Washington had its opportunities Saturday.
Seizing them was the problem.
With just over 14 minutes left to play, ASU redshirt junior quarterback Steven Threet threw his sixth fourth quarter interception in his last three games.
Down only seven and with all the momentum, UW took over at its own 30-yard line.
Just three plays later, UW was forced to punt.
On the ensuing ASU drive, senior Thomas Weber kicked a 22-yard field goal to put the Sun Devils (3-3, 1-2 Pac-10) up two possessions.
The Huskies (2-3, 1-1 Pac-10) never recovered on offense, falling 24-14 in their conference home opener.
“I just felt that offensively we could not get on track to where we had consistency,” UW coach Steve Sarkisian said. “When it's all said and done, our defense left a chance for us to win, and we weren't able to do that. Obviously, [it was] a very disappointing loss.”
UW was held to just 64 yards of total offense in the final quarter.
“We ran the ball well at times,” UW sophomore running back Chris Polk said. “But I really don’t know. We weren’t ourselves today. We weren’t making plays that we usually would make.”
The Huskies’ final drive of the game ended with senior quarterback Jake Locker floating an interception to ASU junior cornerback Omar Bolden in the end zone.
“In the pass game they had some pretty good corners, and their secondary is pretty good at supporting the run,” UW senior fullback Austin Sylvester said. “I think a lot of it had to do with the weather too. It’s definitely a factor that you have to come into when you’re trying to pass the ball.”
The sporadic Seattle rain showers took their toll on the Huskies’ junior place kicker Erik Folk as well.
“We just got put in the predicament there in such an in between stage,” Sarkisian said. “I just didn't feel like he was striking the ball the way I've seen him do. I think it showed up on the one missed field goal, too.”
Perhaps most detrimental to UW’s offensive attack was Locker’s apparent lingering illness throughout the game.
“We wanted to [run more], but he just wasn't feeling great,” Sarkisian said. “When he was running, I didn't see and feel his explosiveness. I don't think we got 100 percent of Jake Locker tonight, unfortunately.
“Once he'd run once, he couldn't get his wind back almost for the whole series until he could get to the bench, so we were being very cautious when we moved him in the pocket or outside the pocket because it really had a lingering effect, not just for one play, but for down the road.”
Locker finished the game 23-of-38 with 209 yards and a touchdown.
Threet and the no-huddle Sun Devil offense averaged 8.5 yards per pass attempt against the UW defense.
“They had a good mix of plays,” junior defensive end Everrette Thompson said. “They had some good calls that got their offense rolling and caught us off guard a little. But like I said, we had our guys in the right positions and we read plays; we just didn’t execute when we really needed to.”
The loss marked the second consecutive year the Huskies were defeated in their next game after beating a ranked Southern California team the week prior.
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
