ASU football overcame a 13-3 fourth quarter deficit to upset No. 15 Michigan State 16-13 on a game-winning field goal from Brandon Ruiz.
After moving at a fast pace throughout the night, the Arizona State offense slowed down the pace and took a knee on two of their final three plays. This was not a standard victory formation though.
On the third and final play of the game, it was sophomore Brandon Ruiz notching the final points of the game with his leg from 28 yards out to put Arizona State ahead for good 16-13 against No. 15 Michigan State.
It was a kick that came without the usual pressure of a game-winning kick against a top-ranked opponent.
“I didn’t feel that much pressure honestly,” Ruiz said. “Eno (Benjamin) came up to me and said I love you no matter what, and I honestly get nervous sometimes with my leg shaking but nothing this time.”
Before the game-winning kick, it was a total of 27 seconds and a late drive that truly turned the game in favor of the Sun Devils. After being shutout in the first half of play, the ASU offense was able to break the drought in the third quarter off the leg of Ruiz.
The Spartans answered the Devils first points in a big way behind a 31-yard touchdown pass from Phoenix native Brian Lewerke to receiver Cody White to put MSU up 13-3. The pair torched ASU throughout the game finishing with 314 yards passing and 113 yards receiving respectively.
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Despite the duo’s performance, the Sun Devils held MSU in check for the majority of the night limiting them to 63 yards on the ground and 377 total yards compared to ASU’s 424 yards. The low scoring affair was contradictory to what the team expected coming in.
“It was a low scoring game that I thought was going to be high scoring,” Wilkins said. “Our defense, I’m really proud of them and how they played. Without them, we would not win this game”
The Sun Devils answered back in a trio of plays with completions of 14, 16, and 22 yards with a 15-yard facemask penalty tacked on. The trio of receivers on the receiving end involved Frank Darby, N’Keal Harry, and Ryan Newsome. Wilkins found the trio often throwing the ball 48 times in route to a 380-yard performance.
With the Spartans keying heavily on Harry, Wilkins was forced to find different routes to success finding eight different receivers on the night with Kyle Williams leading the way with seven catches for 104 yards.
“If they really want to take me away, if they really want to double me and do whatever they do, we have so many weapons,” Harry said. “So many guys step up and make plays today and it ended up being key at the end of the game.”
ASU would then only need 27 seconds to put their first touchdown of the night on the board as a two-play drive of a 38-yard completion to Williams and a 27-yard touchdown pass to Harry evened the score at 13.
The momentum would carry over to the defensive side of the ball as the Sun Devils picked up their only two sacks on the night in back to back fashion. Following the punt, it was the maroon and gold that were able to set up the eventual game-winning drive.
On the defensive side of the ball, Arizona State only came away with two sacks after recording nine a week ago. The defense was able to flush Lewerke out of the pocket several times on the night and forced him into throwing a crucial interception at ASU’s six-yard line.
“It was huge,” head coach Herm Edwards said of the interception. “Red zone defense, it’s something that takes points off the board. All the sudden they get that touchdown, really it’s a different football game.”.
The key play of the final drive came on third and eight from ASU’s own 23-yard line when Wilkins found running back Eno Benjamin for 25 of his 54 receiving yards on a crucial third down conversion.
“We knew they were going to play man,” Wilkins said. “We knew if we lined up Eno in the boundary, and we had three by one to the field, that linebacker was going to have to run with him and run through all those guys and we made the play perfectly.”
A critical third-down pass interference call on a third down from MSU’s 43-yard line and a Wilkins thirteen-yard scramble set up Arizona State to be able to waste time away to set up the game-winning field goal.
The loss for Michigan State was the second letdown in as many weeks as the Spartans escaped a near upset a week ago defeating Utah State 38-31. MSU will look to get their season back on track against Indiana while the Sun Devils will travel to San Diego for a matchup against the Aztecs.
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.