Graham: ASU ‘reaches down deep’ in tough situations

Arizona State had itself a frightening third quarter last year against Notre Dame, too.

And just like last year, there was a fourth quarter comeback. But while 2013’s attempt fell three points short, this year’s was an opening of the floodgates that led to a 24-point victory over the Fighting Irish.

ASU head coach Todd Graham spoke Monday of the 28 unanswered points from Notre Dame in the third and half of the fourth quarters.

“You have to give them credit,” he admitted. “They made plays and we turned the ball over. For the first time in a couple weeks, we blew a couple of coverages and let them have walk off touchdowns, but they are also a very good football team.”

But what really impressed Graham was the way his team responded to that adversity.

Really, they’ve been doing it all year. The fourth quarter against Notre Dame was just a microcosm of what the team accomplished post-UCLA, winning the next five, mostly against formidable opponents. It also seems to reflect what the team faced at the beginning of the season, losing nine defensive players before morphing into a ball-hawking, pick-six-grabbing, fumble-forcing machine.

“This team has a will where they know how to reach down deep,” said Graham.

“You got to go to that place; that’s where greatness happens. When things are so hard and you’re about to fall over and you’re hurting, that’s when great things happen and you got to know how to go to that place mentally.”

D.J. Foster never left it.

The running back held together the strands of ASU’s lost momentum in the third quarter against Notre Dame. He ran with authority. He powered the ball downfield consistently, carrying the ball 21 times for 120 yards throughout the game, averaging 5.5 yards per carry. With a skosh over six minutes left, and Notre Dame within three points, Foster carried the ball 31 yards over three plays to help set up a Demario Richard touchdown.

“I thought D.J. had an attitude about how he played,” said Graham. “I was so impressed.”

Marcus Hardison found “that place mentally” too, or, as Graham says, “A light has come on in the last two games.”

The defensive tackle added an interception and his team-high sixth sack of the year to his resume against Notre Dame, as well as the “absolute quarterback menace” to his character profile.

“I think he has garnished more attention from the performance he had on Saturday as a player and as a future player,” said Graham. “He flat out lit it up. That was the most dominating performance he has had.”

Against Oregon State on Saturday night, the Sun Devils need to continue to stay in the place Graham describes. One false move now — one extra set of weak series — and Arizona State’s Pac-12 South title contention could vanish.

And while Oregon State, at 4-5, is plagued by injuries and a defense that has given up at least 30 points in six of nine games this season, they’re still coached by one of the more respected figureheads in college football, Mike Riley.

Riley is currently taking some heat for the recent woes in Corvallis, but he won’t be underestimated by Graham and his staff.

“Just from watching his teams play, the toughness is what stands out. They are going to play you hard especially up front on both sides of the ball,” Graham said. “They are so well-coached from a schematics stand point and they use their personnel so well.”

Graham went over how he goes about preparing for such a game on Monday, but he emphasized the importance of hunger for his team, especially as they prepare to face a team they’ve historically handled. As the Sun Devils prepare to face the Beavers for the 40th time Saturday, they bring a 27-12 record to the contest.

“These guys have had a lot of close and emotional wins, and I think they understand that they need to always be prepared, especially in a conference like the Pac-12 where every team can beat you,” said Graham of his team. “We just go about our business and really work hard on being focused and being proactive. We have been focused keeping our guys humble and hungry.”

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