Go cal Berkeley football! The team and cal Berkeley sports has " The BasedGods" blessing!!! Congrats !! Go Berkeley ca! I love u! - Lil B
— Lil B THE BASEDGOD (@LILBTHEBASEDGOD) September 21, 2016
So, as it turns out, Lil B doesn't actually have magical powers for his California Golden Bears.
The rapper's "blessing" must not have accounted for the ASU defense having its best performance of the season.
That's right, the Sun Devils (4-0) had their best defensive effort on a night where they gave up 41 points.
On paper, 41 points allowed looks pretty bad. Allowing 637 yards of total offense to the Bears (2-2) doesn't look good either.
But football games aren't won and lost on paper. They're won on the field — and on the field, ASU's defense delivered.
The Sun Devils defense stepped up when it mattered most, intercepting Cal quarterback Davis Webb twice in the fourth quarter and putting pressure on him in key situations.
That said, Webb got his passing yards — 478 of them in fact. For most of the game, the Cal signal caller sliced up the ASU secondary, throwing five touchdowns in the process.
Webb is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, so it's no surprise that he had his way with ASU's secondary, but the Sun Devils made it way too easy for him in the first half.
The Sun Devils let Cal receivers run right past them for wide open touchdowns. It doesn't matter what quarterback you face, if there are wide open receivers running straight down the field, then he'll connect with them for touchdowns, and Webb did just that.
One of those Cal receivers was redshirt junior transfer Chad Hansen. In the first half, Hansen torched ASU with eight catches for 104 yards and a touchdown.
That stat alone is why ASU had its best defensive showing, because they did not let Hansen beat them. They allowed him to rack up yards — which he does against every team he plays — but when the game was hanging in the balance during the second half, Hansen was nowhere to be found.
If this exact game is played just one season ago, the Sun Devils lose this game and Hansen tops 200 yards receiving in the process. The poor defensive play of the first half would have spilled over into the second half and the deficit would have been too big to overcome.
Instead, ASU stopped Cal for most of the second half and stifled them in crunch time.
Save for a garbage time touchdown, the Golden Bears ended their final drives with turnovers, those being the two interceptions and a sack fumble.
Even though the Sun Devils gave up gobs of yardage to Cal, their enhanced defensive play in the second half made Saturday's game their best performance.
Moreover, the Golden Bears have an amazing offense. Cal is ranked second in the country in offensive yards per game, so they move the ball against anyone.
The ASU defense will never be perfect this season, but compared to the team's past performances, it's a big step up.
Considering Cal's offensive prowess and that the Sun Devils defense could not stop anything against a similar team like Texas Tech, a performance like that against Cal is just what the unit needed.
The Sun Devils still have plenty of work to do on defense, but a solid second half showing earned their best performance of the year.
Reach the columnist at mpharri7@asu.edu or follow @Harris_Mark7 on Twitter.
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