JONESBORO — Arkansas State linebacker Qushaun Lee inched forward and scooted two steps back after he scanned the formation in front of him and diagnosed where Florida International quarterback Lorenzo Hammond’s throw would go.
Dropping 4 yards into pass coverage, the redshirt freshman anticipated a quick throw on a curl route to Golden Panthers receiver Jacob Younger.
He was right.
After his short 2-yard interception return set up the Red Wolves at the 26, ASU’s offense capped a moralecrippling drive with a 2-yard touchdown by David Oku to take a three-score lead on the way to a 34-20 victory.
“That’s the best thing to do,” Oku said. “You’ve got to have ice water in your veins and just put a team out.”
It’s a lesson ASU (3-3, 1-1 Sun Belt Conference) wants to keep close at hand Saturday, when South Alabama (1-4, 0-1) visits Liberty Bank Stadium.
“We can use that as a reference point going forward,” said safety Sterling Young, whose interception set up a go-ahead touchdown just before halftime. “You want to be able look back at where our team was at this point in the season, and it was a make-orbreak moment for us.”
The span, beginning with Young’s interception at 1:22 in the second quarter and ending with Oku’s touchdown at 6:51 in the third, was a stark juxtaposition from ASU’s loss to Western Kentucky only five days earlier.
ASU couldn’t hold on to a 13-0 halftime lead in that loss, and it’s offense generated only 113 yards after halftime as it was ground down by a punishing West Coast offense in a 26-13 defeat.
In the days following the loss, ASU Coach Gus Malzahn and his staff repeatedly came back to one thing: Finish when the chance is at hand.
The Red Wolves met that demand against Florida International.
Quarterback Ryan Aplin ran 10 yards for a touchdown to cap an 11-play, 87-yard drive to open the second half to put ASU ahead 20-10. Lee’s interception to set up another.
“We got the lift scoring the touchdown before the half, just like we did against Western Kentucky,” Malzahn said. “The difference was we came out in the second half, had a couple big drives, put some points on the board and grabbed some momentum going into the fourth quarter.”
ASU also found some relief by converting turnovers into points to help an offense that is putting up an average of 470.8 yards a game (33rd nationally) but scoring an average of only 30.4 points (53rd) through 6 games.
Without the 34 points produced off nine turnovers this season, Malzahn’s up-tempo scheme would be averaging roughly 24.8 points per game — a figure that would leave them tied with Miami (Ohio) for 83rd among 124 FBS programs.
“We’ve got to make more of those [chances],” Aplin said. “We’re still not putting up enough points to give them a bit more leeway when they’re out there.”
Part of that stems from Arkansas State’s problems when it comes to converting third downs. ASU is converting only 40 percent of third downs, and roughly 69 percent of that time the Red Wolves have had to pick up more than 4 yards on third down.
“The big thing is we’ve got to stay on the field,” Aplin said. “No more three-andouts and just putting them back out there with no break. We’ve got to have some long drives and stick the ball in the end zone.”
Sports, Pages 23 on 10/11/2012