Sept. 18, 2004

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By Nate Policar
ASU Sports Information

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -Looking to make last year's 21-2 loss in Iowa City a distant memory, the Arizona State Sun Devils took to their home field on a wet and stormy night expecting a 60-minute hard-fought battle against a highly-touted and nationally-ranked Iowa Hawkeye team.

Weathering heavy showers and a 40-minute kickoff delay due to lightning, the Sun Devils took the field and cast aside all doubts about the abilities of their squad, dominating the Hawkeyes in every aspect of the game and coming away with a 44-7 victory in front of the first capacity crowd in Tempe since they hosted Notre Dame on October 10,1998.

"The crowd did a great job. For all the talk we heard this week of all the Iowa fans that would be in the house, we didn't hear much of them tonight," said ASU head coach Dirk Koetter. "It was great to hear the crowd. That always gives us that extra edge."

With a wet, but loud, crowd on their side, the Sun Devil defense took the field following the late kickoff and owned Iowa's offense for the entire four quarters. The Hawkeyes (2-1) opened the game with a 10-yard pass from quarterback Drew Tate to receiver Warren Holloway, their first of only two first downs in the first half. Immediately following the reception, the Sun Devils (4-0) shut down the Hawkeyes' next three plays, forcing them into a punt, which was downed on the ASU 20-yard line.

Andrew Walter entered the game for the Sun Devils and began what would prove to be a record-setting night for the senior signal caller. Finding junior receiver Matt Miller on the sideline for a 41-yard completion, Walter found Moey Mutz in the end zone three plays later on a 14-yard pass for his first touchdown of the night. With just under 10 minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Sun Devils were off to a 7-0 lead.

Starting from their own 31-yard line with possession again, the Sun Devils picked up right where their last drive left off.  Walter found receivers Zach Miller and Derek Hagan on 9-yard pickups as well as receiver Terry Richardson for a 10-yard gain. The 12-play, 58-yard drive by the Sun Devils brought the ball down to the Iowa 11-yard line, where ASU head coach Dirk Koetter called on sophomore kicker Jesse Ainsworth for the 28-yard field goal try. After a perfect kick split the uprights, the Sun Devils kicked off to the Hawkeyes, leading 10-0.

The Hawkeyes once again punted after just three plays, unable to gain more than five yards rushing against the ASU defense and the Sun Devils took over on their own 36-yard line following the punt as the first quarter came to an end. However, the second quarter opened with fireworks from Walter, as he found his tailback, Loren Wade, on an 18-yard screen pass before airing it out long to Derek Hagan for a 45-yard reception which set up a second catch by Hagan for a 7-yard touchdown. Hitting them quickly, the Sun Devils had jumped out to a 17-0 lead with over 12 minute still remaining in the first half.

Continuing their woes, the Hawkeyes were forced into their third consecutive three-and-out, giving the Sun Devils a new possession on their own 29-yard line. With a promising start to the drive, junior tailback Hakim Hill rushed over 25 yards for the Sun Devils before Andrew Walter made his only miscue of the game, a pass intended for Derek Hagan that was intercepted by Iowa's Antwan Allen at the Iowa 21-yard line. However, the ASU defense gained atonement, as Jamar Williams intercepted a Tate pass on the Iowa 44-yard line and returned it 31 yards to the 13-yard line.

With incredible field position to start the drive, the Sun Devils lit up the scoreboard again in just three plays as Walter connected with freshman receiver Zach Miller for a six-yard pass in the corner of the end zone, building upon the ASU lead at 24-0 and tying Walter with College Hall of Fame quarterback Danny White on the school's career touchdown pass list.      

            The ensuing kickoff yielded more of the same results for the Hawkeyes as they punted the ball away after gaining just two yards in three plays. With only 1:11 remaining in the half, the Sun Devils took possession on their own 36-yard line with intentions of running out the rest of the clock. However, a timeout by Iowa prompted Walter to throw long to Terry Richardson, who caught a 34-yard pass to set up the Sun Devils on a field goal try from the Iowa 31-yard line. Tying his career-long with a 48-yard attempt, Ainsworth once again added three points for the Sun Devils as they headed to the locker room with a surprising 27-0 lead. It marked the first time since 2001 (vs. San Diego State in Dirk Koetter's first game at ASU) that the Devils shut out an opponent in the first half..

Not missing a beat, the Sun Devils came out of the locker room and took it straight at the Hawkeyes. Bringing the ball into the Iowa red zone with a 30 yard passing completion to Miller, the Sun Devil offense scored and Jesse Ainsworth again got the call. Tying a career-high with three field goals after converting a 33-yard attempt, Ainsworth gave the Devils a 30-0 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the third.

After forcing two more three-and-outs due to the play of Ishmael Thrower and Dale Robinson, the Devils took possession on the Iowa 47-yard line following a 25-yard punt return by Terry Richardson. Starting from the right side of the 50-yard line, Walter found Hagan on a 29-yard completion and then connected with Hagan for two straight completions, the second for his 65^th career touchdown pass, tying him with current Denver Bronco Jake Plummer for first on the ASU list. However with a secure 37-0 lead, Walter's assault on the Sun Devil record books was still not complete.

Starting from the ASU 25-yard line, Walter took the first snap of the drive and bombed it long to receiver Matt Miller, who caught the 65-yard reception and brought the Sun Devils to the Iowa 10-yard line. Two plays later, Andrew Walter cemented his name in the annals of Sun Devil history as he found Zach Miller on a five-yard pass for his career-high tying fifth touchdown of the game, making him the school's career leader in touchdown passes. With 7:47 left to play, the Sun Devils now led the Hawkeyes 44-0.

"Today was a great win. I will sing the praises of the offensive lines all night. They did really great. I hardly got touched. That is how they do it. They do a four-man rush and try to get a rush on the quarterback that way and they were not able to do it tonight., " said Walter. "I have been thinking about today's game since the plane ride back from Iowa last year. I was more fired up for this game than for any game of my career."

As both teams attempted to run out the rest of the game clock on the ground, the Sun Devils punted away to the Hawkeyes just 18 seconds shy of their first shutout since a 19-0 victory over No. 1 ebraska in 1996. However, Iowa return man Walner Belleus had an 83-yard punt return for a touchdown, setting the final score at 44-7. As the Sun Devils ran out the final seconds of the game, the fans rushed the field to celebrate the team's first win against an Associated Press -ranked opponent at home since 1997 (against No. 10 Washington State on Nov. 1, 1997).

"There's no question you begin with the defense. All we heard about all week was we are not physical enough to hold up and our defense took that personally. I think we did an awesome job of playing physical," said Koetter. "We were able to shut down their run game. We were able to get pressure on (Drew) Tate and keep him contained. I can't say enough about the job our defense did tonight."