San Diego, CA – The Sun Devils dreams of an 11-win season turned into a Holiday Bowl nightmare as the Texas Tech Red Raiders dominated ASU on both sides of the ball Monday night at Qualcomm Stadium.
The Sun Devils started slow, fell behind early and couldn’t find a way to get back in the game. Here’s the quarterly breakdown on how things played out in the 2013 Holiday Bowl.
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Texas Tech got off to a fast start on their opening drive with both Davis Webb and Michael Brewer as the signal callers. Webb was effective passing the ball, while Brewer mixed in a few running plays to keep the Sun Devils off balance.
It ended with Arizona State allowing a 77-yard scoring drive for the Red Raiders. However, they missed the extra point and led early 6-0.
On the Sun Devils first possession, they quickly went three and out. It was a bad sign of things to come, as it was the first time in six games that ASU didn’t score on their opening drive. Even with Taylor Kelly recovering a DeMarieya Nelson fumble on a lucky bounce for a big gain on their second possession, the Devils struggled to move the ball on offense.
Before the first quarter ended, Texas Tech WR Jakeem Grant scored on an 18 yard run and the Sun Devils added two field goals by Zane Gonzalez to get on the board.
Texas Tech 13- ASU 6
2nd Quarter
On their first drive of the second quarter, Texas Tech kept their momentum going with a TD by WR Bradley Marquez. ASU continued to struggle on offense throughout most of the first half. After another TD by Texas Tech and the game starting to get out of hand, there was a bright spot for ASU when D.J. Foster broke out with a 20-yard TD run. That score marked 8 rushing touchdowns in 27 career games for Foster.
The Devils finally started to click on offense and marched down to the red zone before the end of the half, but they had to settle for a rushed field goal attempt with seconds left. There was poor clock management by ASU on the final few plays and Gonzalez’s kick was no good. In a crucial turn of events, the Sun Devils left points on the board and the Red Raiders remained in control heading into halftime.
Texas Tech 27- ASU 13
3rd Quarter
ASU was back in business on their first drive of the second half with a 44-yard TD run down the sideline by QB Taylor Kelly. However, Texas Tech answered right back with a 90-yard kickoff return to deflate the Devils. The Red Raiders drove down the field again on their second possession of the quarter, but fumbled a snap at the goal line which cost them a TD. They kicked a field goal, which increased their lead to 37-20. Still playing catch up, ASU was moving the ball and faced a fourth and one heading into the final quarter.
Texas Tech 37- ASU 20
4th Quarter
ASU got the much needed first down, but was unable to score a TD and settled for another field goal. With time running out and the Devils making a final push to close the gap, Kelly threw a perfect 50 yard pass to Rick Smith at the goal line that was dropped to end all hope for ASU. Texas Tech controlled the game the rest of the way and finished with the 2013 Holiday Bowl victory.
Final score 37- ASU 23
The Devils were hoping for a monumental 11th win to cap off a great regular season and get their first Holiday Bowl victory in four attempts. Instead, they saw their 2013 season end with big disappointment.
Texas Tech QB Davis Webb was the offensive player of the game, throwing for 403 yards and tying the Holiday Bowl record with four TD passes. TE Jace Amaro, who also had a big game with 10 catches for 85 yards, announced that he will forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft.
