After facing numerous deficits this season, ASU football once again overcame early struggles defeating Colorado 41-30 for its fifth win of the season.
In a season in that has brought about adversity at seemingly every turn for ASU football, Saturday’s game against Colorado proved to be no different.
The way it responded was.
The Sun Devils (5-4, 4-2) have faced late deficits before. Entering the fourth quarter they trailed San Diego State by 13, Texas Tech by seven, Stanford by 14 and USC by 21. But in all four instances, the Sun Devils walked away with a loss.
The same fate seemed to be heading their way after Colorado (5-5, 2-5) led by 10 entering the fourth quarter. But despite Colorado’s advantage on the scoreboard, ASU led in total plays, yards, rushing yards, time of possession and penalties.
So, call the fourth quarter what you may. Flipping the switch. Turning the tables. But on their way to a 41-30 victory, ASU finished the fight.
“At the end of the day, if you keep maintaining, maintaining – throwing jabs, throwing jabs and connecting,” ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins said. “Eventually when you fake a jab and throw a haymaker, it’s going to knock ‘em down and that’s what we did.”
That haymaker ended with a knockout. A 24-point fourth quarter. A win.
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ASU and Colorado seemed to be going punch-for-punch up until early in the fourth quarter. After CU got off to a 10-0 lead in the second, the two Pac-12 South foes traded scores on the next seven combined scoring plays.
As they kept cutting their deficit, the Devils kept wearing out Colorado. And in the fourth quarter the small jabs finally turned into big blows.
ASU ran 22 plays in the fourth, 19 of which were runs. It rode its workhorse Demario Richard 12 times, looking to chop the lead, tie the game and move ahead. The senior delivered on all fronts.
“We just worked the cut,” Richard said. “That’s our model offense is to work the cut. We take everything like it’s boxing.
“You see a guy keep getting jabbed in the left side of his eye until eventually he gets a cut, so you know, just keep working the cut and they’re going to get tired.”
He racked up 141 of his 189 rushing yards in that final quarter including the touchdown to tie the game with 8:38 remaining and a 63-yard burst that set up the game-sealing touchdown from Wilkins.
“I was just thinking ‘It’s my time, I have to seal the deal,’” Richard said. “I know the offensive line is 110 percent confident. We come on the field and we tell them it’s the mindset every time.”
Richard had help on the ground, though. His quarterback, Wilkins, ran for 95 yards. And the player he claims is in his “tool box” – freshman Eno Bejamin – tallied up 52 yards and the go-ahead score.
All totaled up, ASU racked up 381 yards on the ground — 272 more then its counterpart. And in a year that has seen great running backs like Rashaad Penny, Bryce Love and Ronald Jones torch the Devils, ASU, in a running back by committee performance, was able to overwhelm their opponent.
But as Todd Graham alluded to in his press conference, Colorado deserves credit.
The Buffaloes held long drives and elicited big plays from its offense early. If not for CU receivers dropping pass after pass, including a few that may have resulted in touchdowns, the score could have easily been flipped in their favor.
“Their (Colorado’s) tempo is relentless,” Graham said. “They’re one of the fastest teams in our league.”
They held Colorado running back Phillip Lindsay, who racked up 219 yards and three touchdowns on the Devils a season ago, to just 80 yards rushing, 60 receiving and two touchdowns.
“We emphasized stopping the run, stopping Phillip,” ASU linebacker A.J. Latu said. “He’s a great runner, he’s a hard runner. I felt like we did a pretty good job containing him and stopping him.”
Throughout the night as ASU fell behind, then ties it and eventually took the lead, they didn’t do too more or try be someone else. As Graham put it, ASU “stayed true.”
And on Saturday they didn’t try and air the ball out when they fell behind; they kept pounding the ball with their trusty senior. Instead of opting for a safe defensive plan, defensive coordinator Phil Bennett kept sending his guys after Colorado quarterback Steven Montez.
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Graham preaches discipline and on Saturday, even after adversity struck, he, along with his coaches and players, showed it – and as a result, ASU is one win away from a bowl game.