Arizona St. Has Iowa on the Run

EL PASO, Texas —  With its starting quarterback gone and the only alternative a career backup, No. 16 Arizona State turned to running back Mike Martin and its defense to lead the way in Wednesday’s Sun Bowl.

Both came through as the Sun Devils defeated Iowa, 17-7.

“It was my last game, so I wanted to make sure I did it right,” said Martin, who was voted the game’s most valuable player. “I had never played in a bowl game, so I wanted to go out with a bang. I believe I did.”

Martin rushed for a personal-best 169 yards in 27 carries and scored on a one-yard run to allow Arizona State to control the tempo of the game and take pressure off quarterback Steve Campbell, who was starting his first game.

Campbell responded by making the most of a modest passing game, completing five of 11 passes for 109 yards and a 35-yard touchdown.

“We didn’t want to throw it a lot and the way our defense was playing, we didn’t have to,” said Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder.

The Sun Devils defense kept the nation’s ninth-ranked scoring offense out of the end zone until the final minute and limited the Hawkeyes (7-5) to 209 total yards.

Iowa came into the game averaging 424 yards and 37 points per game. ASU (9-3) finished with 377 total yards.

“I kind of figured they’d run the ball quite a bit with a new quarterback and stuff,” said Iowa linebacker Matt Hughes. “They did what they had to do to win. My hat goes off to them. They played a great game.

“We weren’t crisp and sharp as we should have been. We have nobody to blame but ourselves.”

The Hawkeyes could manage only one score, a 26-yard touchdown pass from Randy Reiners to Richard Carter with 49 seconds remaining.

The Sun Devils stopped the Hawkeyes on fourth-down attempts on three consecutive series in the second half.