Breaking Down A Former Opponent's First FBS Win

No, I'm not talking Minnesota. I'm talking ASU.

The Sun Devils managed to upend Washington on the road (impressive) and stand at 3-3 after a three game losing streak to Wisconsin (20-19), Oregon (42-31), and Oregon State (31-28).

So what happened?

I was at the Wisconsin Arizona State game in September. It was ugly, the special teams played absolutely terrible and the defense was constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the offense managed to avoid turning the ball over, the Badgers hurried Steven Threet and Jay Valai blocked a PAT to win the game.

Ugly, by all means, but still a win. Arizona State, meanwhile, took a pair of hard falls to Oregon, where they fought very hard in their home opener but couldn't pull off the upset, and Oregon State, where they got smothered by the Beavers in crunch time.

Their inability to close out games finally ended Saturday. ASU led from start to finish and held Jake Locker to 23 completions on 38 attempts (about 60.5%) a touchdown, and an interception. Locker was also sacked 3 times and held to 6 rushing yards on 11 attempts.

Threet, on the other hand, completed 21 passes on 34 attempts (about 61.8%) and a pair of touchdowns, but he threw an ill-timed INT and was sacked 3 times as well. He managed 0 yards per rush but managed to find the endzone on the ground. Freshman phemon DeAntre Lewis was held to 16 yards on 5 attempts, but Kyle Middlebrooks ran 7 times for 58 yards.

Arizona State gave up another 100 yard rusher (Chris Polk) but managed to hold on to their lead despite the suspension of Vontaze Burfict (who was suspended by Dennis Erickson for several garbage penalties in the Sun Devil loss to Oregon State). If anything, Arizona State IMPROVED without Burfict in the lineup.

Other stats:

Both kickers struggled. Erik Folk of Washington missed a pair of field goals (one was frozen by Erickson, he missed anyway), and Thomas Weber of ASU missed two as well.

Both punters were rather unimpressive. Only one of their combined six attempts landed inside the opposing 20 yard line, and there were no returns for touchdowns in the game.

Arizona State's kick return squad, which looked invincible against Wisconsin, was below average; neither returner averaged more than 20 yards per return and the longest return by the Sun Devils came on a 24 yard kick return. However, the Sun Devil punt return unit managed to get a 30 yard return that set up the only successful field goal of the game.

Perhaps Burfict's absence allowed the Sun Devils to give up another 100 yard rusher; Polk averaged 6.1 yards per carry...

So now that Arizona State has beaten their first FBS opponent, they no longer as negatively affect our strength of schedule as they once did. I'm sure our RPI will get us to the NCAA Tournament, I mean, the BCS, should we win out.