Arizona State Coach Todd Graham sure about UCLA quarterback’s status

UCLA Coach Jim Mora was adamant when asked if there was any advantage to keeping Arizona State Coach Todd Graham guessing about whether Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley would play.

“No one is trying to pull the wool over on Todd Graham because you’re not going to pull anything over on Todd Graham,” Mora said.

Still, Hundley’s status remains a guessing game leading up to Thursday night’s game between the No. 11 Bruins and No. 15 Sun Devils at Tempe, Ariz. Mora said that it is up to the medical staff to clear the junior quarterback, who injured his left elbow against Texas on Sept. 13.

Graham, as Mora predicted, is not buying it.

“He’s going to play,” Graham said during the Pac-12’s weekly conference call. “There is no doubt in my mind that he’s going to play. We watched [the UCLA game tape]. We looked at [the play where Hundley was hurt]. We fully expect him to play.”

So coy -- if that’s the UCLA game plan -- is not going to cut it.

Back to Mora, who was sure the Sun Devils “are preparing for UCLA, schemes and plays and tendencies. I’m sure they are assuming that Brett is going to play. That’s what I’d be doing.”

Right again.

“You always prepare for the best one,” said Graham, whose own starting quarterback, Taylor Kelly, has already been declared out of the game because of a foot injury. “If Brett Hundley didn’t play, it would be totally shocking to me.”

And if he didn’t?

“That makes it easier for us,” Graham said. “You know what I’m saying? Not to take anything away from the backup quarterback, but Brett has some skills that are really, really special.

“What he does is add so much to it when the plays don’t work with his ability to extend plays, pull the ball down, throw the ball 70 yards down the field, throw across the field on his back foot. If he doesn’t play, that makes things better for us.”

A little something for UCLA backup quarterback Jerry Neuheisel to ponder.