ASU Football: Sun Devils lose first home game of the season

(Photo: Brett Deckert/WCSN)

The quarterback position for Arizona State has been a rotating cast of characters over the past couple of weeks and that theme continued on Saturday night. Largely due to injury and inconsistency, the Sun Devils fell to Washington State 37-32 for their third loss of the season.

Before the season it was Manny Wilkins, Brady White and Bryce Perkins competing for the starting job. Tonight, from midway through the first quarter and on it was the same three who were at the trainers table nursing injuries.

It forced Todd Graham to go with true freshman Dillon Sterling-Cole at quarterback and a heavy dose of both Kalen Ballage and Demario Richard running the ball out of the Sparky formation.

Give the Sun Devils credit for hanging in there as long as they did given the circumstances, but keeping up with Luke Falk and the Cougars offense proved to be too much.

“Really proud of the team and the heart that they showed,” Todd Graham said. “Manny has a lot of courage, but I was really proud of Dillon. For a guy who was a true freshman and running scout team a few weeks ago, he showed a lot of heart.”

First half starts well, ends poorly

Ever since Brady White suffered a season-ending injury against UCLA, Manny Wilkins’ health has been thrust into the spotlight. After struggling through last week against Colorado but getting away relatively unscathed, Wilkins announced his return in a big way early in the first half tonight before being sidelined again.

A 59-yard opening drive that ended in a three-yard touchdown run by Wilkins was arguably ASU’s brightest spot of the first half, after which the Sun Devils found themselves trailing Washington State 17-14.

Before exiting the game with what appeared to be a hand or arm injury, Wilkins looked like his old self. He ran the ball three times and completed all four of his passes. However, he lasted only one more drive before being replaced by Dillon Sterling-Cole. Wilkins’ status is uncertain, though it appears to be a hand or arm injury.

“Manny did a great job on his first series,” wide receiver Tim White said. “All we could do is try to run the ball, grind it out, and put our young quarterback Dillon (Sterling-Cole) in the best position that he could be in and be comfortable. That’s a big step for a freshman, just being throw in to that spot.”

Sterling-Cole, a true freshman, looked like the inexperienced quarterback that he is in the first half, going just 2-for-5 for 32 yards. He was helped out by Ballage, who had a 52-yard run for the Sun Devils second score of the half.

The Sun Devils defense looked rejuvenated for parts of the half, sacking Cougars quarterback Luke Falk three times, including two from D.J. Calhoun. ASU ended up out-gaining WSU 162-155 although that was in large part due to the first drive and the Ballage run.

WSU scored on a field goal from kicker Erik Powell, a kick return for a touchdown and a Luke Falk touchdown pass to Tav Martin Jr. Falk completed 20 of his 24 passes but had only 161 yards to show for it.

Banged up defense keeps ASU in the game

Armand Perry did not play, while Kareem Orr was previously banged up and Salamo Fiso suffered an injury mid-game. Yet despite all this, the Sun Devils brought constant pressure to Falk and finished the game with seven total sacks. Koron Crump, who entered the game with a team leading five, added three more to his mantle. He also forced a fumble that nearly led to a defensive touchdown.

D.J. Calhoun added two sacks and had three total tackles for a loss.

The defense was even more of an emphasis because of the quarterback uncertainty.

“There was definitely a sense of urgency getting to the quarterback,” linebacker Marcus Ball said. “Everybody knows that we are coming with pressure. We knew that he was going to try and get the ball out in 1.5 to two seconds so that’s hard to do rushing the quarterback.”

“From here on out, every game is going to be on us. That’s how every team in America should look at it. We have to be a gritty defense. Defense wins ball games, no doubt about it.”

A ton of passing yards were to be expected from Falk, but ASU didn’t surrender a lot of big plays, something that has been their big downfall during the season.

The Cougars had just one play go for more than 30 yards, with their longest being going for 52 yards.

Upstart offense tries all sorts of tricks

Taking into account how banged up they were at quarterback, the Sun Devils had a fairly successful second half offensively. Naturally, Ballage and Richard were relied on heavily, and they were, for the most part, up to the task.

ASU ran for 113 rushing yards but only 27 in the second half, though they did get a touchdown on a Richard run. Both Ballage and Richard were mostly responsible for taking the pressure off of Sterling-Cole, as they were frequently used out of the Sparky formation, a package that had only been seen a few times in past games.

“There is only so much we could run and put on a young quarterback and two new offensive linemen, so we felt like that was an integral part of what we were doing,” Graham said.

Sterling-Cole responded with an improved second half, going 5-for-9 for 54 yards. Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey tried everything on offense, even inserting Jack Smith in for a play that turned into a 40-yard pass completion. Fred Gammage also threw a pass to Kody Kohl to complete a two-point conversion on a Tim White punt return touchdown.

What’s Next?

With the win, WSU stays undefeated at 4-0 in the Pac-12.

The Sun Devils are in a tough spot now in the Pac-12 South, as their record stands at just 2-3 in the conference. They will play Oregon in Eugene next weekend.

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