ASU Football: The spookiness of Sun Devil ‘Blackout’ games.

When Arizona State hosts the 15th ranked Michigan State Spartans on Saturday, they’ll ask their fans to wear black gear. As the team will be head-to-toe covered in all black apparel. For some reason, when ASU wears a black concept jersey while facing a ranked opponent things go the Sun Devils’ way. And sometimes in very odd and crazy ways.

September 9, 2011 vs #21 Missouri

Brock Osweiler and company hosted the 20th ranked Missouri Tigers on a Friday night. With things tied up at 16 at the 6:42 mark in the third quarter, the Sun Devils scored two touchdowns over the next eight minutes. However, quarterback James Franklin and the Tigers scrambled back into it scoring twice in the final 12 minutes of regulation to send it to overtime.

Osweiler hit Jamal Miles on a 12-yard swing pass to go up 37-30. On Missouri’s overtime possession they found nothing on offense and were stopped on fourth-and-5 to give ASU the win.

September 16, 2013 vs #20 Wisconsin

This may be the weirdest finishes to a game ever. This one saw plenty of lead changes and rushing attacks. The Badgers’ Melvin Gordon rushed for 193 yards and two touchdowns, including an 80-yard score. On the other side, Marion Guice rushed in four touchdowns for the Sun Devils.

Gordon scored a touchdown with 3:53 left in the game to cut the ASU lead to 32-30. Wisconsin failed the two-point attempt. But they’d get the ball back and would drive all the way to ASU’s 15-yard line. With 18 seconds left Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave attempted to center the ball for his kicker’s chance at the game-winning field goal. But after Stave took a knee, the referees never reset the ball and the clock ran out. And the Sun Devils ran away with a victory. (Will Sutton took this part very seriously)

October 4, 2014 vs #16 USC

Yes, this isn’t a ‘blackout,’ game but it’s close enough because it’d be criminal to not include this game. USC running back Javorius Allen scored from 53 yards out with 3:02 left in the game to put the Trojans up 34-25 on what many thought sealed the game.

But Mike Bercovici had other plans. He found Cameron Smith for a 73-yard strike on the first play of the ensuing drive. ASU then force a three-and-out to get the ball back.

With seven seconds left in the game on USC’s 46-yard line, Bercovici and Jalen Strong became apart of Sun Devil history. Bercovici heaved the ball toward the end zone and Strong snatched it out of the air, taking home a historic moment and win from Los Angeles.

October 14, 2017 vs #5 Washington

At one point in this game didn’t have any scoring for around 30 straight game minutes. The Sun Devils jumped out to a 13-0 lead heading into halftime against the undefeated Huskies. After kicker Van Soderberg missed two ‘cheap shot’ field goals, Washington put together a scoring drive for the first time, when Jake Browning scored on a one-yard sneak with 5:32 left in the game.

Arizona State never gave the ball back to the Huskies. They ran out the rest of the clock, with a big thanks to Todd Graham’s gusty call to got for it on fourth-and-3. Manny Wilkins somehow got this throw to his tight end Ceejhay French-Love. ASU kneeled out the game and the students covered in black shirts stormed the field.

Which game was your favorite? And will it happen again on Saturday?