Phoenix, AZ—This season has been nothing short of uncertainty for the Sun Devils. They are weathering the interim change in their head coach as well as continual players entering the transfer portal. But today, they didn’t allow the dust from previous weeks to deter them from their goal to win.
Arizona State (2-4, 1-2 Pac-12) defeated the #21 ranked Washington Huskies (4-2) 45-38 for a Pac-12 win. This is the Sun Devils’ first win under the interim head coach Shaun Aguano. The Huskies lost their first game of the season on the road against UCLA last week.
Washington struggled defensively in last week’s loss to the Bruins and continued to have breakdowns as injuries mounted against the Sun Devils to remain winless in Tempe since 2001 (eight games).
“Second week in a row coming down to the wire,” Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said. “We’re giving ourselves a chance to win the game, but we’ve got to do a better job earlier in the game. We’re just digging ourselves a hole.”
Many of the Huskies fans and players probably figured that when the Sun Devils starting quarterback Emory Jones went down with an injury midway through the second quarter that it was all over for them. But they had a rude awakening. Trenton Bourguet came on the field with a mission and he got the job done for the Sun Devils. Turner had just returned from a month long leg injury to him being ejected for the targeting call that took Jones out of the game.
“He’s not the tallest or the strongest, but he has the traits to be a good quarterback,” Aguano said. “Once you have that opportunity, make sure you take advantage of it and he did that.”
Bourguet threw three touchdowns, 15 for 21 for a total of 182 yards. Definitely not bad for the backup quarterback. Bourguet’s touchdown were to Xazavian Valladay on a 14-yard td pass, Elijhah Badger on a 10-yard td strike, and a 2-yard td pass to Badger in the second, third, and fourth quarter respectively.
“Once you get smacked in the mouth enough times you’re going to get up and land the first and last punch,” said Arizona State’s Xazavian Halladay, who amassed for 133 yards and two touchdowns.
Halladay scored on an 11-yard up the gut and Bourget followed with a 14-yard TD pass to Halladay, throwing into the flat with a blitzing edge rusher in his face.
The Sun Devils went up 24-10 when Michael Penix Jr. pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and Jordan Clark pick it off and took it 38-yards to paydirt.
The Huskies had the momentum for a bit trimming the lead to 24-17 at halftime on Wayne Taulapapa’s 1-yard TD plunge.
After Arizona State stuffed the Huskies on fourth-and-1 at their own 32, Bourguet followed with another dime throw with pressure in his face, finding Badger in the back of the end zone for a 10-yard TD and a 31-17 lead.
This win was a collective effort from both sides of the ball. The Sun Devils defense shut down the Huskies quarterback Penix Jr and made him uncomfortable in the pocket. Penix Jr., the nation’s leading passer, continued his passing streak against ASU by throwing for 311 yards.
Cameron Davis led the Huskies with his three touchdowns and had 9 carries and 77 rushing yards. Although there were no passing touchdowns, the Huskies rallied back from a two touchdown deficit and tied the game in the fourth quarter with a little over twelve minutes left. This came off an interception by Bourguet and caught by Davon Banks allowing the Huskies to score off five plays for 38 yards to tie the game. But Arizona was able to move the ball effectively in the last four minutes of the game to close it out.
During the post game interview Huskies coach Kalen DeBoar said, “They key is they can be upset,” now saddled with 8 and 7 point losses at the season’s halfway point. But we’ve got to make sure we move on because there’s a lot of football to be played. We’re a 4-2 team and we’re disappointed at what’s happened the last two weeks.”
NEXT GAME:
ASU: October 22, 2022 @ 1:00 pm vs Stanford Cardinal
Huskies: October 15, 2022 @ 2:30 pm vs University of Arizona Wildcats
