After ASU football’s loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, junior quarterback Steven Threet said he doesn’t believe in moral victories. He wanted the actual victory.
And he should have had it.
The No. 11 Badgers won the game fair and square, but for much of it, they were outplayed.
The underdog Sun Devils went into a hostile environment unlike any other and competed from start to finish, but (there is always a but with ASU) too many things went wrong.
We can’t remember a game in recent history more marred by so many “what ifs” and “coulda, woulda, shouldas.”
If not for a dropped pass, a missed field goal, a tackle at the 1-yard line, a penalty on a punt return, a toe just out of bounds or a missed passed interference call, the Sun Devils would have upset the Badgers and become just the fifth team to beat Wisconsin at home since 2004.
Oh, and there was of course the incredible blocked extra-point kick to prevent a tie with just over four minutes remaining. That was the clincher.
Of all the ways to lose a game, a blocked extra point kick could only happen to a team so familiar with large-scale failure.
With as close as the Sun Devils came to earning their most marquee victory in years, it’s hard to be happy about the positives.
Yes, Threet displayed the composure and leadership necessary to win in the Pac-10 Conference.
Yes, Deantre Lewis and Cameron Marshall showed that ASU has serious talent on special teams and a dangerous run game.
And yes, the ASU defense showed it can stop premier offenses and give the offense chances to score.
But none of it mattered Saturday when the clock ticked to zero, because ASU left Madison with a “1” in the loss column.
We will take from this game one thing that might just backfire right in our faces: hope.
If ASU can play like that for the remainder of the season, there is hope to beat teams like Washington and Stanford. There is hope to compete on the road against Oregon State and Arizona.
There’s even a tiny sliver of hope to beat Oregon and USC. If the team that nearly beat UW on Saturday shows up for the rest of the season, ASU should be bowl bound.
The fight ASU gave the Badgers is something to be proud of and much more than we expected. No one expected the Sun Devils to compete in this game, but they got on the same page and proved that they have what it takes to compete with the nation’s elite.
For that, we applaud them. And because of it, we will move forward with optimism — something not often found among ASU fans these days.
The Sun Devils made mistakes, missed opportunities and once again committed some costly penalties, but they should have won this game.
So many things just didn’t go ASU’s way Saturday, but sometimes, that’s just part of being a Sun Devil.
