Washington State head coach Bill Doba's Holiday Bowl watch glistened Saturday during a dreary postgame press conference.
It served as a painful reminder of how far the Cougars have fallen, going from 2003 Holiday Bowl champions to a mediocre team motivated only by a chance to beat laughable Washington in the season-ending Apple Cup.
Coming off a 31-29 win over UCLA, Washington State watched its bowl hopes vanish against No. 20 ASU amid a flurry of defensive breakdowns, special teams miscues and missed opportunities on offense.
Nothing went right for Washington State, which wanted to establish the run and control the clock, but held the ball for just 24 minutes, largely because of a 2-for-14 third-down conversion rate.
Junior running back Jerome Harrison became a non-factor by the third quarter, as Washington State was forced to pass almost every down after spotting ASU a 31-14 halftime lead.
Making his third career start, redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Brink was intercepted by sophomore defensive end Kyle Caldwell on the first play from scrimmage. That set up senior quarterback Andrew Walter's 28-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Matt Miller, and Washington State fell behind for good.
"It was just our inconsistencies," Washington State senior offensive tackle Calvin Armstrong said. "We would put together three, four or five first downs, and then we would be crapping on our leg, and then we would just fumble on the first play. We just didn't make enough plays. That's all there is to it."
The Cougars cut a 21-0 deficit to 21-14 in less than five minutes late in the first quarter after Harrison scored on a 56-yard touchdown run and freshman Michael Bumpus returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown.
From there, Washington State went scoreless on 11 consecutive possessions.
Junior running back Allen Thompson fumbled at the Washington State 25. The Cougars were stopped on downs at the ASU 43 when junior cornerback Mike Davis Jr. broke up a pass intended for junior wide receiver Marty Martin. Junior kicker Graham Siderius hooked a 26-yard field goal attempt. And junior Kyle Basler had a punt partially blocked by freshman Rodney Cox.
"Once we got within a touchdown, we really felt like we were making a little bit of a comeback, but we just didn't make the plays when we had the opportunities," said Brink, who completed 20 of 37 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown. "It got back to the inconsistencies on offense, whether I missed a throw or we had a drop or a missed block. Things seemed to jump up and bite us at the worst times."
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.
