ASU needs to pull out all the stops if it hopes to upset No. 4 Washington
Certain things guarantee attention in college football: national TV, a top-five opponent, a headline-making head coach.
Look for all that and more in Tempe on Saturday night when Arizona State welcomes No. 4 Washington to Sun Devil Stadium.
The problem is, there’s good attention and bad attention, and I’m afraid this is going to be the latter for ASU — unless coach Todd Graham with his “I’ll fight you” attitude and the program’s secret weapon, offensive coordinator Billy Napier, can find a way to exploit the underdog’s ultimate advantage: They might not know karate, but they damn sure know crazy.
ASU might be the best team Washington has faced this year, but Las Vegas odds have the Huskies favored to win by more than two touchdowns.
Washington, the reigning Pac-12 champ, has out-
scored opponents this season 258-61. The 6-0 Huskies haven’t allowed more than 16 points in any game and have held Montana, Oregon State and Cal to just seven.
UW Coach Chris Petersen, a star since leading Boise State to the shocking upset win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, drew extra attention recently by saying games out West start too late for fans in most of the country to watch.
For ASU, these aren’t ideal circumstances for a game being broadcast by ESPN. (Plus, we all know that I believe Graham is coaching for his job on a week-to-week basis. From my perspective, one embarrassing loss could prompt Ray Anderson, ASU’s athletic director, to make a switch in season. Anderson, for his part, has said he’s not considering hypotheticals and supports his coach.)
The Devils might have an easier time getting Donald Trump to delete his Twitter account than beating the Huskies, but it’s worth examining how a massive upset would go down, if ASU were to pull it off.
“When a team is home in front of their crowd, against an undefeated conference opponent, things can change,” said former Chicago Bears safety Doug Plank, an analyst for Sports USA Media who watched practice Thursday.
“You go to some other team’s hometown, in their home stadium and their fans start screaming and yelling and going crazy, all of the sudden the team that you saw on tape isn’t the same anymore.”
Plank said there’s no reason for a heavy underdog to play a standard game plan, and that wild-card element should scare good teams.
He should know: Plank played in the NFL for the ultimate mad genius, Buddy Ryan (we, of course, are overlooking Ryan’s time with the Cardinals and focusing on his tenure as Bears defensive coordinator.) Plank was the original centerpiece of Ryan’s 46 Zone. The name came from Plank’s jersey number, 46, and it stuck even after Plank retired in 1982.
Plank said Ryan’s schemes were impossible to decipher. “Watch Todd, you can’t figure out some of his blitzes, either.”
Graham has proved he’ll play aggressively and take risks, with an onside kick against Oregon and a willingness to go for it on fourth down.
ASU radio analyst and program legend Jeff Van Raaphorst agrees that the Sun Devils should keep cutting loose. “We need to be a little bit unpredictable from a play-calling perspective,” he said.
That’s where Napier comes in. As a wide receivers coach at Alabama last season, he helped game plan for Washington in the College Football Playoff. The Tide beat the Huskies 24-7 in the Peach Bowl, behind a dominant rushing attack.
ASU’s ground game has improved, but don’t look for that to be where the offense puts its focus.
“They’ve got a great front,” Napier said by phone Thursday evening. “They’ve got a couple players in particular that require your attention.”
He noted that the Huskies have good linebackers, made even better by the stout line, plus returning starters at safety.
“You’ve got to adapt what you’re trying to do” against a defense that dominant and fundamentally sound, Napier said.
The guess here is Napier will leverage N’Keal Harry, who’s as good as any player in college football at his position. Harry showed what he could do against single-coverage against Oregon, stuffing the Ducks for 170 yards and a touchdown.
If Washington walks a safety over to double Harry, that’s likely going to leave someone else in single coverage. It’ll be up to Manny Wilkins to identify that and for the secondary receiver to make the play.
Should that happen, Napier thinks his team will be fine.
“We spread the ball around pretty good,” he said. “I think we’ve had five guys go over 100 yards in a game receiving.”
He added: “Manny’s making good decisions and taking what the defense gives him.”
This is another educated guess on my part, but I also would look to Kalen Ballage, who has more versatility than a library has books.
He could line up at running back, receiver or quarterback, go into motion, serve as a decoy or do anything else to help keep the Husky D off balance.
“Kalen is a young man who’s right in the middle of everything we do,” Napier said, without revealing anything of the strategy for how Ballage might be used.
“We’re excited about the challenge this weekend,” Napier said, adding later, “there’s no doubt we’re going to be aggressive in everything we do.”