Touchdown maker
Bill Doba has seen the leading passer in Oregon State history, a Heisman candidate from USC and a number of other talented quarterbacks this season. But he thinks they all pale in comparison to this week’s foe. “We’re going against I think the best quarterback in the conference,” Doba said of Arizona State’s Andrew Walter. “(USC’s Matt) Leinart is good, don’t get me wrong. But this guy doesn’t have the supporting cast that Leinart does. He’s broken John Elway’s records. He’s been around there five years — he’s a graduate student — and he’s like another coach on the field.”
Walter has actually broken a number of records as the Sun Devils starting quarterback for the last three-plus seasons. But Elway’s conference-best 77 career touchdown passes stood atop the list for 22 years. Until last week, that is, when Walter fired four touchdown passes against Elway’s alma mater, Stanford, to push his own total to 80.
“It’s pretty sweet. I have been put in a good situation,” Walter said. “I have always downplayed the records. For me it’s a lot more important to get wins. If you’re going to be here, you might as well get everything. It’s nice to have records and all those things, but I would trade them all for a national title and wins. I’m pretty happy that’s the way it has worked out.”
Against Stanford, he led the Sun Devils on a 13-play, 80-yard drive culminating in a four-yard touchdown strike in the game’s final seconds to pull out a narrow win.
And this entire season, Walter has helped put the Sun Devils in the win column as well as the record books. At 7-2, Arizona State has lost only to USC and California, both top-five teams. The Sun Devils are 5-0 at home, including a convincing win over No. 16 Iowa.
The one constant, both this season and in years past, has been Walter, who took over as the team’s regular starter early in his sophomore season and immediately caught fire, throwing for 28 touchdowns and a school single-season record 3,877 yards. (His junior year landed him second on that list, and this year he’s already climbed to sixth with 2,498 yards.)
“Andrew has come a long, long way from sort of a tall, gangly kid,” Arizona State head coach Dirk Koetter said. “He always has had the strong arm. I think he’s improved a lot mechanically. He’s always been a great deep-ball thrower, yet we’re throwing the ball underneath a lot more now.”
Still, it is the long pass that has highlighted his collegiate career. Walter has never completed more than 57 percent of his passes in college, but he’s made up for it with scoring throws of at least 79 yards in each of the last three years.
Walter has been the beneficiary of a pair of standout wide receivers — current NFL wideout Shaun McDonald early in his career and Derek Hagan at the end of it — but even they are quick to say it’s Walter passing talents that have helped put them in the end zone.
“I don’t think there’s a quarterback out there that’s better than him right now,” said Hagan, who has eight touchdown catches on the year. “He knows where we’re going to be when he calls certain plays, and he can put it in the right spots.”
Down the stretch of his final collegiate season — and there are almost certainly going to be pro seasons to follow, as Walter is expected to be a high draft pick next spring — Walter knows exactly where he’d like to finish up. In his sophomore year, the Sun Devils reached the Holiday Bowl, and with USC currently on track for the national title game a return trip for Arizona State is not out of the question.
“I want to be 10-2,” Walter said. “I’ve never won 10 games in a season during my football life. We have two games left and a bowl and that’s all that matters.”