ASU Football: Sun Devils’ penchance for big plays made the difference

(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)

When Washington State’s Luke Falk connected with Isiah Myers on a 20-yard touchdown with less than five minutes remaining in the first half, the No. 13 Arizona State Sun Devils looked to be in big trouble and trailed the visiting Cougars 21-7. Just over two minutes later, it was a tie game.

That was thanks to a 42-yard connection from Taylor Kelly to Cam Smith that was followed by an interception by Marcus Hardison to set up another quick score just 41 seconds later. It was a tremendous swing of momentum in a game that was defined by big plays. All of those big plays belonged to the Sun Devils, though.

In a game that featured a 45-3 run for ASU that sunk Washington State and allowed the home team to cruise to victory, the Sun Devils managed to force five turnovers and strike on multiple big plays in the passing game. Without Jaelen Strong in the lineup, it was a 5’11 sophomore receiver, Cam Smith, that stepped up with two touchdown receptions as well as a 67-yard reception that set up another touchdown.

“Cam is a tremendous athlete,” Kelly said. “He’s one of those guys who’s always going to be early to practice, early to treatment, and just keeps chopping at the wood. He has been waiting for his time and he got that opportunity and took advantage of it.”

While Smith took advantage of his opportunity on offense, the defense took advantage of several opportunities afforded to them by Washington State’s Luke Falk. The freshman quarterback, filling in for the injured Connor Halliday, racked up 601 passing yards on 74 attempts against the ASU defense, but also tossed four interceptions and fumbled on two sacks.

The Sun Devils’ offense converted each of the five turnovers forced by the defense into touchdowns and those 35 points proved to be the biggest difference as ASU pulled away from the Cougars in the second half.

“One of the things we measure every day is turnovers,” ASU head coach Todd Graham said. “When we are an attacking defense, turnovers is exactly what we want to happen. We are really proud of our defense.”

Much of the second half surge came after Graham elected to go away from a gameplan that featured four undersized rushers and the rest of the ASU defense dropping into coverage. It didn’t work as planned and the Sun Devils allowed 21 points quickly, which Graham said was enough for him to believe it was time to pull the plug on the change.

After the adjustment, the ASU defense had much more success affecting Falk, as Marcus Hardison managed to record two of the team’s six sacks.

“Our defensive line starting creating a lot of pressure and once we created a couple turnovers, their offense started slowing down a little bit,” ASU safety Damarious Randall said. “Their quarterback started second guessing himself and that’s when we started attacking more and more.”

It’s not the first time ASU has taken advantage of big plays to swing momentum in their favor. Against Notre Dame two weeks earlier, the ASU defense forced five turnovers and Kelly found Smith for a 43-yard touchdown that looked very similar to the one hauled in by Smith against Washington State.

In an upset loss to the Oregon State Beavers, those plays didn’t come with the exception of a fumble recovered by Antonio Longino and returned for a touchdown. Instead, the team was victimized by three big-play touchdowns by the Beavers and some costly turnovers that proved too much to overcome.

Up next for ASU is a trip to Tucson, Ariz. to play another team with an affinity for the dramatic plays. Entering Saturday, only two teams in the nation had more plays from scrimmage of 80 or more yards than the Arizona Wildcats.

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