The Sun Devils defeated the Utah Utes on Saturday 20-19on the road, solidifying a 7-2 record. (Photo by Arianna Grainey)SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — What a difference one quarter makes in football.
No. 22 ASU faced a 19-7 deficit against Utah at the end of the third quarter, with a deflated offense that wasn’t moving the ball. The Sun Devils (7-2, 5-1 Pac-12) finally got things going in the fourth quarter with a 2-yard touchdown run from redshirt junior quarterback Taylor Kelly, who then threw the go-ahead 14-yard touchdown pass to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Richard Smith.
All ASU needed to do was have its defense hold on against the Utes (4-5, 1-5 Pac-12) for the final 2:37.
Redshirt senior defensive back Robert Nelson, Jr., intercepted Utah sophomore quarterback Travis Wilson to give ASU the ball back. When the Utes forced the Sun Devils to punt, giving them one last try, ASU redshirt senior defensive tackle Will Sutton jumped a Wilson pass and came down with a pick of his own.
The Sun Devils mobbed Sutton on the bench with hugs and handshakes. After all, he had just sealed ASU’s 20-19 win over Utah.
“Everybody was more excited about it than me,” said Sutton on the first interception of his career. “I was just trying to catch my breath. I just went back to the sideline with a big grin on my face knowing that we sealed the deal.”
The win was huge for ASU, which got its second straight road win and avoided ending up in a three-way tie for the Pac-12 South lead.
“To come in here and to win the way we did is going to help our team tremendously,” ASU coach Todd Graham said. “Our players, the character they showed, they did a great job today.”
ASU scored on its first drive with Kelly’s 10-yard rush, but even that was relatively slow and troublesome for the Sun Devils as it lasted 3:44.
That’s all they would get until the fourth quarter.
Most of the first quarter remained quiet until Utah finally got on the board when Wilson threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Dres Anderson. That play capped off a 15-play drive that lasted 6:56. Utah couldn’t convert the two-point attempt with a failed screen pass and trailed 7-6.
ASU redshirt sophomore running back Deantre Lewis fumbled on a subsequent possesion and the two teams exchanged punts until Utah redshirt freshman kicker Andy Phillips hit a 51-yard field goal with 9 minutes to go in the second quarter.
The Utes went into halftime with a 9-7 lead, but they came out of the gates swinging in the second half. Wilson hit Anderson on a 55-yard pass on the first play of the half to set up Phillips's 43-yard field goal, putting Utah up 12-7.
ASU had a drought of eight straight drives that came up empty on the scoreboard. Utah’s defensive line bothered Kelly and nullified senior running back Marion Grice for much of the game. The Utes had a season high of 12 tackles for loss, six that came on sacks.
Kelly said Utah’s defensive line was as physical as Stanford's, which dominated the line of scrimmage when the Sun Devils lost to the Cardinal earlier in the season.
“Utah had a great defensive plan for us,” Kelly said. “They had the bye week to prepare. They did a great job. They have a great team. They brought pressure everywhere.”
The Utes put up another touchdown with 5 minutes to go in the third quarter when Wilson threw a 12-yard scoring strike to senior wide reciever Sean Fitzgerald.
With a 19-7 lead, Utah appeared to run its offense with a conservative gameplan from there on out.
The Utes kept running the ball and didn’t make much of an effort to put the game away by scoring more points and they only had 17 yards of total offense in the entire fourth quarter.
That’s when ASU orchestrated its comeback.
“We just went back and said, ‘Guys, whatever we ran in Camp Tontozona, let’s just get back and do that. Let’s run what we run,’” Graham said.
The rest is in the record books.
ASU ended up with 293 yards in total offense, compared to the Utes’ 247. Kelly finished the game 19-for-31 with 144 yards a touchdown pass and a touchdown run.
Grice didn’t score a touchdown for the second-straight game, but he still ended up with 136 rushing yards on 20 carries.
Wilson ended up finishing the game 6-for-21 with 121 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions with 44 rushing yards. Anderson and Fitzgerald were the only two receivers he connected passes with all game.
“We just played smart, disciplined football,” Sutton said. “Everyone knows we have an attacking D and bring pressure. We did that today, but we played a lot of straight-up, disciplined, stay-home defense. We really proved that today.”
ASU holds on to the Pac-12 South lead outright for at least another week with three games left in the regular season. Graham’s focus has already shifted to hosting Oregon State at home next week.
“We’ve been in a single-elimination tournament since Washington, and that’s the key,” Graham said. “We go back home to Sun Devil Stadium and we need the fans and our Sun Devil faithful loud and proud and filling that stadium up, because this is a big, big game for us.”
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
