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Arizona State stuns No. 6 Oregon with Walter’s record day
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The Andrew Walter-Shaun McDonald Show made a reappearance on a huge stage after a week’s absence and Arizona State has a piece of the Pac-10 lead with Washington State as a result.
Walter passed for a school-record 536 yards and four touchdowns and McDonald caught 12 passes for 204 yards and a score as the Sun Devils shocked sixth-ranked Oregon, 45-42, Saturday afternoon before a stunned audience of 56,432 at noisy Autzen Stadium.
“What a great day for the Sun Devils,” said ASU coach Dirk Koetter, as an exuberant fan kept yelling “Dirk is God! Dirk is God!”
“This a great win for Arizona State football,” Koetter said.
In handing the two-time Pac-10 champion Ducks their first loss of the season, ASU rallied from a 21-0 second quarter deficit with a 590-yard outburst after being held to 241 yards by Oregon State.
Senior Mike Barth, who missed four field goals in a three-point loss to North Carolina two Saturdays ago, booted a 29-yarder with 1:58 remaining for the deciding points.
At this point, the stage was set for another fantastic finish by the Ducks, who have made a living off winning close games and breaking the Devils’ hearts in 1999 and 2000 with last-second wins.
But Chandler junior defensive end Terrell Suggs came on a second-down blitz, hit Oregon quarterback Jason Fife, forcing a fluttering ball that cornerback Brett Hudson intercepted at the Oregon 44 and returned to the 4-yard line.
“I wasn’t having the best game,” said a beaming Hudson. “I saw the ball and I just wanted to make a play. It was a just a lucky play.”
A lucky game-deciding play that resulted from a blitz that ASU had used only once before in the game. Suggs was lined up as a linebacker instead of on the line of scrimmage.
“I wasn’t making any plays the whole game,” said Suggs, who noted the scheme had ASU rushing more than Oregon could block. “But I had one that got us the game.”
Indeed it did.
Suggs’ and Hudson’s plays made Walter’s performance a winning one.
After a slow start, the sophomore quarterback from Grand Junction, Colo., lit up the Oregon secondary. He had 406 yards _ after three quarters.
He threw a 67-yard TD pass to McDonald, then a two-point pass to the same target that drew the Devils within 35-32 heading into the fourth quarter.
On ASU’s next series, Walter threw his fourth TD pass of the day, to Justin Taplin, who emerged from virtual obscurity to catch a pair of Walter’s TD strikes.
Stunningly, the Devils (6-2, 3-0 Pac-10) were leading, 39-35.
“We’d been there before,” Hudson said, referring to the three-touchdown deficit. “We knew we had to keep our composure.”
The defense forced another three-and-out and Oregon punter Jose Arroyo shanked a 17-yarder that gave ASU field position at the ASU 42. A 44-yard field goal by Barth gave ASU a 42-35 lead.
The Ducks (6-1, 2-1) got their offense going and Fife, who threw for 288 yards, threw his third TD pass of the day, a 12-yarder to Samie Parker that tied the score at 42 with 6:55 to play.
The Devils’ intent was to eat up the clock and score, forcing Oregon to use its timeouts. They did just that, running 16 plays and getting five first downs to set up Barth’s chip shot from the Oregon 19.
“It felt really good,” Barth said. “My teammates believed in me; my coaches believed in me. I knew I’d kick one going on.
“We had no doubt we’d win this game. We believed. We believed.”
ASU trailed 21-0 21 minutes into the game. But Oregon’s offense started to sputter, and Walter, who had been sacked twice and hit on other occasions, started to get his legs.
A 22-yard TD pass to Taplin with 3:54 left in the first period flipped the switch of the explosive ASU offense.
“We just couldn’t stop them,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. “We tried some different things, tried some different personnel. Coming in, I was impressed with Andrew Walter and he lived up to my expectations. Their receivers did a great job. They’re fast and mobile and tough to cover.”
Bob Moran, East Valley Tribune, Mesa, Arizona (KRT)