ASU offense has no answers in Territorial Cup game to end regular season on a sour note

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

TEMPE — The trials and tribulations Arizona State senior quarterback Jeff Sims endured over the past month had to be seen to be believed.

The backup signal caller inherited a situation under center that involved starting quarterback Sam Leavitt missing the rest of the season and star junior wide receiver Jordyn Tyson battling a hamstring injury with four games remaining.

Through all the ups and downs, Sims turned a dire situation into three straight wins, a fighting chance at making the Big 12 championship, and an exhibit in the Sun Devil Athletics Hall of Fame that displays his jersey.

However, any hope of the quarterback’s story receiving a storybook ending quickly vanished in the Territorial Cup against in-state rival No. 25 Arizona (9-3, 6-3 Big 12) on Friday evening as a disastrous offensive showing forced No. 20 Arizona State (8-4, 6-3 ) to close out the regular season with a 23-7 defeat.

“We faced some adversity this year, and we still found a way to win games, and I’m so proud of that group,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “Mad of myself, didn’t get these guys ready enough tonight. But I’m so proud of that group.”

To say that the Sun Devils’ offense was a well-oiled machine heading into the contest would be dishonest, but with either Leavitt or Sims taking snaps, the unit consistently found a way to make plays and do enough to be in a winning position.

The first 20 minutes reflected another sluggish start to the tune of two straight three-and-outs along with an interception in ASU territory. A lengthy drive ending in a 27-yard scramble into the end zone by Sims appeared to be another edition of the Sun Devils suddenly finding rhythm in the blink of an eye.

Little did anyone know that ASU would not only fail to score for the rest of the game, but get outclassed in almost every area of note.

By the time the final whistle blew, the Wildcats amassed 20 more minutes of possession, 160 more yards of total offense, seven more third down conversions, and twice as many first downs.

“We just had to get in our own way,” senior tight end Chamon Metayer said. “By the time we kind of figured it out, it was just kind of too late. That’s just the game of football. We have to capitalize early, we can’t start slowing. When we start slowing, the result was 7-23.”

ASU committed a season-high five turnovers compared to one early fumble from the Wildcats. After shaking off the first quarter interception to close out the first half with a 7-3 lead, the wheels fell off completely in the final two quarters.

Out of the Sun Devils’ six drives throughout the second half, two ended in punts while the remaining four all resulted in giving Arizona the ball back prematurely. The team followed up an opening drive three-and-out on defense with a team fumble off a botched handoff three plays later, setting the stage for only eight minutes of offensive possession the entire half.

Sims’ two additional interceptions and back-breaking fumble deep in Arizona territory late in the fourth may have turned his final performance in front of Sun Devil fans at Mountain America Stadium into a tragedy, but it hasn’t erased everything he’s given the program in the eyes of his teammates.

“We all cut from the same cloth,” senior wide receiver Malik McClain said. “A lot of guys that’s on this team got the same story in ways too, and I feel like we all cut from the same cloth. That’s why we fight so hard for each other.”

The truth is that it’s hard to blame one sole person or area that single-handedly caused ASU’s offense to stay stuck in neutral.

One curveball thrown in seconds before the end of the first quarter was Tyson exiting the game due to injury and never returning. The star wideout being unable to finish out what was just his second game back from a nagging hamstring issue translated into only 11 completed passes for 114 yards on the day for the Sun Devils.

Furthermore, ASU only moved the chains three times on third down out of 11 attempts while Arizona went 50% on 20 different opportunities. Special teams play including a missed 49-yard field goal, allowing kick returns to regularly cross past the 50-yard line, and short punts sailing out of bounds also didn’t help matters.

“We had a really good (field goal) block, but we didn’t get them to punt enough because the short fields and the turnovers negated our (field goal) block that we felt really good about,” Dillingham said. “They stopped the run pretty well for the most part, but we didn’t have enough plays, and when you don’t have enough plays, your time of possession is 40 to 19:59.”

As a result of the inability to move the ball forward, the Sun Devils’ defense gradually lost its grip in the second half and allowed 23 unanswered points.

Arizona junior quarterback Noah Fifita led the charge by throwing for 286 yards and a touchdown on a 62% completion percentage while three field goals helped put the game out of reach despite missing on three other attempts.

When junior running back Kedrick Reescano crossed the plane from the one-yard line past the two-minute warning, the Wildcats all but stuck the dagger into the Sun Devils to cement one of the more lopsided battles in the rivalry’s 99 year history.

“We got to help the defense out,” Metayer said. “Got to capitalize and we just failed them tonight. That’s more on us than them. Defense gave us a fighting chance every time.”

Considering the circumstances of what was lost on the offensive side of the ball during the homestretch of the season, ASU managing to get to eight wins is nothing short of admirable. That, however, most likely won’t be enough to ease the sting of losing the Territorial Cup and all conference title hopes by only putting one score on the board.

“The moment sucks, but the body of work; anybody that doesn’t appreciate those guys’ body of work, you just don’t like kids I guess,” Dillingham said. “They wanted to be Sun Devils. They stayed Sun Devils.”