It wasn’t quite a tale of two halves for Arizona State as the comeback attempt came up short to Wisconsin by a final score of 20-13 in the 2021 Las Vegas Bowl and the first of many bowl games to come in the new Allegiant Stadium.
Arizona State struggled right out of the gate offensively as quarterback Jayden Daniels threw an interception on the first possession of the game to junior safety John Torchio. Soon after Wisconsin’s running back John Chenal scored an eight-yard rushing touchdown and Arizona State was playing catch-up since.
Daniels alluded to why the offense had a hard time making plays tonight. “I give all credit to Wisconsin’s defense.” Said Daniels. “Everybody in this room knew what they were capable of, they’re not a top-rank defense for no reason. They’re very disciplined and we knew at the beginning of the game that the game was going to be won at the line of scrimmage.”
Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards also felt like the early turnover was going to be a challenge to overcome.”
“We got off to a bad start I thought. Fell behind and you don’t want to fall behind to a team like this that can chew a lot of time off with the run game.”
That run game was led by Las Vegas Bowl’s MVP Braelon Allen who had a monster game as Wisconsin’s leading rusher. Allen finished with 159 yards rushing on 5.5 yards per carrying on the ground.
“All the credit goes to the O line and what they do,” Allen says. “And obviously we gotta get movement upfront to get any yards so they did a really good job of that and allowed me to pick up some first downs and some decent yards.”
With Wisconsin playing sound at the line of scrimmage allowing Allen to have a huge night, Arizona State’s defense stepped up to the challenge in the second half. Allowing an unreal -7 yards in the 3rd quarter along with no points in the entire second half. However, it was a particular play that left Arizona State with a bad taste in their mouth at the end of a close game that propelled them to lose.
“It was 3rd and 15. If we get off the field on 3rd and 15 we have the ball and they’re punting from the 10 and we’re in field position so it was a play they made a big play.”
That big play helped award Wisconsin to a 9-4 record and a bowl victory led by their elite defense and top freshman phenom running back Allen.
Wisconsin’s head coach Paul Chryst was really proud of his team’s hard-fought win tonight.
“Tonight was a good night. And it took a lot of guys to get us that victory and that’s really what this season’s been and it’s a special team because it’s made up of a special group of individuals.”
Wisconsin and Arizona State look to be top 25 rank teams next season after disappointing unranked seasons this year.
Second Half Surge Isn’t Enough As Arizona State Falls to Wisconsin in The Las Vegas Bowl
