It started in the opening quarter and snowballed from there.
Connor Halliday made it look easy as he dissected the ASU football team’s secondary with one pass after another. The Sun Devils’ (6-4, 4-3 Pac-12) defensive backs struggled to contain the redshirt freshman quarterback and his wide receivers in Washington State’s stunning 37-27 win in Pullman.
The Cougars (4-6, 2-5) entered Saturday’s contest second in the Pac-12 in passing offense with 2,684 yards and an average of 298.2 passing yards per game.
ASU’s once experienced secondary has been stretched thin this season and it certainly showed against WSU.
Halliday had a field day as he picked apart the Sun Devil secondary throughout the game. He completed 27 of his 36 pass attempts for an incredible 494 yards and four touchdowns.
Halliday broke the Cougars’ freshman passing record with his 400-plus yard game. Drew Bledsoe, who threw for 385 yards at California in 1990, previously held the mark.
“They had some big plays,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “The same thing happened to us last week and the bottom line is we aren’t playing well.”
Five different WSU wide outs hauled in passes as they combined for an incredible 503 receiving yards. Sophomore Marquess Wilson led the charge with eight catches for 223 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Isiah Barton collected seven receptions for 155 yards and a touchdown.
Then there was senior Jared Karstetter, who snared six catches for 63 yards of his own, and redshirt freshman Rickey Galvin finished with five receptions for 45 yards.
In the first quarter, Halliday took advantage of blown coverage by the Sun Devils when he connected with Wilson on an 85-yard touchdown pass.
With 1:15 to go in the first half, the secondary yielded another Wilson touchdown, this time from 23 yards.
The Cougars were far from finished as Halliday tacked on a 19-yard scoring pass and a 17-yarder at 8:55 in the fourth quarter.
When WSU wasn’t finding the end zone, there was no shortage of completions that ASU was unable to halt.
In Halliday’s second series under center, he found Wilson on a 27-yard completion. Barton then caught a 31-yard pass that preceded a WSU field goal in the second quarter.
ASU’s secondary had no answer for the Cougars on their scoring drive that began with 4:15 left in the half. WSU reeled off completions for 15, 7, 10, 13 and 23 yards.
The Cougars out passed ASU 113 to 107 in the first half alone, and the struggle to contain WSU’s skilled receivers continued in the third quarter
A 44-yard completion to Barton moved the chains downfield, as the Cougars eventually scored on Halliday’s 19-yarder to Wilson.
After ASU failed to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, WSU put the game out of reach thanks to Wilson’s 25-yard catch to the Cougar 46 yard line and his acrobatic 29-yard reception at the Sun Devils’ one-yard mark.
Opponents have collected plenty of long completions in recent weeks. One week earlier in Pasadena, UCLA torched ASU’s secondary on a 33-yard pass completion in a third and 29 situation. That conversion proved crucial as the Bruins scored just three plays later and the Sun Devils’ lost.
Just weeks ago, the ASU secondary appeared to be in good shape despite injuries to players such as senior cornerback Omar Bolden and redshirt freshman cornerback Devan Spann.
ASU’s defense owned 13 interceptions entering the game against WSU with 10 of those picks coming from a member of the secondary. Yet, the Sun Devils were unable to corral any of Halliday’s passes on Saturday.
The Sun Devil secondary will face another pass heavy offense next week when UA comes to Tempe for the annual Territorial Cup. The Wildcats average 464.2 yards of offense per game and UA led the conference in passing offense with 290 completions. Heading into Saturday, senior quarterback Nick Foles led the Pac-12 with 3,255 passing yards this season.
Reach the reporter at greg.dillard@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
