Things started out well enough for Washington on Saturday.
The Huskies, trying to rebound from two-straight losses to top 10 teams, drove 60 yards in 11 plays on its first drive to take a 7-0 lead on Arizona State in the first quarter.
But that was the high point for UW.
The Sun Devils stormed back with 29 unanswered points to take a 29-7 lead into the break. The dominance continued in the second half as ASU moved to 5-2 with a 53-24 stomping of the Huskies.
Everything ASU did worked. The Sun Devils piled up 587 yards of offense, including 316 on the ground. Marion Grice ran for a game-high 158 yards and two TDS while Taylor Kelly threw for 271 and two scores.
Meanwhile, ASU’s defense harassed Keith Price all day. The senior completed just 16 of 39 passes for 217 yards and generally looked out of sync.
But the Huskies ground game was even worse.
ASU held UW to negative five yards on the ground. Bishop Sankey, who came into the game leading the nation with 150 yards per game, gained 22 on 13 carries.
All in all, it was a great performance by ASU and a horrible one by Washington, and maybe indicative of two programs heading in opposite directions right now.
After a 4-0 start, Washington has now dropped three straight. The Huskies are coming off three-straight 7-6 seasons and they could be staring at another one if they don’t right their ship soon.
As for ASU, they look like the favorite in the Pac-12 South right now and should be ranked come Sunday.