With 6:18 left in the first half, junior punter Matt Haack lined up for his sixth straight punt to open the game for the ASU football team. Fans, restless from three straight losses and an anemic offensive performance to that point, let the team know their feelings loud and clear.
Loud "boos" and "We want Manny!" rained down from the stands upon a seemingly demoralized team and could have made the players press and fall further behind. Instead, a galvanized group came out and played some of its most complete football of the season.
The Sun Devils (5-5, 3-4 Pac-12) then reeled off 27 unanswered points to capture its fifth win of the season 27-17 over the stunned Washington Huskies.
With both teams in need of a win to keep their hopes of bowl eligibility alive, the Huskies (4-6, 2-5 Pac-12) came out of the gates with a sense of urgency the Sun Devils did not have.
On their first four drives, Washington was able to pick up plays of 17, 46, 53 and 19 yards, exploiting ASU in all phases and cruising to a 10-point lead that could have been a greater margin if Washington freshman quarterback Jake Browning had not missed open receivers.
Coach Todd Graham said the calamity of a first quarter included the first drive of the second quarter, during which both redshirt senior safety Jordan Simone and redshirt junior linebacker Laiu Moeakiola exited the game due to injury.
"That was the most chaotic first quarter I think I've ever been in," Graham said. "We lost our free safety this week in practice, then we lost Jordan, we lost Laiu and we got guys who are third team playing."
After those injuries, though, the Sun Devil defense did not get noticeably worse as was expected. Instead, ASU seemed to get better as the game went on, allowing exactly one more yard in the second half than it did in the first quarter.
Browning continued to over and underthrow receivers down the field, keeping ASU in the game just long enough for the offense to finally put together a scoring drive at the end of the first half, giving the Sun Devils momentum heading to the locker room.
While many coaches would have put together a rousing halftime performance to fire up his team, Graham said he stayed relatively calm and knew his players would find a way.
"I don't give a lot of inspirational speeches, contrary to belief," Graham said. "It's a body of work. It's about what you do every single day. So, they know, they know. I think what you try to do is you try to -- being a leader is not panicking."
After another poor drive to begin the first half, redshirt senior quarterback Mike Bercovici came alive, completing 12 of his final 14 passes for 156 yards, moving the chains for ASU and leading to 24 second half points.
The methodical offense, combined with a now-swarming defense, kept the Huskies off-balance for the entirety of the second half, letting them get into scoring position just once and forced turnovers on their final four possessions, a rarity for this iteration of ASU football.
While takeaways have not been the norm, Graham has emphasized the importance of them all season and that's what the Sun Devils are trained to do: keep the ball and take it away.
"This football team is composed of a lot character and we keep saying that over and over win or loss when you are down at halftime – all we focus on is the next snap," Bercovici said. "You’re single minded and focused on that and your defense gets takeaways."
As the Sun Devils left Frank Kush Field, a weight seemed to have been lifted off their shoulders, finally escaping a losing streak that threatened to keep them out of a bowl game. Instead, a win over rival Arizona next week stamps ASU's ticket in.
"It feels incredible," Bercovici said. "Just to see the looks on our faces from the freshman, fifth year seniors the guys, its an amazing thing to win a football game and to sing that fight song. It’s something we’ll never take for granted."
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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