On a cold and cloudless Halloween night, the No. 25 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils were the team who earned their treats, while the WSU Cougars were tricked the entire night.

From multiple fake punts and read-option plays by ASU, WSU had no answer for the Sun Devils and fell by a score of 21-55.

After WSU went three and out on their first possession of the game, Arizona State immediately took advantage of the opportunity and drove down the field for touchdown. ASU quarterback Taylor Kelly faked the ball to his running back and ran the ball for a 7-yard touchdown. The WSU offense could not find their rhythm for most of the first quarter. The first three offensive possessions for the Cougars resulted in zero first downs.

ASU continued to take advantage of the Cougars’ offensive miscues in the first quarter, and ran the ball effectively. WSU had no answer for Kelly for the majority of the game.

“He’s was a really shifty quarterback, he’s really deceptive the way he plays,” redshirt junior defensive lineman Kalafitoni Pole said.

The quarterback was able to fake out the entire WSU defense through read-option and play action passes. Tonight Kelly completed 22 of 31 passes with 275 yards passing and five touchdowns passes and two rushing touchdowns.

“I give respect to Arizona State,” WSU redshirt junior defensive lineman Xavier Cooper said. “Their quarterback and their offense they came to play, but I think we killed ourselves most of the time.”

The WSU offense finally started to come alive in the beginning of the second quarter after WSU redshirt junior quarterback Connor Halliday completed a pass to sophomore wide receiver Gabe Marks in the middle of the field, which the Marks ran 34 yards for a touchdown. It seemed like the Cougars were ready to get back into the game after ASU running back Deantre Lewis fumbled the ball on their next offensive possession.

However, WSU could not capitalize on the turnover and once again went three and out. ASU continued to run the ball and wore the WSU defense down, along with throwing multiple screen passes. ASU lead the Cougars 42-14 at the end of the first half.

Coming out of the locker room, the Cougars came out with more passion and energy. The WSU defense forced Arizona State to go three and out. Halliday and the WSU offense capitalized by driving down the field and scoring a touchdown on a four-yard run by WSU redshirt sophomore running back Jeremiah Laufasa.

The Sun Devils were not fazed at all and continued their domination on both sides of the ball. ASU’s Kelly threw a 23-yard pass to running back D.J. Foster in the third quarter.

The valiant effort of the Cougars in the second half was not enough, and the team falls to 4-5 on the year.

Halliday finished the night with 29 of 54 passing and 300 yards, two touchdown passes and one interception.

“No matter what your confidence level is right now, we got three games left to be 7-5, and say everything you want to say about these last three weeks, when was the last time a team was 7-5 here,” Halliday said. “So let’s look at it that way and go get three wins.”