Replay the game here with a transcript of our live blog.
CORVALLIS, ORE. — A broken record. A film stuck playing the same scene over and over again. You can call it whatever you want, but the man in charge of a football program that just can’t get over the hump summed it up best.
“It is getting old,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “It really is. We play well at times, and then we don’t play well at times.”
For the third straight week, the ASU football team made critical mistakes that cost them greatly.
On Saturday, it was the Oregon State Beavers that took advantage of the miscues and sent ASU packing with a 31-28 loss in front of 45,409 at Reser Stadium.
The Sun Devils fell for the third straight week, each seemingly more demoralizing than the last.
“To have so much self-expectation for ourselves and to keep getting right there and falling short of the finish line, that’s hard,” ASU junior wide receiver Gerell Robinson said.
ASU came into Corvallis with a great amount of confidence, displayed by its opening drive.
The Sun Devils drove down the field and needed just over two minutes before redshirt junior quarterback Steven Threet found Robinson down the middle for a 39-yard touchdown.
The Beavers answered with a long drive of their own, but the drive stalled and OSU settled for a 27-yard field goal to cut the ASU lead to 7-3.
That’s when the first mistake began to turn the tide.
Threet threw a pass right into the hands of OSU senior cornerback James Dockery, giving the Beavers the ball in ASU territory.
The mistake eventually led to a 4-yard touchdown run by OSU junior running back Jacquizz Rodgers, who finished with 154 yards and two touchdowns. On the play, Rodgers was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, but reversed field and got to the pylon.
OSU sophomore quarterback Ryan Katz then found senior wide receiver Aaron Nichols wide open in the end zone early in the second quarter, putting the Beavers ahead 17-7.
ASU came right back with a drive of its own, capped off by a 4-yard touchdown run by Deantre Lewis, who totaled 105 yards on the day.
A huge momentum swing came just before halftime. ASU got the ball back with just over two minutes to play, but went three and out.
That gave the ball back to OSU, who capitalized and scored a touchdown in 36 seconds, needing just three plays before Katz found junior tight end Joe Halahuni for a 19-yard score, putting OSU up 24-14 at the half.
“I thought Katz played very well, particularly in the first half,” Erickson said. “They had a good plan and did a nice job of making plays.”
Katz picked apart the ASU secondary in the second half. The young quarterback had all day to throw and often had wide-open receivers.
“We had some breakdowns,” Erickson said. “They did some different things in terms of depth of routes and we made some adjustments.”
The Sun Devils chipped away at the deficit in the second half, but couldn’t find the end zone. Thomas Weber hit a 45-yard field goal to cut it to a 24-17 game, but the next drive was costly.
ASU had the ball on second down and goal at the OSU 1-inch line but failed to punch it in. On second down, Threet was stuffed on a sneak and then fumbled the snap on third down.
A 25-yard field goal was good from Weber, but ASU left four points on the field.
On the very first play of OSU’s next possession, Rodgers took it 74 yards to the end zone and put the Beavers ahead 31-20.
The Sun Devils had a chance to cut into the deficit, but Threet was intercepted in the end zone, throwing into quadruple coverage.
“That was something that wasn’t there,” Erickson said of Threet’s decision. “The coverage dictated you go someplace else.” There was a slight window for a comeback late in the game, sparked by a blocked punt. With just under three minutes to play, senior safety Mike Callaghan blocked a punt and set ASU up at the OSU 21-yard line.
On the next play, Cameron Marshall broke free and scored. ASU converted the two-point conversion on a swing pass from Threet to Marshall.
The Sun Devils forced OSU to punt on its next possession and got the ball back with 1:01 to play and had no timeouts.
The drive quickly ended, when Threet was intercepted for the third time. Originally a flag was thrown for defensive pass interference, but it was picked up.
“The guy changed his mind,” Erickson said. “That’s what they told me. I said ‘how come?’ and he said it was a good play by that guy. Who am I to question the officials?”
Threet finished 14-of-29 for 203 yards and a touchdown. He has now thrown seven interceptions in the last two weeks.
“Bad decisions,” Threet said. “The two interceptions are just bad decisions.”
Threet was also sacked six times during the game. Entering the night, OSU had only two sacks this season.
With two more road games up next, ASU could find its season spiraling out of control fast.
“As far as the team, we have to make sure we stick together and keep fighting through it and persevering,” Robinson said. “Hopefully next week and we’ll turn this thing around.”
No matter how tough of a team ASU is, three straight losses of this variety would take its toll on anybody.
“I’m real concerned,” Erickson said of the team’s morale. “We come back and the thing doesn’t get any easier. Right now your head is down and disappointed, we have to go back to work tomorrow and see what we did. There is nothing else you can do.”
ASU must go 5-2 in its final seven games to qualify for a bowl game. Time is running out to fix the mistakes that are costing them.
“I don’t know what to say right now,” Marshall said. “We really need to go evaluate our team and figure out what we want to do for the rest of the season. If we want to go ahead and win or if we want to be like the past couple years and have talent and lose.”
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
Replay the game here with a transcript of our live blog.
