ASU Football: Rapid Reaction of Devils’ upset win vs. Washington

ASU football defeated their second ranked opponent of the season defeating No. 5 Washington with the Sun Devils’ defense shutting down the Huskies offense.

What a win for ASU football.

Arizona State extended their home winning to seven games versus after pulling off a 13-7 upset win over the fifth-ranked Huskies.

The defense played their best game of the season shutting down the highest scoring offense in the Pac-12.

Here are three takeaways from the game as Arizona State improved their record to 3-3 and 2-1 in Pac-12 play.

1. The defense came to play.

It was an outstanding effort from Phil Bennett’s defense as they pressured Washington quarterback Jake Browning all night.

The Sun Devils sacked Browning five times and Washington was 3-for-14 on third down.

The coverage was excellent downfield as well holding star wide receiver Dante Pettis to just seven catches for 56 yards as Washington never connected on deep passes.

Running back Myles Gaskin was ineffective all night rushing 14 times for 67 yards as the team finished with 91 yards rushing.

Many expected this to be a high-scoring game, but Arizona State’s defense wanted none of that.

2. The offense did just enough.

Quarterback Manny Wilkins didn’t put up great numbers, but he was a great game manager Saturday finishing

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Wilkins led the Sun Devils to a touchdown on the opening drive after converting three third downs and one fourth-down as Kalen Ballage scored a one-yard touchdown.

Arizona State’s touchdown scoring drive took 8:08 as the Sun Devils controlled the time of possession having the ball for nearly 10 more minutes than the Huskies.

The running game struggled again rushing for just yards, but with the way Wilkins was able to calmly move the ball downfield, it didn’t matter.

Wilkins was able to put put placekicker Brandon Ruiz in position to convert convert two field goals from 52 yards and 25 yards away with the two kicks proving to be the difference.

3. Washington’s miscues came back to bite them.

Tempe continues to haunt Washington as they haven’t won at Sun Devil Stadium since October 27, 2001.

The Huskies couldn’t move the ball in the first half as they combined for 42 total yards of offense and just one rushing yard.

Washington has a lot of special team woes placekicker Van Soderberg missed two chip-shot field goals from 27 yards and one that hit the post from 21 yards as well as having a punt blocked resulting in a field goal for ASU.

This was Washington’s hardest game to date having faced the likes of Rutgers, Montana, Fresno State, Colorado, Oregon State and California, and it showed.

It was just little too little, too late for the Huskies as they couldn’t overcome the slow start.

Next: ASU Football: How many winnable games remain?

Saturday’s defeat was a missed opportunity for the Huskies with Washington State losing Friday at Cal as the Huskies remain tied for first-place in the Pac-12 North.