ASU loses to No. 10 Washington as comeback bid falls short

N’Keal Harry’s 42-yard punt return suddenly gave ASU hope at a time when defeat seemed inevitable.

Down 27-13 with about seven minutes left in the game against No. 10 Washington, he fielded the punt at the three-yard line.

But, as Harry is often inclined to do, he turned it into a big play.

It allowed the Sun Devils to score a touchdown. Just like last week, ASU cut the deficit to a single possession late.

And also like last week, it looked like ASU might pull it off before an official review overturned a call that had gone in ASU’s favor.

After struggling to slow down Washington all game, ASU had forced a three-and-out. Cornerback Chase Lucas knocked wide receiver Andre Baccellia out of bounds. The Sun Devils were going to get the ball back.

But, upon review, Baccellia had toe-touched in-bounds and maintained possession going down. Washington ran the time out and won 27-20.

It was an impressive catch to make up for Baccellia’s first play of the game, in which he threw an interception to Lucas on an attempted trick play.

But that ensuing first-quarter touchdown would be the only one ASU scored until Wilkins’ run with 2:54 left in the game.

ASU managed to hang with Washington and make some big plays when needed, but for much of the game, they were soundly outplayed by the Huskies.

“Our problem is still this: We self-destruct in certain periods. In other words, a foul that takes us back, kills a drive, or we miss a tackle that allows them to get out,” ASU head coach Herm Edwards told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

“That’s the constant with us and you can’t do that against good football teams.”

Washington’s offensive line prevented ASU football from putting adequate pressure on quarterback Jake Browning or the running game all game.

While Browning consistently got inordinate amounts of time to find a receiver and the top two Husky running backs averaged more than five yards per carry, Washington slowly extended its lead out of reach.

“This team has a very good nucleus of players on offense,” Edwards said. “They hit some big passes on us, that got them going.”

The Sun Devils didn’t get a sack until Washington’s final full drive of the third quarter, when freshman linebacker Merlin Robertson finally broke through the wall of Washington to get to Browning.

There had yet to be a quarterback hit in the game that didn’t result in a sack; the closest thing to it was when Browning sniffed a first down with 1:25 left in the first half and took off, but linebacker Malik Lawal managed to get an arm around him and bring him down to end Washington’s two-minute drill attempt.

ASU only had three tackles for loss and a single sack.

Robertson, who recorded the sack, was perhaps ASU’s player of the game. With 11 tackles and a tackle for loss, he’s quickly emerging as a collegiate defender.

One of ASU’s goals Saturday was to establish the run game, something the team had failed to do the last two weeks. While they certainly did this — Eno Benjamin ran 26 times for 104 yards and Trelon Smith did eight times for 45 — there were still areas of concern.

Eighteen of Benjamin’s carries came in the first half, and six came on the very first drive.

It wasn’t a sustainable number, and ASU had to turn to Smith more often early in the second half.

Smith fumbled twice and lost one of them, which halted ASU’s drive as the team trailed 20-13.

But the run game was an obvious improvement an an area of growth that Edwards voiced optimism over after the game.

“I think the that thing we really did well this week – we ran the ball more consistently,” Edwards said. “I think that’ll help us with these last eight games that we have to play.”

It’s especially important when the passing game isn’t working.

After throwing for 958 yards in his first three games this season, quarterback Manny Wilkins struggled against Washington.

Before the final drive, he had only completed 13 of 23 passes for 75 yards.

In the final drive, Wilkins went 4-for-4 with 29 passing yards.

Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk had a 20 yard reception on a screen pass during that drive, the longest of the day. No other receiver had more than 20 yards total.

Edwards said that was a mark of Washington’s defense.

“That’s what they do,” he said. “Vertically, it’s hard to attack them. They do a nice job of really taking the vertical passes away … You have to be very accurate inside, and then they’re going to tackle you.”

ASU is now 2-2 (0-1 Pac-12) under Edwards.

Though his honeymoon phase is over, the head coach has helped ASU compete until the final play against three exceptional defenses in a row.

“We grew a little bit, especially in our run game, and I think if we can continue to do that, we’ll have a chance to win games down the stretch here,” Edwards said.

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