Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Practice makes perfect.
Though it sounds like a cliché, Arizona State acknowledged that how it practiced in preparation for Utah is how it pulled off a 30-10 road win against the Utes on Saturday.
Arizona State’s win ended a seven-game losing streak on the road. The last time the Sun Devils won a conference road game was in October 2015.
“Practice has gotten better every day,” said Arizona State head coach Todd Graham. “I thought earlier in the season we were trying to find our roots. Last week we said we needed to be better for this week, and I think we were.”
The Pac-12 South competition was unlikely for both teams. Utah came into the game on a two-game losing streak and continuously struggled to gain momentum, entering the red zone once throughout the game. Arizona State, fresh off an upset win over Washington, finished with 172 rushing yards in the first half, more than Utah’s season average of allowing 119.7 yards per game.
Arizona State running back Demario Richard said the team played with “something on our shoulder,” which gave them an attitude. That attitude, according to Arizona State quarterback Manny Wilkins, was that the Sun Devils needed to run the ball to win the game.
The Sun Devils finished with 205 rushing yards, marking the second time in three games that they’ve rushed for more than 200 yards in a game.
Richard, who finished with 93 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, described the team’s running game as “sensational.”
“We started to get that push up front, helping us run the ball,” Richard said.
Arizona State offensive lineman Sam Jones praised Utah’s defensive line as “really good” and “super talented,” but said all week the team talked about that when they’re “on the road, we’re all we have,” motivating the team.
The team said how it practices is how it plays games, so there’s no relaxation. “If you practice like crap, you play like crap,” Richard said.
The Sun Devils’ improving practice showed up on the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium in all phases of the game. While the offense demolished the ground game, the defense also came to play. Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley threw four interceptions in his return after missing the last two games. The last Utah quarterback to throw four picks in a game was Travis Wilson against USC in 2015.
Arizona State linebacker Christian Sam, who collected the Sun Devils’ third interception of the game, agreed that everything they did in the game happened in practice.
“Practice is up-tempo and fast,” Sam said.
On his interception, Sam said, “We’ve seen that play in practice a million times. It was second nature for me. I almost overran it, that’s how prepared the coaches got us throughout the week. I should’ve scored.”
Graham is more than proud of his team for winning on the road against Utah. He said playing good teams like Utah helps Arizona State get better.
“When you’re playing Utah, you better come here and be more physical than them. The keys for us today were stopping the run, make them one-dimensional, and keep the ball away from them. We did that.”
