It seems obvious that someone blessed with LeQuan Lewis’ athletic ability would make an on-field impact at some point.
The senior cornerback, converted from receiver just a year ago, made a career highlight reel in just one day’s action for the ASU football team.
When Washington State’s movement of the football was still relevant to the final outcome, Lewis made a leaping snare of Cougars sophomore quarterback Jeff Tuel’s fade pass to the corner of the end zone, and upon review, landed with a foot in-bound, ultimately thwarting WSU’s only scoring threat on the day.
“[LeQuan] is such a hard worker and such a team guy he really hasn’t had a lot of opportunity to play other than on special teams,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “And when he did have a chance, he stepped up and made the interception.”
Lewis also downed two punts inside the Cougars' 5-yard line, but it was his play in the defensive secondary that may keep him on the field in the final four games.
“I always told myself I was going to wait and be patient because I didn’t get much playing time at the corner spot,” Lewis said. “So when I got that opportunity, I was going to take it and not let go of it.”
Facing a pass-happy WSU offense, one that allowed ASU to conduct intrasquad practices between the first team offense and defense, the Sun Devils played much of the contest in its nickel packages, with five defensive backs.
ASU held the Cougars' passing offense, one that produced four touchdowns against Stanford, to just 6.7 yards per attempt.
It wasn’t just the Sun Devils’ secondary, in which redshirt sophomore safety Keelan Johnson also intercepted a Tuel pass that kept the Cougars in check. The Sun Devils’ defensive front, which recorded nine sacks against WSU last year, put the heat on Tuel all game once again.
Freshman defensive end Junior Onyeali was seemingly unblockable, recording three sacks and numerous hurries and pressures. The Sun Devils collapsed the pocket with impunity, with junior defensive ends James Brooks and Jamaar Jarret also wreaking havoc.
“We were all embarrassed after what happened last [week] and we couldn’t let that happen again,” Jarret said.
ASU also held the Cougars to just eight yards rushing, the fourth fewest allowed by ASU in a Pac-10 contest in 14 years, according to ASU’s official athletic website.
K.I.S.S.
As they forewarned in the past week, the Sun Devils offense kept it short and simple on Saturday, throwing the ball in the flats on the majority of its passing plays.
“We went back to our first four games last week to look at what we are doing,” Erickson said. “And we went back to the basics of our offense, basically, and that made a difference. We called the same play basically 30 or 40 times, the same concepts. And that is when we are good.”
The approach allowed redshirt junior quarterback Steven Threet to complete 26 of 32 passes for three touchdowns, 300 yards and perhaps most importantly, no interceptions.
“We’ve got some great skill guys to make the defense defend, and defending them all is difficult,” Threet said. “It helps our passing game as well as our running game.”
In Threet’s most efficient collegiate passing game, 10 Sun Devils had receptions. Some of those came from the hand of sophomore Brock Osweiler, who completed six passes for 75 yards.
Hardy Hargis
Fifth-year senior left-guard Jon Hargis, barely six months removed from anterior cruciate ligament surgery, made his first appearance of the season in the second half of ASU’s blowout win.
“It was nice to get knocked on the ground once or twice,” Hargis said. “I actually pancaked my guy, so it was nice. I kind of just built my confidence back in the knee. It was nice to come back this week and get the team an emotional lift.”
Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu
