On Halloween weekend, the talk surrounding ASU football’s matchup with Washington State was that the Sun Devils had to be weary of the improving Cougars.
As it turns out, there was nothing to be scared of.
The Sun Devils (4-4, 2-3 Pac-10) controlled the game from start to finish on both sides of the football and shutout the Cougars (1-8, 0-6) 42-0 in front of 44,903 on Homecoming at Sun Devil Stadium.
“We needed a win,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “We don’t have much room for error to accomplish the goal that we want, which is to go to a bowl game.”
It was a win the Sun Devils had to have against an opponent that has just one win over an FBS opponent in the last two years.
“We felt we should have dominated these guys and that is what we did,” ASU cornerback LeQuan Lewis said. “They shouldn’t have scored. They shouldn’t have [even] got as far as they got, but we still played hard and didn’t let them get it in the end zone.”
The Sun Devils talked all week about forgetting their blowout loss to California and moving on. It was evident from the start that they had done just that.
“I believe we stepped up and put the game last week behind us, instead of having a hangover and pouting about how many points we gave up and the mistakes that we made,” Lewis said. “If we stay consistent and believe in what we’ve got, we will be very good.”
After forcing WSU to punt on their first possession, ASU went 76 yards in 15 plays to take a 7-0 lead on a seven-yard touchdown run by sophomore Cameron Marshall.
The defense quickly got the ball back to the offense and the offense quickly put more points on the scoreboard.
It took just four plays before redshirt junior quarterback Steven Threet connected with sophomore wide receiver Jamal Miles for a nine-yard touchdown pass that put the Sun Devils ahead 14-0.
The Cougars couldn’t get anything going offensively and that let the game get out of hand before halftime.
Freshman running back Deantre Lewis’ three-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter put ASU up 21-0 and just before the half, Threet connected with Miles again for an 18-yard touchdown that gave the Sun Devils a 28-0 lead at the break.
The first half left little doubt that ASU still had any part of last week’s game still in their heads.
“It was good coming off the performance we had a week ago,” Erickson said. “It was good to see us come out and compete and show a lot of character, because that’s not easy to do.”
Early in the second half, Threet threw his third touchdown pass of the day, this one to Marshall. The junior returned after suffering a concussion last week to complete 26-of-32 passes for 300 yards and the three scores.
“He was very accurate, that was the biggest thing,” Erickson said of Threet. “He didn’t throw many incompletions. [He] had control of what was going on.”
Aiding in the offense’s success was the play of the defense.
While WSU entered the game last in the NCAA in total defense, the Cougars have been good on offense, especially through the air.
That was not the case on Saturday. The WSU offense struggled to move the football and had just eight rushing yards against an inspired ASU defense that was called out by its coach this week.
“They stepped up,” Erickson said. “They knew they were better than that and we were determined to come out and play like we were capable of and we did defensively.”
One of the big reasons the defense was successful was the pass rush on WSU sophomore quarterback Jeff Tuel. ASU recorded five sacks, with three coming from freshman defensive end Junior Onyeali.
Tuel was intercepted twice, once by LeQuan Lewis, who made a spectacular grab in the corner of the end zone. The play was initially ruled incomplete, but video replay ruled that Lewis’ foot was inbounds.
That interception in the second quarter, as well as a muffed snap on a WSU field goal try in the fourth quarter preserved the second shutout of the Erickson era.
“We said we were going to get a doughnut,” Lewis said. “We said all year we weren’t going to let teams score. We played assignment sound and made it a good outcome.”
While the win was certainly needed to keep any shot of a bowl game alive, the reality is ASU still has a lot of work to do to become eligible. The Sun Devils must win three of four, with three of the teams ahead on the schedule in the Top 25, as of this week.
“We just have to continue to improve; this season is right in front of us,” Erickson said. “We have a lot of opportunities ahead of us, starting with USC next week.”
Injury Notes
Redshirt junior defensive tackle Bo Moos injured his medial collateral ligament late in the fourth quarter. Erickson said that it won’t require surgery, but Moos will probably miss some time.
Sophomore linebacker Vontaze Burfict pulled his hamstring and was held out for the fourth quarter as a precaution.
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
