ASU Football: Washington State Rewind
By Mike Slifer
Many ASU Football fans will look at the final score of Saturday’s game with Washington State and be satisfied. Certainly, a 52-31 victory is something to feel good about.
But not all ASU fans are thrilled about how this game started. In case anybody forgot, the first 22 minutes of football played by the Sun Devils was pretty ugly. The offense was anemic. It may have been the worst the ASU offense has ever looked in the last three years. Surely, not having WR Jaelon Strong in the lineup (concussion) was a factor. However, missing one receiver should not lead this unit to go three and out on six of their first seven possessions and accrue -24 total yards.
The entire offense looked disinterested, confused and outmatched. Washington State was able to get pressure on QB Taylor Kelly with only four men rushing. When Kelly had time, he was missing his receivers. The Sun Devils also could not run the ball. The offense was so bad that for the first time in years, they were actually booed by their own crowd.
Early on, the ASU defense looked out of sorts, as well. In the first quarter and a half, Washington State had their way with the ASU defense. It appeared that Cougar QB Luke Falk had all day to sit in the pocket and throw the ball. There was no pass rush to speak of. The blitz packages were ineffective. The secondary struggled to stay on their assigned receivers. The result was that Falk sliced up the ASU defense and jumped out to a 21-7 lead.
However, it was the ASU defense that eventually came to the rescue. It started with a Marcus Hardison interception. The ASU offense was given a short field and took advantage, scoring easily. Then came a fumble recovery and return by Villami Latu that gave the offense the ball on the Washington State 18 yard line. The offense again cashed in and scored quickly. An interception by Kewishi Brown was followed by a Taylor Kelly bomb for a touchdown to Cameron Smith. Suddenly, right before halftime, it’s 21-21.
The takeaways by the defense provided the shift in momentum that ASU was desperately seeking. That momentum shift gave confidence to the offense. Taylor Kelly got in a good rhythm, made some good throws and finally had the Cougars on their heels. The onslaught continued in the second half as more takeaways from the defense led to more points from the ASU offense. (35 points off turnovers for ASU) The defense finally started getting pressure on Falk and created turnovers. In fact, except for a meaningless TD against the backups in the final 40 seconds, the ASU defense pitched a shutout in the second half.
The concern for this team as it prepares for Arizona on Friday is the slow start. Both the offense and the defense came out sluggish. Whether it was the 11:00 start, the relatively quiet crowd, the senior day distractions, etc, the Sun Devils didn’t look ready to play at kickoff. That can’t happen in Tucson this weekend. The Wildcats are legitimate this year, and they will bury ASU if they come out quiet to start the game.
Devils in Detail will discuss the upcoming Territorial Cup game throughout the week, as well as discuss the implications of Friday afternoon’s game.