TUCSON -- Sitting alone in a quiet media room, UA football coach Mike Stoops paused before answering a simple question.
“I wanted to go for two, and I should have,” Stoops said, referring to the second overtime extra point attempt. “I should have stuck with my gut and I didn’t and that’s my fault.”
Instead, the coach sent out junior kicker Alex Zendejas, who had already had an extra point attempt blocked at the end of regulation that would have put his team ahead, to try to send the game into a third overtime.
What happened next will replay in Stoops’ mind for years to come.
ASU junior defensive end James Brooks got off his block and deflected Zendejas’ kick enough for it to travel wide right and subsequently end the game, giving ASU a 30-29 victory.
Brooks was also the player who blocked Zendejas’ extra point attempt at the end of the fourth quarter.
When asked if he tried to convince Stoops to go for two, UA co-offensive coordinator Seth Littrell said, “That’s not my job. I do my job. That’s the head coach’s decision.”
On the night, Zendejas was 2-for-4 on his extra point attempts and also shanked a punt that went a net total of zero yards.
“Alex did the best he could, and that’s good enough for me,” Stoops said. “Life has a way of evening out. You play long enough, you’re on the good side of some, you’re on the bad side of some. Tonight wasn’t his night.”
UA junior quarterback Nick Foles voiced his support for Zendejas as well.
“We are a family; we just have to pick each other up,” Foles said. “After the game I went over to him and talked to him. We are family and you just have to learn from it.”
The No. 23 Wildcats (7-5, 4-5 Pac-10) ended the first half with 83 total yards. They ended the game with just fewer than 400.
“I’m very proud of our players,” Stoops said. “It’s disappointing to lose, but that’s just a part of football. There is the good side and a bad side. We have to move forward.”
In order to get to overtime, UA had to march 57 yards and score a touchdown to pull even with the Sun Devils (6-6, 4-5), who were leading 20-14.
“[Junior wide receiver] Juron Criner had a couple really great catches tonight, and Nick Foles threw the ball a lot more effectively,” Stoops said. “We just ran out of gas and couldn’t hold on in the end. It was certainly disappointing that we didn’t finish better.”
After the missed extra point attempt that left the game tied at 20 apiece, the two teams traded field goals in the first overtime.
In the second extra period, after the Sun Devils got into the end zone, the Wildcats immediately answered with a quick strike of their own.
Unfortunately for UA, that’s when their regular season ended.
“I’m just sad for our seniors,” Stoops said. “Tonight was not a memorable night for them, but they still had a great effort out there.”
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
