ASU Football: Rapid Reaction of Sun Devils’ upset win of Michigan State

A 13-point fourth quarter propelled ASU football to a 16-13 upset win of No. 15 Michigan State as the Sun Devils improve to 2-0 on the season.

History stays on Arizona State’s side as they defeat No. 15 Michigan State 16-13 behind a 13-point fourth quarter capped off by a Brandon Ruiz 27-yard field goal as time expired.

The Sun Devils improve to 10-0 against Big Ten teams in Sun Devil Stadium and secure their fourth straight win over a non-conference ranked opponent.

Here’s some quick takeaways from the game:

1. The offense finally hit on some big plays

For the majority of the night, quarterback Manny Wilkins struggled to connect with receivers on the deep ball. When it mattered most though, he connected.

Wilkins threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to N’Keal Harry, who further solidified himself as arguably the best wide receiver in college football.

The senior quarterback had one of the best games of his career completing 30 of his 48 passes throwing for 380 yards and one touchdown.

On the game-winning drive, Wilkins found a wide open Eno Bejamin for a pickup of 25 yards on a 3rd-and-8.

The play before Harry’s touchdown, Kyle Williams had a 38-yard catch and run after evading a tackler to set up the game-tying score.

As I said in my halftime analysis, the offense that was going to capitalize on explosive plays were going to win the game. Arizona State made more plays than Michigan State.

2. The defense was fantastic once again.

The Sun Devils defense had another impressive performance, especially after Michigan State scored their touchdown late in the third quarter.

The Spartans went 0-for-3 on third down in the fourth quarter while also sacking quarterback Brian Lewerke twice and forcing a fumble.

Yes, the defense gave up 314 passing yards but they held the Spartans to 63 yards rushing, including holding starter LJ Scott to just 19 yards, and they didn’t allow any explosive plays. They kept everything in front of them.

3. Herm Edwards doubters are silenced for another week.

The Herm Edwards’ hire had many questioning the choice and the new system they were ambitiously implementing.

After two weeks, the train is getting pretty full.

This was a statement win for Edwards and the Sun Devils to beat a top-15 team. You feel by listening to the players that this team is playing with a chip on their shoulder.

They want to prove the naysayers wrong.

Now, it’s important for Arizona State to not get too high with a tough road test at San Diego State looming next week, but that’s lead me to…

4. Arizona State has to be considered a contender to win the Pac-12 South.

Don’t get me wrong, this was a massive win for the Sun Devils. The Spartans were a top-15 team featuring a team returning the majority of their starters.

Now, it begs the question if we should adjust our expectations of this team.

The Pac-12 South is wide open, especially after USC’s lackluster performance in a 17-3 loss at Stanford earlier Saturday.

The Trojans’ quarterback situation could hamper their potential. Arizona is 0-2 after they were destroyed at Houston. UCLA is 0-2 after losses to Cincinnati and Oklahoma.

Colorado, Utah and Arizona State are the only teams undefeated in the division with the game against Utah on Nov. 3 looking like it could decide who heads to Santa Clara.

The schedule is daunting for the Sun Devils as they have to face Washington, Stanford and Oregon but this team is starting to gain confidence that they can beat anybody.