The tears were flowing for the ASU football team on Friday afternoon at Sun Devil Stadium, but not because a largely disappointing season had finally come to an end.
The tears came on the faces of the Sun Devils' 14 seniors, their coaches and all players who said they had something to build on for next year. Because, even in a season where highlights were few and far between, a 28-7 victory over archrival UA is something that all Sun Devils said they could remember.
ASU's offense showed the type of flair that many expected of it going into the season three months ago. The Sun Devils scored on passes of 80 and 28 yards, as well as a 40-yard run. While the fireworks show came against one of the weaker links of Division I football, it didn't matter on this day.
"The feeling for me on the field was that we were always in control of the game," ASU head coach Dirk Koetter said. "We came out and took control right off the bat. Offensively, I don't think they did anything to stop us all day. It couldn't have turned out any better."
On paper, the Sun Devils' defense didn't look as impressive as its counterparts on the offensive end as the Wildcats gained 452 yards, just 32 less than ASU's 484. But the seven points was the least the team had given up in Koetter's three-year history, and it was the least allowed by a Pac-10 opponent since Washington in 1999.
ASU, which is known for an attack-style of defense, came out with a new game plan as it utilized a "bend, but don't break" zone scheme. The idea was to contain UA sophomore tailback Mike Bell, who recently had "been pretty much the show," Koetter said.
Bell "bent" ASU's defense as he gained 95 yards on 25 carries, but ultimately had little impact in the game.
"He had a lot of short runs," Koetter said. "When you play bend-but-don't-break, sometimes it feels like it's a little ugly at times, but the bottom line is we gave up seven points today."
The Sun Devils' offense took control from the opening drive as it marched 80 yards for a touchdown on seven plays. Redshirt freshman tailback Loren Wade rushed four times for 23 yards on the drive.
ASU punched it in when junior quarterback Andrew Walter launched a 28-yard pass to senior wide receiver Skyler Fulton, who leaped to catch the ball in the corner of the end zone, giving his team a 7-0 advantage.
UA then held the ball for 7:19 seconds as it ran 15 plays totaling 76 yards to tie the score. The drive was capped with a 16-yard pass from true freshman quarterback Kris Heavner to redshirt freshman wide receiver Mike Jefferson.
The drive featured a number of extracurricular shots between the two teams, but officials blew the whistle three times on the drive, and cheap play was nonexistent for the remainder of the contest.
"Of three [UA] games I've been in, this was the best played all-around game," Koetter said. "There was a little point there early in the game where the typical rivalry stuff that happens, and I thought the officials jumped right on it and took care of it, and the players on both sides adjusted."
The Sun Devils' offense then went stagnant as it was forced into a three-and-out.
On its next possession, ASU went for it on a fourth-and-1 play on its own 42-yard line and Wade got a 3-yard gain to keep the drive alive. But two plays later, Walter and junior center Drew Hodgdon muffed a snap, which the Wildcats recovered on ASU's 45-yard line.
The Wildcats then gained 36 yards on the next three plays.
Heavner then launched a pass into the back of the end zone, but ASU junior cornerback R.J. Oliver leaped in front of the receiver to pick the ball off in mid-air as both players fell to the turf tangled up.
The play stopped a UA score, but Wade fumbled on ASU's next drive at the UA 33-yard line.
The Sun Devils then awoke as they squeezed two touchdowns in before the half. ASU took a 14-7 lead with 3:10 remaining in the second quarter when Walter found redshirt freshman tight end Jamaal Lewis alone just in front of the goal post for a 9-yard touchdown pass on play action.
Redshirt freshman tailback Randy Hill ran the ball seven times on the drive for 43 yards.
Walter said all three of his touchdown passes came on play action in the game.
"With the running game working the way it did, we knew their safeties were going to have to honor it," Walter said. "When we can run the ball the way we did, it's tough for a defense to not bite on a play action fake. They came up and bit, and [Lewis] was wide open."
On the third play of ASU's next drive, Wade broke away for a 40-yard touchdown run. A UA defender got an arm on him near the line of scrimmage, but Wade broke the tackle and outran a number of defenders on his way across the goal line with 1:34 remaining in the half.
"It was just a little counter play, and the linebacker tried to tackle me," Wade said. "He only had one arm on me, so I was able to break his arm tackle, so that was it."
The Sun Devils then iced the game with 13:58 remaining when Walter launched a long pass to sophomore wide receiver Derek Hagan, who got behind UA senior cornerback Michael Jolivette and ran the ball down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown.
"It was a post-corner route," Hagan said. "Our coaches up in the booth just saw that the corner was playing off, and they called it. The offensive line gave [Walter] some time to get me the ball, and that's what led to the big play."
In the final game of the season, multiple milestones were etched.
Walter - who went 16-for-26 in the game with 281 yards and no picks - raised his total yards to 3,044 yards on the season, the second time a Sun Devil has thrown for 3,000 yards in a season, the first being Walter last year.
Hagan, who caught eight passes for 155 yards, became the sixth player in school history to go more than a 1,000 in a season with 1,076. Wade's performance put him at 773 yards on the year, setting an ASU record for most yards rushed by a freshman.
"The score could have been worse if we wouldn't have shot ourselves in the foot [early]," senior fullback Mike Karney said. "They didn't have a chance all day, all game. They did all their talking prior, and we did our talking during the game."
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
