The 5: Most memorable wins of the Todd Graham era at ASU
Dec 9, 2017, 7:24 AM | Updated: 11:37 am
Todd Graham’s tenure as the Arizona State head football coach started with a bang. A 63-6 win over Northern Arizona would mark the biggest victory of his six years leading the Sun Devils (barring a bigger win over N.C. State in the Sun Bowl), but the thrills didn’t end there.
Between that and Graham’s sweep of rival Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium to end the 2017 season, there were more than a handful of memorable victories.
Here are five with an extended list of some of the most memorable wins by Graham’s Sun Devils.
A big, confusing nonconference win – 2013
A Territorial Cup win over No. 24 Arizona in 2012 marked ASU’s first victory over a ranked opponent under Graham, but a 32-30 home win against No. 20 Wisconsin in the second game of 2013 was a sign the Sun Devils were about to do big things.
And it was a wild one. At least, the ending was.
Attempting to score a go-ahead touchdown, the Badgers quickly marched down the field and with 18 seconds left attempted to spot the ball in the middle of the field for their kicker. But quarterback Joel Stave put the ball on the ground without taking a knee as he ran into his teammate, confusing the officials and ASU.
Did Stave give himself up? Did he take a knee? Did he fumble?
The Sun Devils jumped on the ball, the officials stared at the scrum as the clock continued to run and Wisconsin realized — too late — they suddenly didn’t have enough time to kick their field goal. The game ended, and the Pac-12 reprimanded the referees for, well, not doing anything.
Beyond that, it was a huge victory for Arizona State, which got four rushing touchdowns out of Marion Grice, 104 receiving yards from Jaelen Strong and 352 passing yards from quarterback Taylor Kelly.
“Jael Mary” stuns Trojans – 2014
Final snap. Forty-six yards to go. Mike Bercovici heaved a pass that looked like it would either be intercepted or batted down by USC defenders that had settled in the end zone. That didn’t happen. Strong sprinted into the fold and grabbed the Hail Mary pass with no time left to give ASU a 38-34 win in The Coliseum.
The most memorable play of the Graham era, some might forget, was set up by a rally of a fourth quarter.
The Sun Devils scored on a 10-play, 98-yard drive to cut their deficit to two points, then followed a quick USC touchdown with a 73-yard touchdown pass from Bercovici to Cam Smith. After a three-and-out forced, it came down to Bercovici taking ASU 72 yards in just 23 seconds — a 26-yard completion to Gary Chambers set up the legendary strike to Strong.
Beating the No. 16 Trojans was the first of five straight ASU wins in the heart of their 2014 schedule.
No luck for the Irish – 2014
The last of ASU’s five straight wins in 2014 pitted the 11th-ranked Sun Devils against No. 8 Notre Dame.
The Devils came out on fire, jumping to a 34-3 lead over the game’s first 29 minutes. Notre Dame did get on the board right before the half and carried momentum into the third quarter — a 28-0 stretch that pulled them to within three points midway through the fourth quarter.
In the final 4:30, Graham’s team exploded for three touchdowns, including Lloyd Carrington’s 58-yard interception return for a score to cap a 55-31 win.
A wild win in Westwood – 2015
You knew when you saw it that Kalen Ballage hadn’t skipped leg day.
From 23 yards out and with 45 seconds left, the Arizona State running back made contact with a handful of UCLA defenders three yards past the line of scrimmage but backpedaled himself — standing upright — all the way to the end zone to cap a 38-23 win over No. 7 UCLA.
The win by the 2-2 ASU team helped it rebound from a 42-14 loss against No. 19 USC a week prior.
It said a lot that the Sun Devils shut down freshman quarterback Josh Rosen (22-of-40 for 280 yards) and running back Paul Perkins (63 rushing yards on 18 carries), lending brief hope to a year that began with huge expectations but became lost with the showing against the Trojans and a season-opening defeat against Texas A&M.
Shutting down the Huskies – 2017
When Arizona State hosted then 5th-ranked Washington in October, it had been awhile since the Sun Devils had beaten a top-5 team. In fact, ASU’s improbable 19-0 shutout that fueled the team’s run to a Pac-10 title in 1996 was the last time they achieved the feat.
Oddsmakers didn’t give the Devils much hope either as the Huskies took Frank Kush Field as 17.5-point favorites.
For 60 minutes though, none of that mattered.
Kalen Ballage capped a methodical, 16-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown on ASU’s first possession and the Sun Devils never looked back. Freshman kicker Brandon Ruiz hit two second-quarter field goals and the defense did the rest. Arizona State’s maligned unit sacked Jake Browning five times and held Washington to 230 total yards to finish off the upset.
Honorable mentions
2016 vs. Texas Tech (68-55) — Ballage ran wild in a game that featured 1,264 total yards. The junior running back tied an NCAA record by scoring eight touchdown in ASU’s win, including seven rushing scores.
2014 Sun Bowl vs. Duke (36-31) — Ballage’s 96-yard return to set up a game-winning score and Kweishi Brown’s interception in the end zone with 45 seconds left made it a nailbiter.
2013 vs. USC (62-41) — Grice rushed for two touchdowns and caught two more in a game that led to the Trojans firing coach Lane Kiffin upon their return to Los Angeles.
2012 Territorial Cup vs. No. 24 Arizona (41-34) — ASU outscored Arizona 24-7 in the fourth quarter to rally from down 27-17 in Graham’s first rivalry game.
