TEMPE, Ariz. — When the Washington Huskies last took the field at Sun Devil Stadium, they looked as if they hadn’t practiced in weeks.
They seemed unprepared, unfocused and uninterested, and they trailed 24-0 at halftime in a game they eventually lost … to the Oklahoma State Cowboys. In the Cactus Bowl. In January.
See? Even when Arizona State isn’t involved, the Huskies can’t seem to elude misery in the desert.
And especially not in Tempe, where Washington hasn’t won since 2001 — incidentally, that’s also the last time the Huskies beat ASU, a drought that spans nine games — but can take an important step toward bowl eligibility if it can snap that streak on Saturday afternoon.
The Sun Devils find themselves in similar position. The teams have the same overall and Pac-12 record (4-5 and 2-4), though UW likely feels a little better about that than ASU — the Sun Devils were picked by media to finish second in the Pac-12 South, they were ranked 15th in the preseason AP top 25 poll, and coach Todd Graham told anyone who would listen that this is the best team he’s had in his four seasons at ASU (a particularly bold statement, considering they finished 10-3 last season).
The Huskies, meanwhile, were picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 North, and most outsiders believed this to be a rebuilding year of sorts. So simply qualifying for a bowl game might be a feat that by itself would exceed expectations.
But that will be more difficult to accomplish if the Huskies don’t beat ASU. UW needs two victories in its final three games — at ASU, at Oregon State and home against Washington State — to reach the six-win mark. They’ll be expected to beat the hapless Beavers, but the Cougars have played well enough to believe that the Apple Cup will be the Huskies’ most challenging remaining game (and it’s probably worth more than nothing that WSU beat ASU last week by two touchdowns).
UW coach Chris Petersen sees the parallel between the Huskies and Sun Devils.
“I think they have a lot of similar feelings to what we have,” Petersen said. “We’ve been in some games where we’ve had a chance to win and we just haven’t been able to get over the hump.
“We know the type of talent those guys have. But we also know how hard this league is, and anything can happen. Some of that has happened to them like it’s happened to us. But this is a good football team. If we’re paying attention to their record, then we’re paying attention to completely the wrong thing.”
They will surely pay attention to ASU’s sack total. The Sun Devils rank fourth nationally both in total sacks (32) and sacks per game (3.56), numbers achieved via relentless blitzing from all angles.
That will be a challenge for freshman quarterback Jake Browning and UW’s offense, which allows 2.67 sacks per game despite ranking 86th nationally in total pass attempts.
“They’re disruptive, there’s no question,” offensive coordinator Jonathan Smith said. “They’re an aggressive defense, come from a lot of different angles, bring a lot of different guys, and you can see they just fly around and play pretty hard.”
Against the Huskies, they always do.
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