Arizona State saw their magical season end on Wednesday with a 39-31 double overtime loss to Texas in the Peach Bowl. Their first ever College Football Playoff appearance was short-lived, but it'll go down in history as an al-time great game, thanks in large part to the play of the Sun Devil defense.
Brian Ward's group faced a tall task, squaring up with a balanced offense that has playmakers at every level and one of the very best offensive play callers in the game with Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.
Arizona State got a taste of just how potent the Longhorns offense was right off the bat. After the Sun Devils kicked a field goal on their opening drive, Texas got the ball and immediately ripped off a big play. Quinn Ewers found Matthew Golden over the middle for a 54-yard gain. One play later, DeAndre Moore Jr. came wide open down the sideline for a touchdown.
The Sun Devils had taken a slow approach on offense, moving 63 yards on 12 plays and eating up nearly half the time in the first quarter. But just 45 seconds later, Texas was up 7-3 and it looked as if they were going to run Arizona State right out of the building.
That didn't happen, though. The Longhorns punted on two of their next three drives, with a field goal sandwiched in between. Coming out of halftime, the offense went three-and-out to start and then fumbled the ball in the endzone for a safety.
When Ewers ran in for a touchdown with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, it was the first time the offense had scored any points since that opening drive. The next time they got the ball, Ewers threw an interception. After that, they came up short on consecutive drives, leading to two missed field goals.
All in all, Texas finished with 375 yards of total offense, and they were held to just 53 rushing yards. Considering that the Longhorns came into this game averaging 444 yards a game and 166 rushing yards a game, this was a huge accomplishment for Ward and his defense.
Much of this was accomplished by simply relying on the discipline in coverage that Arizona State has had all year. Texas' opening drive consisted of two big plays, both of which succeeded by tricking defenders' eyes.
Coming into the game, Sarkisian knew that Ward runs a lot of zone coverage, primarily relying on Cover 3. That didn't really change in this game, and Sarkisian came in with a plan to exploit that early.
The Longhorns' first play of the game was a simple RPO concept. Texas motioned Moore from the left side of the formation to the right, drawing the defense's attention that way. Ewers snapped the ball and pulled it out of the running back's hands, looking at both Moore going up the sideline and tight end Gunnar Helm, who was coming open in the flat.
At the moment right before Ewers releases the ball, Arizona State has three defenders in close proximity to both Moore and Golden, who ultimately caught the pass. But Ewers eyes deceived the zone coverage, and you can see one defender start to trigger downfield toward Helm while another comes out of phase in preparation to follow suit.
That momentary hesitation allows Golden to break free over the middle of the field, which was left open because the linebackers bit on the run piece of the RPO, and Ewers delivers a strike. From there, Golden has plenty of room to run, and takes advantage of it.
The next play featured similar misdirection. Running back Jaydon Blue motions out to the right, and Ewers immediately turns his way after the snap to simulate a quick screen pass. At the same time, Moore and Golden run a scissors concept, with Golden running to the post while Moore goes behind him on a wheel route from the slot.
The route combination creates a natural rub of defensive backs, all of whom are triggering downfield to go aftr Blue, thinking the screen is being thrown. It results in Moore getting wide open, and Ewers again put it on the money.
Two quick plays in succession that got the Sun Devil defensive backs to look one spot while Ewers threw somewhere else immediately signaled to Ward how the Longhorns intended to beat him. The solution? Better eye discipline.
It's unclear what exactly changed on the sidelines after that first drive, but Ward managed to get his defensive backs calmed down and settled in. From then on, they weren't biting nearly as much on the pre-snap eye candy, which helped the pass rush get to Ewers four times.
Much attention was paid to the decision to bring a full on blitz with Cover 0 (meaning man to man with no safety help) on the fourth and long play in overtime. Kenny Dillingham took the blame after the game and later reiterated his role in the call.
I want to reiterate my postgame comments about the 4th down call, I called. I wanted to bring essentially 0 blitz that plays out like cov 4, our safety @100YARDLANDLORD is taught to catch intermediate routes bc the ball should come out fast. He did exactly what we coached. That… https://t.co/aDXNWbI6qt
— Coach Dillingham (@KennyDillingham) January 3, 2025
As for the play itself, Arizona State had six players up on the line of scrimmage showing an all-out blitz. A safety came down at the last second too. One player dropped out in coverage, but the Sun Devils still had six pass rushers coming at Ewers.
However, Ewers had made a check to the pass protection, and both his running back and tight end stayed in to block. That meant a seven man protection against six rushers, which gave Ewers time to stand in the pocket.
Golden ran a post corner route, faking as if he was going outside before looping inside towards the middle of the endzone. It was enough to get behind his corner and sneak behind Xavion Alford, who was looking at the other side of the field after seeing Golden break to the outside. Ewers threw a perfect ball for the touchdown, rescuing Texas from a game-ending sack and sending things to double overtime.
In the end, Texas made big plays when they needed them most, but Ward's defense was able to limit them for most of the game. The Longhorns had 10 total possessions inn regulation, not counting the kneel-down right before halftime. They scored on just three of those drives, with a safety and interception ending two of them.
Following that opening drive, Texas was held to just 298 yards of offense for the game, including overtime. It was an incredible adjustment from Ward, and this defense should feel very proud of what they were able to accomplish.