SEATTLE - The air was cold, rain falling from the heavens. Arizona State graduate defensive end Tyler Johnson put his hand in the wet turf of Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium, eager to make an impact. Trailing by 10 in the third quarter, ASU had little going their way except for a touchdown on a blown Husky coverage. The Sun Devils needed a spark to get the elusive pendulum of momentum swinging.
Washington redshirt freshman quarterback Dylan Morris took the snap and pitched it to redshirt freshman tailback Cameron Davis. In the slippery conditions, Davis couldn’t hold on to the pigskin, and it trickled out of his hands and onto the turf.
Johnson’s eyes grew wider than the football field once he saw the ball bounce on the ground. Davis slipped as Johnson crouched to the turf. He scooped up the rock, found his balance, and scampered to nothing but green grass ahead of him before being knocked out of bounds 32 yards later.
It was the spark that lit Arizona State’s fire, as it went on to score 28 points in the final 25 minutes to beat Washington at home in Seattle 35-30.
“I just stuck to my keys,” Johnson told reporters postgame. “I got in leverage, saw the quarterback pitch it, and the running back was bobbling it, fumbling it. I was trying to see if he was going to dive on it or something of that sort. I ran to the ball really, scooped it, and I was gone.”
To say that the ASU defense was nails all night would be an understatement, though. On the first drive, the Sun Devils got stuffed as they had just gotten off the bus 15 minutes earlier. The UW offense scythed the group with an eight-play, 60-yard touchdown drive spanning just over four minutes. ASU’s front seven were flat. They got couldn’t hold their ground, didn’t fill gaps, and struggled to make tackles.
Much of the same came on the second drive for the defense, but this time Washington picked on the ASU secondary. Quick passing plays out towards the sidelines caught the Sun Devils off guard and away from the ball. After eight plays and 67 yards in just under four minutes, the scoreboard read 14-0 Washington.
“They hit the perimeter on us on some plays, and we didn’t get it adjusted,” ASU head coach Herm Edwards said. “They did a nice job of hitting us early with some perimeter plays… We got caught inside and didn’t have them contained. We told them we have to keep this thing inside and make them run inside, and if we do that, we can stop them and let our secondary recover.”
From that point on, the ASU secondary didn’t just recover; the entire unit did so. Washington’s next three drives resulted in a trio of consecutive punts. With 37 seconds remaining in the first half, the Huskies ran a squib kick all the way back to the ASU 46-yard line and chipped away with short passes, hoping to stretch their lead back to two scores. They got their wish, but ASU negated the touchdown, forcing UW to kick a field goal.
The Sun Devil efforts on defense held firm coming out of the halftime break. ASU forced a punt before Davis fumbled the ball Johnson’s way. Redshirt senior running back Rachaad White, who rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns against the Huskies, knew something was bound to happen that would get things going in ASU’s direction. It was Johnson, the former all-state tight end days from Gilbert’s Highland High School, who answered White’s call.
“That was a game saver right there!” White shouted excitedly. “It just felt like the momentum really shifted. We always believe in each other. (The defense) was due. I knew we were going to get a turnover.”
“I knew the defense was going to get a crazy turnover. I ain’t going to lie though, I thought Tyler would have scored, but I liked his hurdle.”
With an offense that was struggling to produce, the defense was called upon to keep the game close, to dig themselves out of the 14-point hole from the first quarter. They did serious digging in the third but pushed even more dirt in the fourth.
Thanks to a 20-play, 81-yard, nine-minute touchdown drive that put ASU within three points, the defense got a much-deserved break. The unit forced a three-and-out next time Washington touched the football, with graduate student cornerback Jack Jones nearly taking an interception back for six.
The defense tied the bow on the contest after White ran for a 10-yard touchdown to take a four-point lead with just over a minute to play. Senior linebacker Merlin Robertson stood behind the defensive front at the UW 39-yard line. Robertson read the eyes of Morris, looking to throw his way.
Morris fired his pass to a cutting receiver, going right. Robertson read it like a book and took it all the way back to the endzone for a pick-six.
Arizona State’s usual suspects on defense were the ones doing the dirty work throughout the contest. Senior linebacker Darien Butler had eight tackles, one for a loss and a pass break up. Graduate nose tackle DJ Davidson had seven tackles. Graduate linebacker Kyle Soelle had seven tackles. Once they woke up, the stars were firing on all cylinders.
In the first quarter, Washington put up 106 yards of offense. For the next three, the Huskies didn’t eclipse 60.
“We made some big stops on defense in the third and fourth quarters,” Edwards said. “The defense did a nice job of (preventing) scores (across the stretch) … Once we adjusted, we felt like we had a chance.”
Robertson’s pick-six was the cherry on top, the icing on the cake, the final exclamation mark that completed the ASU comeback. Johnson’s fumble recovery set that all into motion.
“We just play to play, fight to fight – no matter what happens, you play the next play and move on,” Johnson commented. “Obviously (we felt) down, wondering what was going wrong (in the first quarter), but at the end of the day, you play the next play. If you keep sticking to your keys, doing what you’re doing, what you’re coached, something will happen in your favor.”
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