four wins (1976, 1979-81), although that did begin a stretch of nine wins in 11 meetings. The most consecutive games ASU has won is three (’95, ’96, ’99).

Key players:

QB Mike Bercovici, RSr., 6-2, 210 — 93/157, 1,071 yards, 7 TD, 2 INT
— His yards per attempt are down a full yard from his junior season to 6.8. That puts him second-to-last among Pac-12 starters, ahead of only Oregon State true freshman Seth Collins (6.1).

RB Demario Richard, So., 5-10, 220 — 70 carries, 429 yards, 4 TD
– The most consistent part of the ASU offense this season, Richard has run for three straight 100-yard games and leads the conference with 614 yards from scrimmage — one ahead of UCLA’s Paul Perkins.

WR D.J. Foster, Sr., 6-4, 213 — 22 catches, 189 yards, 1 TD, 21 carries, 111 yards
– He is only the fourth player in NCAA history to hit 2,000 rushing yards and 2,000 receiving yards in his career. For some reason, he’s gone from 19.7 touches per game to 10.8.

S Jordan Simone, RSr., 6-0, 190 — 37 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 1 sack, 2 INT
— The former walk-on turned himself into an all-conference honorable mention as a junior, and has assumed the role as the team’s leading tackler following Damarious Randall becoming a first-round draft pick.

LB Salamo Fiso, RJr., 6-0, 230 — 36 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 1 sack
– In his third season as a starter, he leads the Pac-12 in tackles for loss and ranks top 10 nationally

Line: UCLA opened as a 13.5-point favorite.

Opponent in GIF form:

via GIPHY

Fun fact:

UCLA coach Jim Mora talked about the Bruins’ upcoming matchup with Arizona State this Saturday, touching on quarterback Mike Bercovici’s development since last season and Todd Graham’s defensive style.

No. 7 UCLA is currently ranked three spots above Utah in the Associated Press poll, but one Pac-12 Networks analyst thinks the Utes may still currently have the better resume.

Glenn Parker, a former Arizona offensive lineman who went on to start 141 games in the NFL, said that Utah’s 62-20 win at Oregon will stick out when it comes time for the playoff selection committee to start making decisions. That blowout knocked the Ducks out of the top 25 for the first time after 98 straight weeks.

“Utah, they won a big game in Autzen, a place where no one goes and has a big game,” Parker said. “They did it, and they dismantled a good program. The folks that are watching for the playoffs, a lot of those people are back east. They’re Big Ten people. They watched Oregon go into Michigan State and play a very, very good team within one play of winning that game.

“I think it has more cachet nationally right now. Utah just, I think, appears better to the average person out there than UCLA does at this moment.”

UCLA linebacker Kenny Young didn’t take much solace in the final score of the Bruins’ 56-30 win at Arizona on Saturday, focusing instead on the 353 yards they gave up on the ground.

“That’s embarrassing,” the sophomore said. “Look at how many yards we gave up. That’s embarrassing for me. That’s embarrassing to put on TV. … We missed 21 tackles. Come on, man. We’re supposed to be one of the top defenses, and we missed 21 tackles.”

The Bruins’ 56-30 win at Arizona on Saturday night bumped them up two spots to No. 7 in the Associated Press poll — matching the ranking they took into the 2014 season. Don’t count on Mora caring much.

“I don’t think it matters to us what people think of us,” he said Saturday. “I think the external expectations, they’re for you guys to talk about.

“We talk about our own expectations. We have our own standard, and that’s what we try to play to — regardless of who we’re playing, where we’re playing, what the circumstances are, and what people outside are saying.”

See the full AP poll below:

1. Ohio State (45)
2. Michigan State (5)
3. Ole Miss (10)
4. TCU
5. Baylor
6. Notre Dame
7. UCLA
8. Georgia
9. LSU
10. Utah (1)
11. Florida State
12. Clemson
13. Alabama
14. Texas A&M
15. Oklahoma
16. Northwestern
17. USC
18. Stanford
19. Wisconsin
20. Oklahoma State
21. Mississippi State
22. Michigan
23. West Virginia
24. Cal
25. Florida

The Bruins’ kickoff against Arizona State is set for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff on FOX. This is the second time that UCLA has appeared on the network this season, and the third time that even cord-cutters can catch the game without access to cable or satellite.

The unranked Sun Devils are coming off a 42-14 loss to USC.

No. 9 UCLA won its 12th straight game away from the Rose Bowl on Saturday, thumping No. 16 Arizona in a 56-30 blowout. Here’s our coverage from the night, which produced mixed reactions depending on which side of the ball you asked about.

» Mark Whicker’s column on Josh Rosen and Paul Perkins, who teamed up to help power UCLA’s offense.
» The Bruins’ defense did enough to beat the Wildcats, but what Jim Mora saw at Arizona Stadium made him “sick to (his) stomach.”
» Field position helped UCLA put Arizona in a big, early hole.