By John Sleeper
Herald Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. – Talk about your basic turnaround.
Several, in fact.
As good as the Washington Huskies were in the first half Saturday night – and they were the best they’ve been all season – they were that bad in the second half.
The Arizona State Sun Devils roared back from a pair of 17-point deficits to take a pair of one-point advantages.
It wasn’t enough. John Anderson kicked a 30-yard field goal with no time left for the latest fourth-quarter comeback, a 33-31 Pacific-10 Conference victory, Washington’s 18th final-frame comeback in coach Rick Neuheisel’s 24 wins with the school.
On the strength of a fourth-quarter drive lasting more than six minutes, the No. 13 Huskies edged ASU. The latest predicament had Washington starting its drive on its own 12-yard line with 7:12 left.
Seven minutes, 9 seconds and 18 plays later, Anderson hit the game-winner.
The Huskies are 6-1 in Pac-10 play, 4-1 overall. ASU fell to 1-3 and 4-3.
Paced by a third-string tailback named Tom Pace, the Sun Devils scored 18 unanswered points in a 7 1/2-minute span during the second and third quarters. All the quality play and resulting momentum the Huskies built in the first 18 minutes of the game was nuked by a combination of penalties, big ASU plays and their own sleepwalking.
In the first half, in what was their most impressive showing to date, the Huskies hammered away at a beleaguered ASU squad, badly beating the Sun Devils in all facets of the game.
When tailback Willie Hurst (185 yards, 21 carries) wasn’t juking Sun Devils defenders out of their socks, quarterback Cody Pickett was playing the ASU secondary for the young freshmen they actually are.
In the first half alone, Pickett was 14 of 24 passing for 164 yards and two touchdowns, to Reggie Williams and Todd Elstrom. They and wideout Paul Arnold (seven catches, 94 yards before halftime) waylaid the young ASU secondary with puzzling ease.
Then there was Hurst, who took it easy during most of the week’s practices with a thigh bruise. All Hurst did was run for 86 yards on seven first-half carries, showing all those who thought the UW running game was dead that it was, indeed, very much kicking.
But to overlook the defense would be a mistake.
The front seven harassed quarterback Jeff Krohn into two first-half turnovers deep in his own territory that turned into 10 UW points.
The Huskies got on the board first on a 3-yard pass from Pickett to Elstrom. Pickett was 5-for-7 on the all-pass drive for 54 yards. On the drive, Pickett hit Arnold for a 22-yard gain to the ASU 3.
The Huskies made it 14-0 early in the second quarter on a 11-yard fade pass from Pickett to Reggie Williams, whose 6-foot-4 frame easily outreached 5-11 redshirt freshman corner Emmanuel Franklin.
Washington took advantage of a fumbled snap between ASU center Scott Peters and Krohn to get three points off a 31-yard field goal by Anderson. Linebacker Jamaun Willis recovered Krohn’s fumble.
After Krohn hit tight end Mike Pinkard with a 23-yard scoring pass, the Huskies made it 24-7 in short order.
Linebacker Anthony Kelley intercepted a screen pass by Krohn at the Sun Devil 20-yard line. Five plays later, Pickett scored on a 2-yard run.
The Sun Devils cut it to 24-10 at the half on a 42-yard field goal by Barth.
The Sun Devils cut it further early in the third quarter on a 10-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 3-yard run by Pace. That made it a 24-17 UW lead with 10:21 left in the third quarter.
The game went ASU’s way further when they held Washington to a three-play-and-out drive. Donnie O’Neal blocked a Derek McLaughlin punt, and as UW’s Omare Lowe chased the ball into the end zone, he kicked the ball out of the end zone for a safety. That cut the UW lead to 24-19 with 9 1/2minutes left in the third quarter.
The Sun Devils took a 25-24 lead on the ensuing possession when Krohn hit Shaun McDonald on a 33-yard scoring strike. Two attempts at a two-point conversion failed (corner Chris Massey was called for a personal foul on Krohn on a pass play and Owen Biddle stopped Pace on a running play) and the Sun Devils led for the first time.
Hurst gave the Huskies a 30-25 lead at the end of the third quarter with a 23-yard run that capped a 74-yard, six-play drive. Pickett and wideout Pat Reddick combined on a 32-yard strike to the ASU 23, which was the big pay of the drive.
Hurst’s attempt to score the two-point conversion failed, leaving the UW lead at 25-24.
It took ASU two minutes to re-take the lead. Krohn hit Shaun McDonald on a 43-yard pass play to the UW 1, and from there, Delvon Flowers ran it over for a 31-30 ASU lead.
Krohn’s pass to McDonald on the two-point conversion came up short, and the Sun Devils held on to a one-point lead.
But against the Huskies, a one-point lead just isn’t enough.
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