This season looked like it would follow a similar, winding script to each of the previous two seasons for the Arizona State Sun Devils (8-5, 4-5 Pac-12), both of which ended with a win over archrival Arizona to finish the regular season followed by a bad bowl game loss to finish 7-6.

However, the Sun Devil defense took things into its own hands forcing six turnovers and even scoring the team’s only touchdown in an eventual 20-14 victory over the Florida State Seminoles (6-7, 4-4 ACC).

It marks the first time the blueblood program has finished with consecutive losing seasons since 1973-76, and for the Sun Devils their first season of eight or more wins since 2014.

“I’m happy for our seniors,” coach Herm Edwards said. “To end a season with a bowl victory for them is very important…they’ve won three (games) in a row now, this is a good way to set the 2020 season off for us. When you get invited to bowl games you earned it; this team earned it—earned it the hard way.”

Going into the game, it was hard to know what to expect from a Sun Devil team that is without both offensive coordinator Rob Likens—plus two offensive position coaches—and defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, as he took the head coaching vacancy at New Mexico, his alma mater.

“I’m happy for our coaching staff, we had to make a lot of adjustments,” Edwards said. “I know Zak Hill is excited about running our offense going forward, but we came together as a staff, a lot of guys had to coach. We had (graduate assistants) that had to coach, we had analysts all of a sudden, they had to coach.”

As the game progressed, it became evident that the offense was more adversely affected, which was somewhat understandable given that its top two skills players in running back Eno Benjamin and receiver Brandon Aiyuk both sat out the game in the best interest of their NFL futures.

Although ASU’s offense sputtered along for much of the game, it would end up being an ugly, mistake-laden game for both teams on that side of the ball. When all was said and done, the two units combined to go 6-for-32 on third downs (ASU 4-for-17, FSU 2-for-15, although got 2-of-3 fourth downs), fumble seven times—with each side losing two—and committing eight total turnovers.

“You got to give a lot of credit to both defenses,” Edwards said. “For the most part, it was led by both defenses not allowing a lot of big plays…can’t say enough about our kicker and our defense. When you get six turnovers, you should probably win a game, you really should. But with that being said, these guys kept fighting back, Florida State, you got to give them a lot of credit.”

Of course, the Sun Devil defense would prove the superior unit through the few yet significant momentum swings in this contest. Playing its first game under newly promoted defensive coordinator Tony White, who spent this season as the defensive backs coach, they intercepted sophomore FSU quarterback James Blackman four times, tallied four sacks as a result of constant pressure in the pocket, and won the tackles-for-loss battle 10-5, which was also a season-high for Arizona State.

“It means the world to us because he has been with us since last year,” senior linebacker Khaylan Kearse-Thomas said of winning this game for White in his hometown. “From just a safeties/DB’s coach to becoming a (defensive coordinator), I feel like we owed him and it showed.”

That third interception would wind up being the play of the game, as on a 3rd & 4 from deep in their own territory Blackman had a horrendous miscommunication with his receiver, throwing it behind him as he cut towards the middle of the field.

True freshman safety Willie Harts, a consistent presence all year when given the opportunity to see the field found himself in the right place at the right time and simply caught the pass and ran it 25 yards into the end zone.

“To be honest, I really didn’t see anything,” Harts commented. “I just played where coach White wanted me to and God blessed me with the opportunity to catch the ball and take it to the end zone.”

A gutsy effort on the two-point conversion from a yard out, which was a retry after FSU was called for holding senior receiver Ryan Newsome on the first attempt, by true freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels gave ASU that six-point lead it would finish the game with.

Even though Harts’ pick-six was gifted by the Seminoles, there’s no understating the importance it had in turning the game’s momentum. After leading 9-0 at halftime, the Sun Devils continued to look like they had the game in their control with a nice start to the second half defensively.

However, the offense could not stay on the field to give the defense adequate rest between series, failing to capitalize on a pair of FSU penalties and move the chains on a 1st and 5 on the half’s opening possession—due to continued inaccurate passing by Daniels—and then going three-and-out on their second third-quarter series.

“After a while in that first half, I just felt like this was a defensive game,” Edwards commented. “I just felt like defensively, we can hang in there, we were taking the ball away.”

Late in the third quarter, it was starting to look like the unit wouldn’t be able to continue hanging in there, seemingly due to the aforementioned lack of in-game breaks. A breakthrough drive by the Seminoles offense put ASU out of its comfort zone, as FSU marched 91 yards on 11 plays in 3:46, thanks to 28 rushing yards on the drive by sophomore Deonte Sheffield (game-high 87 rush yards on 18 carries), with sophomore receiver Ontaria Wilson capping it with a three-yard score on the ground.

ASU still had the lead at that point, 9-7, but it was clear the offensive urgency hadn’t changed. The ensuing drive started nicely with a 19-yard completion to true freshman wideout Ricky Pearsall. But the Sun Devils would fail to move the chains again despite another offside penalty on FSU.

Upon getting the ball back, the Seminoles wasted no time, as Blackmon aired out a 91-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Tamorrion Terry (9 receptions, 165 yards, TD- all game highs) to complete the longest pass in the 86-year history of the Sun Bowl. This gave FSU its first lead of the ballgame, 14-9, heading into the final quarter.

“We just want to be that unstoppable defense that goes out there and plays hard and keeps playing,” senior defensive back Kobe Williams said. “Just knowing we’re going to make them drive and keep playing our game. I just went over there and (told everyone to) put their heads up and just tell them ‘let’s keep going, that’s ball.’

“That’s playing DB, getting beat on a little move or something like that, that’s just ball, and those guys were going to make plays, they’re athletic, we knew they were athletic coming into the game, so just kept going.”

This is precisely what the unit did, as the offense helped restore some momentum with a 12-play, 59-yard drive spanning from the end of the third quarter highlighted by a 27-yard scramble by Daniels on 3rd & 10, which was followed by a trick play that saw true freshman quarterback Ethan Long sling a pass to fellow true freshman, tight end Nolan Matthews, which drew a pass interference penalty.

ASU found itself 13 yards from the end zone after those plays, and even though they couldn’t quite find the end zone—as was the case all day—sophomore kicker Cristian Zendejas came through once again, hitting a 34-yard field goal for his fourth of the game, cutting FSU’s lead to 14-12 early in the fourth.

“A little bit,” Zendejas, the game’s special teams MVP, answered to a question asking if his leg was sore. “I was just ready, I just wanted to end the season strong…for our whole unit, it just shows how strong we’ve been working. My snapper, Erik Dickerson, and holder, Kevin Macias, have been working and they just put the ball down for me and make it easy.”

Harts’s aforementioned interception for a touchdown would happen on the ensuing FSU possession, but ASU’s offense made it far from easy for the defense to maintain that six-point advantage in the final 10 minutes.

Thanks to a pair of three-and-outs by the Sun Devil offense in that timespan, it took a fourth-down stuffing of Sheffield by sophomore linebacker Darien Butler, then an acrobatic interception by Kearse-Thomas on an ill-advised screen pass from Blackman, and finally a forced fumble by sophomore linebacker Merlin Robertson (his second of the game) and a recovery by Tyler Johnson to seal the deal.

“(The program) has changed tremendously,” Kearse-Thomas commented. “It’s like (the movie) Coming to America from a dictatorship…just the freedom…coach Herm allows us to be us, and a couple of years back we couldn’t do that, and it played a role with the success of ASU. I feel like (Herm) letting the kids be kids is a big step for the program.”

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