Arizona State Survives Against Washington

Arizona State came away with a 24-10 victory over the University of Washington on a cold, windy, and rainy Saturday night in Seattle.

Taylor Kelly hooked up with Jaelen Strong to open the scoring in the game with a 16-yard touchdown reception over the middle with 4:58 remaining in the first half. Zane Gonzalez tacked on a field goal with just 55 seconds left in the first half to extend the lead to 10-0.

The Washington offense was non-existent, but the UW defense picked up the slack when they notched their 6th defensive touchdown of the season when John Timu intercepted a Taylor Kelly pass and brought it 63-yards back to the house.

The Arizona State defense then came up with a key defensive stop in the red zone where they stopped Shaq Thompson on 3rd and goal and forced a 23-yard field goal with 7:14 to go in the game.

Kelly helped lead the Sun Devil attack down the field for a touchdown on their last offensive drive of the game. He lofted a ball up into the end zone while getting hit and Gary Chambers made a great read on the ball by stepping in front of his defender and made a diving catch to take a 17-10 lead.

Washington was handed one more possession to try to muster up a comeback. Troy Williams threw a 61-yard pick-six to Armand Perry while attempting a heroic comeback to seal the game for Arizona State.

Kelly finished going 14-25 for 180 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception (his first of the season). He also accrued 15 rushing attempts for just seven yards.

Demario Richard led the Arizona State rushing game with nine carries and 54 rushing yards as the Washington defense bottled up the Sun Devil running backs play-after-play.

DJ Foster had another tough game and finished with just 13 carries for 36 yards. He added four catches for 52 yards, but it was the first time this year that he was kept out of the end zone and also the first time this year he finished with under 100 all-purpose yards.

Strong grabbed a touchdown reception for the fourth consecutive game as he totalled 55 yards on just three catches.

It was a rough night yardage wise for both squads as Washington finished with 290 yards and Arizona State finished with 285. UW was 2-14 on 3rd down conversions, with ASU not much better at 3-15.

Nonetheless, the Sun Devils improved to 6-1, 4-1 on the season and gained sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 South standings and are now in control of their own future in the Pac-12 championship chase.

Arizona State will welcome Utah (6-1, 3-1) into Tempe next Saturday in a huge Pac-12 South contest.