(Photo: Jack Harris/WCSN)
CORVALLIS, Ore., — Arizona State has captured bowl eligibility with a 40-24 win over the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday. Here are the best notes and quotes from the Sun Devils first win in Corvallis since 2005:
PLAYERS, COACHES DISCUSS REACHING BOWL ELIGIBILITY
Coach Todd Graham: “It’s very important for our program. It’s very important for our recruiting. Obviously, it’s not our ultimate goal, but it’s something very important that you do every year. Something that we’d become accustomed to and our guys were very determined.”
Quarterback Manny Wilkins: “It was important to get this win, solely for the seniors. Guys like (Demario Richard), they come with a passion every single game, every single day at practice. Personally I wanted to make sure we got this one and really make sure we go get the next one so that we can give them a bowl. They lay their heart, blood, sweat and tears on the field all the time.”
Offensive coordinator Billy Napier: “It gives us an opportunity to spend more time developing our players, in particular, the bottom half of our roster, a lot of young players we have that maybe are redshirting or have limited roles in our team. It’s extra practice, it’s extra time together. It gives you an opportunity to run and lift with your team more. You have less of a break coming off of that and coming into the offseason so you’re a little bit further ahead. It’s an extension of the season. It’s an extension of an opportunity to continue to improve as a team.”
YOUNG RECEIVERS STEP UP IN HARRY’S FIRST QUARTER ABSENCE
Arizona State came out firing on all cylinders offensively on Saturday. Only, leading receiver N’Keal Harry took in the first quarter from the sidelines. The sophomore, who tops the team in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns, did not feature for ASU’s offense until the opening play of the second quarter.
During his postgame press conference, coach Todd Graham declined to comment on why Harry – who returned two punts in the first 15 minutes – wasn’t played on any offensive snaps.
Freshmen Frank Darby and Curtis Hodges made Harry’s absence almost inconsequential however.
On the game’s opening play, Wilkins rolled out for a play-action pass and delivered a dart to Darby, who had found space running a slant route across the middle of the field. The pass went for 28 yards and set the Sun Devils game-opening scoring drive in motion, a possession capped by a 22-yard touchdown catch by sophomore Kyle Williams.
On ASU’s next drive, the Sun Devils were facing a 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard-line. This time, 6-foot-7 true freshman Curtis Hodges was called upon: the wide out was in a size mismatch and able to haul in a full-stretch catch on a fade route in the back corner of the end zone. It was his first career touchdown catch.
“They had somebody 5-foot-9 guarding somebody that was 6-foot-7 (Hodges),” Wilkins said. “Take advantage of those matchups and then it’s just really executing our game plan.”
Darby added a couple more catches to the stat sheet and finished the game with 49 yards receiving.
“[They] play well and do a really good job for their teammates,” Napier said. “It just goes to show you those guys have been working hard and are continuing to develop and they are going to be guys that contribute to our team as we go forward.”
WICKER’S BIG PLAYS
Of all of Arizona State’s impressive defensive performances on Saturday, junior lineman JoJo Wicker had maybe the two biggest plays of the day for ASU.
After the Sun Devils’ first punt of the game – a pooch kick from Wilkins that was downed at the OSU 4-yard-line – Wicker forced a safety.
On a 2nd-and-6 from the Beaver 8-yard-line, OSU quarterback Darell Garretson dropped back into his own end zone looking to throw. Before he could find an open receiver though, Wicker blew past his man on the line and wrapped up around Garretson’s lower body. The senior quarterback desperately flung the ball out of bound before being dragged down, but was still inside the “tackle box” and had sent the ball into no-mans-land, nowhere near one of his receivers.
It was only moments until a flag was dropped on the spot Garretson let the ball go, five yards behind the goal line. By rule, a safety and credited sack to Wicker.
That made the score 16-0, and forced the Beavers’ to free-kick the ball back to ASU. The Sun Devils scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive, and the game was never truly in doubt again until the final minutes.
In the fourth quarter, Oregon State was mounting a comeback. The Beavers scored had scored twice to cut the ASU lead down to 16, recovered an onside kick and were in the red zone. But on a 1st-and-goal from the Sun Devil 10, Garretson dropped a snap in the shotgun. Before he could pounce on the loose ball, Wicker had burst into the backfield again, swallowing the pigskin under his 273-pound blanket of a body.
It ended up being Oregon State’s final offensive snap of the game.
SHIFTING FOCUS TO TERRITORIAL CUP
With a sixth-win in the bag, ASU’s focus had already begun to shift to next Saturday’s Territorial Cup meeting with rivals Arizona by the time they took the podium following the win over OSU.
Said Graham: “There’s not much that needs to be said about the importance of this game. What it means to our fan base, what it means to our program, what it means to our players. There’s not much that needs to be said about that.”
Said Napier: “I know that it’s extremely intense. I know it’s important to a lot of people. It’s certainly important to our players and our staff and our administration. We’re gonna work and be diligent and do a great job this week in our preparation and try to stick with our regime and our process to get our players ready. But they’ll certainly be motivated and be prepared to play.”
Wilkins shrugged and said: “Go get a win…The game itself is explanatory.”
Richard’s response when asked if they are thinking about last year’s game: “We’re not… Next question.”
OTHER INJURIES
ASU was missing two key defensive players on Saturday in Corvallis. Defensive tackle George Lea was unavailable as was safety Dasmond Tautalatasi. While Renell Wren played most of the snaps at the tackle position — and even had a short-lived interception, before fumbling the ball back to OSU during his return — junior safety Demonte King saw the bulk of the time filling in for Tautalatasi. The 6-foot-1 defensive back filled the stat sheet, finishing with a joint-team-high 10 tackles, five of which were solo.
