Huskies Booted Out Of Tempe Defeated By 20th-Ranked Asu On Last-Second Field Goal

Robert Nycz kicked a 38-yard field goal with 2 seconds remaining as No. 20 Arizona State averted a fourth-quarter collapse and beat Washington 45-42 in the season opener for both teams Saturday night.

Washington, trailing 42-21 with 12 minutes remaining, tied the score behind freshman quarterback Brock Huard, who relieved starter Shane Fortney several times in a game that began in 95-degree conditions.

Huard scored on a 10-yard run with 9 minutes left, then threw a 67-yard touchdown pass to freshman Gerald Harris with 7:15 to play.

Jesse Binkley recovered an Arizona State fumble on the ensuing kickoff at the Sun Devils’ 21-yard line, and Washington tied the score on Corey Dillon’s 8-yard TD run with 5:13 left.

Freshman cornerback Jermaine Smith’s interception and 10-yard return to his team’s 22-yard line with 2:43 remaining gave the Huskies a chance to win it but they were forced to punt.

Geoff Prince’s kick only went 18 yards, however, and Arizona State took over at its own 37 with 56 seconds left.

Jake Plummer, who was 16 of 30 for 186 yards and three touchdowns, directed his team down to Washington’s 21 with 7 seconds left.

Nycz, who was wide left on a 49-yard field goal try in the first quarter, then kicked his game-winner.

Arizona State had scored twice in a 2-minute span of the third quarter to take a 28-21 lead.

Isaiah Mustafa recovered a fumble in the end zone after teammate J.R. Redmond’s 61-yard punt return to break a 21-all tie with 3:07 left in the third quarter.

It came less than two minutes after Michael Martin had tied the game on a 1-yard run, his second touchdown.

Terry Battle’s 7-yard scoring run 29 seconds into the fourth quarter made it 35-21.

After Brent Bernstein recovered a fumble by Fortney at the Washington 4-yard line, Plummer lofted a 1-yard scoring pass to Steve Bush with 12:01 to play.

Washington, which had won 15 of its previous 17 season-openers including two against Arizona State since 1992, had taken a 21-14 lead on Fortney’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Cleeland 2:36 into the second half.

The Huskies also got Dave Janoski’s 67-yard punt return for a touchdown - their first such score in almost five years.

Huard was 6 of 11 for 143 yards while Fortney completed 8 of 17 passes for 96 yards.

Plummer threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Ricky Boyer 48 seconds before halftime to forge a 14-14 tie.

Washington had taken a 14-7 lead on Rashaan Shehee’s 6-yard touchdown run with 6:19 left in the half.

The crowd of 73,379 marked ASU’s first sellout since 1993.

Arizona State 45, Washington 42

Washington 0 14 7 21 42

Arizona St. 7 7 14 17 - 45

ASUMartin 35 pass from Plummer (Nycz kick) UW-Janoski 67 punt return (Wales kick) UW-Shehee 6 run (Wales kick) ASUBoyer 13 pass from Plummer (Nycz kick) UW-Cleeland 36 pass from Fortney (Wales kick) ASUMartin 1 run (Nycz kick) ASUMustafa fumble recovery in end zone (Nycz kick) ASUT.Battle 7 run (Nycz kick) ASUBush 1 pass from Plummer (Nycz kick) UW-Huard 10 run (Wales kick), 6:00 UW-Harris 67 pass from Huard (Wales kick) UW-Dillon 8 run (Wales kick) ASUFG Nycz 38 A-73,379.

UW ASU First downs 15 19 Rushes-yards 36-127 46-208 Passing 239 186 Comp-Att-Int 14-28-0 16-30-1 Return Yards 167 239 Punts-Avg. 8-40.3 5-43.8 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 4-1 Penalties-Yards 10-89 8-52 Time of Possession 29:30 30:30 Individual statistics RUSHINGWashington, Shehee 17-48, Dillon 7-36, Huard 3-30, Reed 3-1. Arizona St., Martin 20-92, T. Battle 10-45, Spann 1-32, Redmond 4-28, Anderson 1-6, Plummer 7-4, Paulk 3-1.

PASSINGWashington, Fortney 8-17-0-96, Huard 6-11-0-143. Arizona St., Plummer 16-30-1-186.

RECEIVINGWashington, Harris 3-84, Pathon 3-70, Cleeland 2-49, Coleman 1-14, Janoski 1-9, Dillon 1-9, Shehee 3-4. Arizona St., Martin 5-74, Bush 5-57, Jackson 2-31, Boyer 1-13, Spann 2-8, T. Battle 1-3.