Arizona State Tees Off on Washington, 36-7

First-year Arizona State Coach John Cooper says his Sun Devils “played as good as we can play” in a 36-7 victory over Washington in a key Pacific 10 game Saturday.

Jeff Van Raaphorst threw for 189 yards and one touchdown, and freshman Kent Bostrom kicked three field goals as Arizona State, ahead 20-0 at halftime, coasted to its fifth straight victory and improved its record to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play.

“This is the biggest win we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Cooper said. “I told my players that, and I told our fans that. We played as good as we can play on both sides of the football. The defense played their hearts out and gave us great field position all day.”

Washington, losing for the second time in the last three games, dropped to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the Pac-10.

“I guess our goal now is to try to win our last two games,” Washington Coach Don James said. “I thought we could compete with ASU better than we did. I was surprised at how well they dominated us. Their defense didn’t really give us a chance to do anything.”

Van Raaphorst completed 14 of 22 passes with an interception before a crowd of 67,474 at 70,021-seat Sun Devil Stadium.

Millen was 19 of 29 for 184 yards with 4 interceptions. He also was sacked 3 times as the Huskies were held to 52 yards total offense in the first half and just 8 yards in the first quarter.

Washington finished with 18 yards net rushing in 26 carries.