Mike Riley dragged himself out of the locker room.
His eyes were red, his head fell, and he was holding an icy soda, looking to recharge.
But it wasn't just Oregon State's head football coach who was dog-tired — it was the entire Beaver football team.
The team spent little energy scoring the game's first 19 points, and everything it had left trying to fight off a 44-13 margin in the contest's final three quarters.
Such was the case Saturday night at Sun Devil Stadium, as ASU climbed back into the game while OSU progressively fell out of it, 44-32.
"There's probably a lot of plays we'll look at tomorrow, watching the tape and say it could have been different," Riley said. "It didn't have to be like that."
Much of the film review sessions will likely dissect the play of sophomore quarterback Sean Canfield, which play mirrored that of the whole team.
Through the end of the first quarter, Canfield completed nine of his thirteen passes for 102 yards and a touchdown.
The only blatant mistake he made early on cost the Beavers a larger lead.
With about three minutes until the second quarter's start, Canfield overthrew senior wide receiver Sammie Stroughter, who ran past the entire ASU defense.
But as Canfield went, so did the Beavers, finishing the frame up 19-0.
"I felt good then. I think the rest of the team did as well," Canfield said. "I just kept thinking 'we got to stay on 'em.'"
But when Canfield started to play in closer accordance with his limited experience, the Beavers fell apart.
Five interceptions later, OSU struggled to regain any momentum.
Asked what he thought of his first career Pac-10 start, Canfield said, "Not good enough, and that's the bottom line."
Riley said his quarterback will come back from defeat but did acknowledge the young player's greatest mistake.
"I think it's still a case sometime where you just got to keep your composure, and every play is new," he said. "Don't assume anything."
On the second play after intermission, Riley said Canfield made a throw based solely on an assumption.
ASU's senior linebacker Robert James stepped in front of the route, which Canfield expected to be open for a second time.
The OSU running game was strong, but falling behind likely scrapped the team's plans for senior running back Yvenson Bernard.
Bernard rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown.
Conversely, ASU's running game bore little fruit, before OSU's defense, like its offense, faltered.
The Beavers held highly touted senior running back Ryan Torain to just 41 rushing yards on 16 carries through the first three quarters.
OSU junior defensive end Victor Butler said controlling the line of scrimmage was integral to the team's initial success.
"That was our plan coming in: stop the run, be physical against the run," Butler said. "[But] big plays really hurt us."
In fact, six of ASU's eight scoring drives were just five plays or fewer. Two of those Sun Devil drives lasted a combined two plays, 16 seconds, and resulted in 14 points.
Butler, the man who was bearing down on Carpenter much of the night, said he won't take anything away from the ASU quarterback's effort on the game-changing plays he made when flushed out of the pocket.
When Carpenter dropped the ball, picked it up, and heaved it down field for 34-yard gain in the second quarter, Butler was the man chasing him down.
"I thought I had him, but obviously not," Butler said. "He's pretty fast."
Riley said the play of Carpenter, who threw for 361 yards and four touchdowns, was that of a veteran.
"I've always liked him," Riley said. "Except playing against him."
Trying to end a 15-game losing streak in Tempe, Riley and OSU couldn't avoid a 16th, and the coach called it bitterly disappointing.
"We let it slip away, and it would have been great for our football team," Riley said. "But we didn't earn it. They did."
Reach the reporter at: a.pentis@asu.edu.
