Oct. 14, 2000
TEMPE, Ariz. - Washington took winning ugly to the extreme Saturday night.
Yet after his team lost five fumbles, threw an interception, had a field goal blocked and was called for a safety because of a holding penalty in its own end zone, coach Rick Neuheisel could see the beauty in a 21-15 victory over Arizona State.
"There are going to be all sorts of things from a coaching standpoint that we'll talk about that just have to be corrected," Neuheisel said, "but from a character standpoint and from a gut-check standpoint, it was an absolute thing of beauty in terms of how we kept coming back.
"We had adversity at every door, yet we found a way to win the game."
Freshman Rich Alexis scored on an 86-yard run and No. 11 Washington set up two TDs by blocking a punt and recovering one of the game's nine lost fumbles.
Washington (5-1, 2-1 Pac-10) fumbled the ball away four times in its own territory, but the Sun Devils (1-2, 4-2) only could convert the mistakes into field goals of 27 and 24 yards by Mike Barth.
Alexis gained 127 yards in 16 carries and didn't fumble.
"I was just thinking about holding onto the ball," he said. "I didn't want to drop it. I didn't want to fumble it. I just wanted to hold it real tight and run real hard for the team."
A week ago, Washington's offense bailed out the defense in a 33-30 victory over Oregon State. This week, it was the other way around.
"I don't know how many turnovers we had. I stopped counting after awhile," Arizona State coach Bruce Snyder said. "But those were killers."
Arizona State's Griffin Goodman and Jeff Krohn combined to complete just 15 of 46 passes for 202 yards.
"I think we're still trying to find an identity at quarterback," Snyder said. "We still haven't found one yet."
Washington's Marques Tuiasosopo completed 13 of 30 passes for 110 yards and a touchdown.
"It was not a pretty game," Tuiasosopo said in a major understatement. "We were just barely able to hold on. ASU is tough. It could have gone either way."
Goodman started but was relieved by Krohn in the second quarter. Krohn, a redshirt freshman, started the first three games of the season but missed the last two with mononucleosis. He finished 12-for-33 for 202 yards and a touchdown and was intercepted twice.
"Maybe I was a little rusty but I don't think that should be an excuse or anything," he said. "They didn't surprise us with anything. I've just got to execute better."
The safety with 5:08 to play cut the lead to 21-8. After the free kick, Krohn threw 45 yards to Justin Taplin to the Washington 10, then threw a 4-yard touchdown pass on Todd Heap to make it 21-15 with three minutes to go. But the Sun Devils never got the ball back.
The Huskies' offense had managed only scoring drives of 5 yards after freshman Matt Cooper's blocked punt and 14 yards after Arizona State fumbled away a punt return before Alexis broke free up the middle on his 86-yarder that made it 21-6 with 12:29 to play.
With Arizona State leading 6-0, Cooper blocked Nick Murphy's punt, then fell on the ball at the Sun Devils' 5. Cooper graduated from high school in nearby Gilbert and is the son of Bruce Cooper, a sportscaster at KPNX-TV in Phoenix.
Two plays later, Tuiasosopo threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Wondame Davis to put Washington up 7-6 with 5:45 left in the half.
Arizona State threatened to take the lead early in the third quarter when Derrick Johnson fumbled a punt return and the Sun Devils' Christon Rance recovered at the Washington 33.
But on third-and-7 at the Huskies' 20, Krohn fumbled under intense pressure. Washington's Tyler Krambrick recovered and rambled 23 yards to the Arizona State 38 before he fumbled, too. Wilbur Hooks recovered for the Huskies at the 38. Washington's threat fizzled when John Anderson's 36-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Mike Pinkard.
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer