ASU Football: Sun Devils beat Stanford at their own game

(Photo: Christian Coates/WCSN)

With a 46-8 record, two Pac-12 championships and two Rose Bowl appearances in the past four seasons, Stanford football has been a pillar of excellence thanks to a dominant defense, a gritty, smash-mouth offense and an unrivaled level-headed and intelligent composure in the most crucial of situations.

Meanwhile, despite a 10-win season and a Pac-12 championship appearance last season, Arizona State has largely been mired in a getting-over-the-hump stage due to costly penalties, brain-dead special teams play and an inability to clutch up under the brightest spotlights.

With a 26-10 win over Stanford on Saturday night, however, those reputations were undoubtedly switched for an evening.

With junior quarterback Mike Bercovici receiving the start over the still-injured Taylor Kelly, many expected another pass-oriented game plan from the coaching staff to cater to the strengths of their interim quarterback.

What ensued instead was a Stanford-like commitment to running the ball.

It was by no means potent or explosive as it has so often been with Taylor Kelly under center. The final stat line showed 46 rushes, 114 yards and a meager 2.5 yards per carry. Nevertheless, it was what the Sun Devils had schemed for and what they knew would open up the pass as the game wore on.

“The bye week definitely helped to create an identity of how we wanted to attack this game,” Bercovici said. “We were very simple with what we decided to do as far as attacking Stanford’s defense. We trusted our schemes and we knew what we had to do. When that run game is going, we’re very effective.”

While the running game may not have been statistically effective, its persistence yielded Bercovici’s lone touchdown pass of the evening to Jaelen Strong with just under two minutes before halftime. Perhaps more importantly, the ground-and-pound game plan allowed ASU to control the ball (zero turnovers) and dominate time of possession (34:57 for the Sun Devils, compared to 25:03 for the Cardinal) and total plays (80 to 61)—three other prototypical Stanford qualities.

“We were very much in command tonight,” head coach Todd Graham said. “We were very intense, but we were very controlled. If somebody made a mistake, others were right there on it. I was really impressed with them tonight.”

Granted, the Sun Devils offense may have been mimicking that of a Stanford of years past. The Cardinal’s offensive struggles in 2014 under the guidance of Kevin Hogan are nowhere more evident than their 88^th ranking in total offense.

Yet Stanford’s defense and special teams have been its saving grace this season, as it boasts the highest-scoring defensive unit in the country and one of the country’s most explosive punt and kickoff returners in Ty Montgomery.

With that in mind, it was perhaps more significant and influential on the final score that ASU’s defense and special teams outperformed the heralded units of Stanford.

With an emphasis on stopping Stanford’s running game and shoring up the leaky coverage on special teams, the Sun Devil units went back to the basics and simply stopped overthinking.

“It’s really about coming out and playing our game,” cornerback Lloyd Carrington said. “We’re an attacking-style defense. We’ve tried to make different adjustments for certain teams but Coach Graham has put the foot forward and said we’re going to be us and play our style of defense.”

“It’s just a mental focus,” safety Damarius Randall said. “The only way people can score on us is if we make mental errors. Coach Graham and the coaching staff put us in a great position to make a lot of great plays. The only way teams can get yardage and score on us is if we have mental breakdowns.”

The confidence in Graham’s highly unique scheme and the commitment to avoiding mental breakdowns paid dividends for ASU. Not only did the defense create two turnovers and stymy Stanford’s offense to 76 rush yards, but the turning point in the game was undoubtedly Matt Haack’s 54-yard punt that forced Montgomery to attempt an over-the shoulder catch and subsequently fumble inside the Stanford ten yard line. Zane Gonzalez netting ASU’s final 12 points via four consecutive field goals was merely icing on the cake.

“These kids have great character,” Graham said on his team’s well-rounded performance. “I was a little bit in awe of them tonight because I had very little to say. They really are taking charge of their team. They have great heart and they’re smart. Their gaining that experience and something happens when you win games like that. I think these kids love each other and I think they have a brotherhood.”

The theme throughout the course of the past two weeks has been the Sun Devils coaching staff and players praising the sacredness of the Stanford program. Even after dismantling the Cardinal with relative ease, that trend continued into the postgame press conference.

“We respect them as an opponent, as the most disciplined, smartest, toughest team in the division,” Bercovici said. “They’ve proved that the past two years, and we’ve had a salty taste in our mouth walking out of that tunnel last December when it didn’t go our way.”

“It’s just a privilege to compete against Coach Shaw and Stanford,” said Graham, expressing a similar sentiment to his quarterback. “Tonight means an awful lot to me and our team because of who they are. They’ve epitomized character, smart, discipline, tough the last two years. This one meant a lot.”

But it was clear Saturday night that Arizona State out-Stanford-ed Stanford. That is, the Sun Devils were the smarter team, the more disciplined team, the more fundamentally sound team and the team that was committed to executing a game plan. The recipe was simple: Mimic in every facet what has enabled Stanford to be crowned back-to-back Pac-12 champions and success will ensue.

Bercovici reflected that sentiment with his closing statement:

“For us as a team, as Sun Devil nation, the crown is ours now, and now, we have to move forward.”

Follow Jacob Garcia on Twitter @Jake_M_Garcia or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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