Arizona State quarterback Taylor Kelly, who has thrown 63 TD passes and rushed for 12 more TDs since becoming the Sun Devils' starter for the 2012 season, will miss at least one game with a foot injury.
Kelly (6-foot-2, 210 pounds), a senior, suffered the injury in the Sun Devils' win over Colorado this past Saturday. He will miss Arizona State's Pac-12 South showdown with UCLA on Sept. 25.
Junior Mike Bercovici will replace Kelly against UCLA, but Sun Devils coach Todd Graham said he will not update Kelly's status until after that game.
The UCLA contest is the start of a huge four-game stretch for the Sun Devils, who face off against, in order, USC, Stanford and Washington after they play the Bruins. Thus, an extended absence by Kelly could mean the Sun Devils will fall too far behind in the Pac-12 South race.
Kelly has thrown for 625 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for two scores this season. Bercovici has attempted 24 passes in his career. While Kelly's production on a game-by-game basis is a given, that's obviously not the case for Bercovici.
Arizona State does have other weapons, though. Running back D.J. Foster leads the nation in yards from scrimmage with 649 and has scored six touchdowns. He has rushed for 510 yards and also has 11 receptions. Wide receiver Jaelen Strong is one of the best at his position on the West Coast, and he's averaging 88.7 receiving yards per game.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.