Desert Storm Arizona State University 13 Washington 7

The worst case scenario happened. The Washington Football team cruised high towards a bye week. But the Arizona State Sun Devils shot them right out of the sky for their first, and crippling, loss

It was a bad weekend for nationally ranked schools. Clemson lost. Washington State lost. But despite those teams falling, the Washington Football team seemed impervious to upset. After all, Arizona State struggled on defense to shut down scoring. And the Washington offense scored a ton of points. Except when they didn’t. Like the game yesterday, held at Tempe Arizona on October 14, 2017.

On a night when SOMETHING had to go right, nothing did. Literally nothing did.  The score ended at  Arizona State 13, Washington 7. But the game hurt the eyes. Washington never had any real momentum.  The team never seemed to truly make adjustments.  The offense never really got on track. And worst of all, the defense never seemed to come up with that one big play which changed the game’s momentum.

Defense did their part, almost

The Washington defense did hold the Arizona State running game to 40 yards.  But enough of the game highlights. It was a comedy of errors for the Washington Huskies. Rather a tragic comedy.  This was not the game to lose. This was not the way to lose.

Even that stalwart defense, which kept the Huskies in the game on the scoreboard at least, had meaningful mental lapses. The last true chance for the Huskies came at the 1:56 mark. Arizona State went for it on fourth down. On the ugliest play I’ve seen in some time, Manny Wilkins completed a pass to Ceejhay French-Love for 30 yds to the Washington 7 for a first down. That pass seemed to bounce off the helmet of JoJo McIntosh. Had McIntosh gotten a hand up, or even intercepted that one, The narrative would have been different.

On that play, cornerback Jordan Miller was involved in a rather rough injury to his lower leg. They immediately applied the inflatable cast to immobilize his leg and he was carted off the field. Speculation leads us to believe he is out for the rest of the season.  But there was a good sign today:

Many little missed opportunities combined into one big opportunity

In retrospect, the Washington Huskies missed many opportunities. Two missed chip shot field goals by Van Soderberg.  And to top that off, the most impressive play of the game, a blazing touchdown run by Salven Ahmed, was called back thanks to a holding penalty from the offensive line.

In the end, Arizona State University came to play. Washington never truly showed up.  Arizona State University has now won 11 of the last 12 games against the Huskies.  That confidence was something we warned about.  In fact, in predictions months ago, I had this one circled as a near upset.  Well, the upset happened.

The aftermath

The Huskies will fall in the rankings. With Utah, Stanford, and Washington State remaining on the schedule, winning out the rest of the season will get them to the Pac-12 championship.  But after that?

Alabama, Penn State, Georgia, TCU, Wisconsin all remain undefeated. The ranks of one-loss team goes on and on.  The Washington Football team suffered one more loss to Arizona State. But now, they need help to reenter the NCAA playoff discussion. That’s disappointing. This Washington defense, battered and bruised, remains one of the best in the nation. Now, they may not be called up for the best stage in the country.

Next: How do you catch the game Washington at Arizona State?

This loss stings like scorpion venom. It’s just a loss, but it happened at the worst place in the schedule in a very listless manner. Visions of quarterback Jake Browning running in circles to lose more and more ground, McIntosh’s “DOINK” play, missed field goals, and that Ahmed run plagued my restless sleep.

Arizona State came out shooting.  Washington came out and repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. I hope the Huskies improve their aim in two weeks.