ASU Football: UW Rewind
By Mike Slifer
ASU’s victory Saturday over the Washington Huskies was a hard-fought and well-earned victory. There were several subplots in this game: the return of Taylor Kelly at quarterback, the wind, the rain, the defense, and the crowd (noise and thrown water bottles). It all combined for an ugly game, but a thrilling victory for ASU.
First, the wind. Depending on who you listen to, the wind gusted throughout the game at about 60 MPH. That’s ridiculous. That makes passing and kicking nearly impossible. Because of that, both teams were essentially forced to run the ball quite a bit. This made it tough-sledding for both offenses. The defenses for both teams were able to stack the box and bring pressure. As for kicking, the ASU kickers and punters won the battle in dealing with the wind. The Washington kicking game took a beating trying to figure out the wind situation, shanking 4 punts and missing a field goal. ASU punter Matt Haack was brilliant with his punts and place kicker Zane Gonzalez seemed unfazed kicking field goals and PAT’s.
The return of Taylor Kelly was fairly undramatic overall. Kelly did look a little rusty with the first offense. He didn’t necessarily play poorly. He just didn’t look like Taylor Kelly in mid-season form. Kelly managed the game as well as you would expect with the weather conditions. He did throw two touchdown passes and completed several more despite the wind. His only real mistake was a pick-six interception on an out route in the third quarter.
The offense as a whole had trouble scoring in the red zone. They had first and goal on the one yard after recovering a fumble. They didn’t get in. There were two other trips inside the ten yard line where ASU had to settle for field goals. One of them resulted in a bad snap where they didn’t get the kick off. That’s three trips to the red zone that resulted in 3 points.
The only real knock on the ASU defense was the 85 yard drive they allowed at the beginning of the 4th quarter. The Washington offense gashed the ASU defense running the ball. The defense looked quite fatigued during that entire drive. To their credit, they stiffened inside the five and only gave up a field goal. The ASU defense has allowed 13 points in the last two games. That’s getting it done.
During the week, as ASU prepares for a huge showdown with Utah, keep an eye on the quarterback situation and the left guard position as Christian Westerman is doubtful for Saturday’s game.