ASU Football: Sun Devils validated as national power with 55-31 win

(Photo: Allyson Cummings/WCSN)

ESPN elected to take its weekly college football preview show, College GameDay, to East Lansing, Mich. instead of Tempe, Ariz. and added insult to injury on Saturday morning when analyst Kirk Herbstreit called the No. 9 Arizona State Sun Devils “the most overvalued” team by the College Football Playoff committee. Herbstreit may be singing a different tune soon though, as the Sun Devils validated themselves as the real deal on Saturday night with a 55-31 dismantling of the No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

“We knew that this was the hump that we needed to get over to make our name nationally,” ASU running back D.J. Foster said. “At the end of the day, it was just another game to us, but we knew that we had to get this win to impress some people.”

It’s tough to imagine that the win didn’t impress people.

Although 28 unanswered points for the Fighting Irish almost completely erased a 34-3 lead built by the Sun Devils, the ASU offense finally rallied for a 5-play, 75-yard drive that finished with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Kelly to Demario Richard. Forty-eight seconds later Lloyd Carrington added another touchdown with a 58-yard interception return and ASU tacked on one more touchdown for good measure when Kelly ran in from two yards with less than a minute remaining.

When all was said and done, Arizona State put a season-high 55 points on the scoreboard, the most Notre Dame has allowed since Nov. 30, 1985 when the team allowed Miami to score 58.

“That’s the biggest win and it means more to me than anything that has happened since we’ve been here because of who that team is that we beat,” ASU head coach Todd Graham said.

That team was a Notre Dame squad that was one play away from toppling the defending national champions (a Florida State team that entered Saturday’s game as an undefeated national championship favorite).

“The only other team that beat that team this year was Florida State and I think we beat them a lot more soundly than the way they’ve been beat,” Graham said. “It makes a big statement about the fact that we’ve got a really good football team.”

Ultimately, Graham said the goals for ASU remain unchanged and, while the win puts ASU one step closer to a spot in the final four teams in the playoff, the path to the Pac-12 Championship is the only one that matters. With wins over Oregon State and Washington State, ASU would have a chance to clinch the Pac-12 South early, but a win over Arizona would seal the deal.

Any loss though, and ASU would be a longshot to finish in the top four and advance to the four-team College Football Playoff. Nevertheless, Saturday was a statement that Sun Devils are here and its a team that is a legitimate contender.

“It’s huge,” ASU quarterback Taylor Kelly said. “Getting a win on a national stage like that is big time for this program and where it’s headed. Guys are doing a tremendous job of getting better each week in practice, trusting coach, watching film, making those sacrifices. We came together as family tonight even more.”

You can reach Adam Stites on Twitter @AdamStitesASU or by email arstites@asu.edu

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