Oct. 11, 2003
By Brian Gomez
TheSunDevils.com
Most Arizona State football fans anticipated the offense would catch fire sooner or later, but the defense was the group that put the heat on Oregon on Saturday afternoon, turning in a gritty effort characteristic of the season's first three games.
Sparked by first-quarter interceptions from junior linebacker Jamar Williams and junior cornerback Chris McKenzie, the Sun Devil defense proved the 82 points it relinquished over the last two weeks against No. 24-ranked Oregon State and No. 9 Southern California was the exception, not the norm.
The Sun Devils held the Ducks to 14 points Saturday, marking the fewest they have given up since the Sept. 6 season opener against Northern Arizona. They accomplished the feat against a pair of Oregon quarterbacks that were similar in style, and discovered the same unsettling results.
"I'm sure both teams were a little nervous about what was going to happen if they fell behind because of the recent history in the last three or four weeks," ASU head coach Dirk Koetter said. "We needed a confidence boost. We needed a game to come out and play like we knew we could play."
The Sun Devil defense was so dominant early that Oregon didn't record its first completion until the 2:27 mark of the second quarter. That came well after Oregon senior Jason Fife replaced Oregon sophomore Kellen Clemens, who threw interceptions on his team's first two possessions.
Oregon's offensive woes started on the third play from scrimmage when Williams stepped in front of an errant pass and returned the ball 50 yards for a touchdown. ASU junior defensive end Ishmael Thrower created the initial pressure on Clemens by penetrating the pocket with a powerful rush from the outside.
"I just tried to make a break on it, and I didn't want to get tackled by anybody," said Williams, whose interception return for a touchdown marked the team's third of the season, the most since ASU ran back four picks for scores in 1980. "I saw the end zone, and I was trying my best to get into it."
On Oregon's ensuing possession, the Sun Devils needed only two plays to force another turnover. McKenzie made the stop this time, intercepting Clemens' pass when he left his man at the line of scrimmage and dropped back into coverage.
"It was the defense that was called that put me in the right position," McKenzie said. "I just made a play on the ball. I wish I could have scored, but it set up our offense to drop the ball into the end zone."
The Ducks failed to generate much momentum in the first half, mainly because ASU's defense stiffened on third-down situations. Oregon drove into the red zone late in the first quarter, only to be held scoreless when junior place-kicker Jared Siegel pushed a 40-yard field goal wide left. On the previous play, Sun Devil junior safety Riccardo Stewart sacked Clemens from the blindside, halting Oregon's chances of prolonging the promising drive.
Midway through the second quarter, the Ducks moved near midfield, but were flagged for a holding penalty before Thrower blitzed the gap untouched on third down and forced Clemens to throw the ball away.
Oregon scored on its opening drive of the second half, but ASU answered when junior quarterback Andrew Walter tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Matt Miller. The Sun Devils stopped the Ducks in their tracks on the next possession, setting up Walter's 5-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Skyler Fulton.
"Any time you start 14 points up, it's a huge cushion, but it then comes back to the killer instinct," said Walter, who finished 18-for-28 for 316 yards and three touchdowns. "Are we going to quit and just coast, or are we going to keep going? Today, we kept going."
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.