It was just the flu.
But ASU senior wide receiver Chris McGaha was so wide open on his game-winning, 50-yard touchdown catch you would have thought he was stricken with the bubonic plague.
Bedridden much of the week and unable to practice, McGaha could be seen breathing heavily as he ran to the sideline after each snap he received Saturday.
Despite making the play of the season, McGaha couldn’t muster much excitement in the post-game press conference.
“I’m actually kind of sick,” McGaha said. “I didn’t play very much. I only had one catch. I definitely capitalized on my opportunity.”
It was ASU’s Kirk Gibson moment.
With an offense that has struggled to complete vertical passes all year, going to a possession receiver barely able to suit-up — the pinch-hit home run was a fitting mid-October tribute.
Coach Dennis Erickson said afterward he didn’t even know McGaha was in the game on the final play.
Senior quarterback Danny Sullivan, a baseball fan himself, was shocked to see UW’s last-second broken coverage.
“I couldn’t believe it; could not believe it,” he said. “I saw the safety in the middle, and I was getting ready to go ‘OK, do I key him?’ But he just jumped the first guy, and then I was like, ‘OK, where’s Chris? Oh my God, he is that wide open.”
McGaha, who said coaches were unhappy with him missing a block on his only play of the first half, may have been as surprised to be in the game as he was free in the secondary in the closing seconds.
“I was in my bed all week,” McGaha said. “I didn’t think they were going to play me.”
Erickson said that McGaha’s second-half play opportunities were based in part on senior Kyle Williams’ second half re-aggravation of a hamstring injury, as well as to provide respites for other Sun Devil receivers.
On the final play, McGaha down the seam was not the intended first option.
“We were trying to throw comebacks to our outside guys — 20-yard comebacks to get in field-goal range,” Erickson said. “Then, we took our tight end and Chris and ran them down the seam. [McGaha] just happened to be open. I really don’t know what happened [with UW’s coverage].”
With questions about McGaha’s ability to play Saturday and junior LeQuan Lewis being forced to be available in the secondary because of a knee injury to junior cornerback Omar Bolden, true freshman and former Peoria High School star Jamal Miles received his first playing time of the season.
Miles, who had been on the scout team before last week, had two receptions for 34 yards, including a spin move that could only be replicated with a hand-held video game controller, a play that Erickson called “amazing.”
“Jamal Miles is going to have a heck of an impact on this program as time goes on,” Erickson said. “We’re going to start playing him and getting him the ball.”
Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.
