Arizona State Football: ASU's Victory Over Washington Keeps Bowl Hopes Alive

Although a loss over the weekend would not have completely eliminated the Arizona State Sun Devils from bowl eligibility, it would have made the road nearly impossible.

ASU (3-3, 1-2 Pac-10) kept themselves in the bowl picture with a 24-14 victory over the Washington Huskies (2-3, 1-1 Pac-10) in Seattle on Saturday.

Quarterback Steven Threet threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Sun Devils to their seventh straight victory over the Huskies. 

Saturday’s victory also snapped ASU’s nine-game losing streak against FBS opponents and eight-game losing streak in the Pac-10. 

While the win at Washington was a start, the Sun Devils will need to build on this win and play sound fundamental football for the rest of the way if they want to play in the postseason.

Unfortunately, playing sound fundamental football is something that has eluded ASU more often than not over the past few weeks, which is why they are tied for eighth in the Pac-10.

To gain bowl eligibility, ASU will have to win four of their remaining six games. This is possible, but will be hard for the Sun Devils because their schedule features games against the 14th-ranked Stanford Cardinal and the No. 17 Arizona Wildcats.

ASU also travels to Cal and USC while playing host to Washington State and UCLA.

Turnovers and penalties have plagued the Sun Devils throughout the season and are the main reason the Sun Devils are looking up at the majority of the Pac-10.

While it is easy to look at the losses against Wisconsin, Oregon, and Oregon State and think about what could have been, ASU and their fans need to move past those losses and figure out how to win four of the final six and get to the postseason for the first time since a 52-34 Holiday Bowl loss in Dennis Erickson’s first season, 2007. 

When ASU played Washington over the weekend, they turned the ball over once and only had four penalties. This was the lowest number of penalties for the Sun Devils all season and the first time in three weeks that ASU had not fallen victim to multiple turnovers.

This is the kind of football ASU needs to play in order to win games and qualify for a bowl. While it was nice to see the Sun Devils play well at Washington, it would be even nicer to see them put together a few good games in a row.

ASU’s inconsistency over the past few seasons will have Sun Devil fans assuming Saturday was a fluke, but maybe, just maybe, the win at Washington was the spark this team so desperately needed.

The Sun Devils will have a bye this week, then travel to Berkeley to play the Golden Bears on October 23rd.