TEMPE — Seventeen tackles. Linebacker Owen Long and the Arizona State defense made a statement Saturday night against Colorado.

Highlighted by Long’s effort that matched his career high, the Sun Devils’ defense showed its physicality and strength in a 20-10 Big 12 victory over its former Pac-12 South rival at Mountain America Stadium.

“Seventeen, a lot,” coach Kenny Dillingham said. “I think the defense played phenomenal for us.”

ASU forced the Buffaloes to go 0-3 on fourth down conversions and benefited from a pivotal third-quarter interception by Ashton Stamps on a deep ball by Colorado quarterback Isaac Wilson.

“I think it’s just a testament of the work the players, the coaches, put into this week,” Long said. “We know what it looks like when we’re on the same page, flying around playing our game.”

Even through three blowout losses this season, the defense’s adversity and eagerness to compete continues to build.

“Week by week we have felt our confidence grow,” Long said. “We’ve done nothing but just get back to work.”

Limiting Colorado to 64 yards on the ground, the Sun Devils found a missing piece to their identity.

“They came out and they stopped the run, which is always going to be an identity of us,” Dillingham said. “We lost that for three weeks and I think we’ve refound it.”

Colorado’s 10 points are a testament to how much the ASU defense slowed the Buffaloes’ offense. ASU also sacked Wilson four times.

Colorado has struggled with offensive output all season and ranks 123rd (tied with Central Michigan) out of 138 FBS teams. 

“We just couldn’t get anything going through the offense,” Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders said.

Dillingham said that “even though we gave up a ton of yards, (the defense) still held in the red zone.”

Other key contributions on the ASU defense came from Martell Hughes, who had 11 total tackles, and Adrian Wilson, who had six total tackles. 

Defensive coordinator Brian Ward’s group now prepares to face the UCF Knights Saturday in Orlando, giving the team another opportunity to showcase its recent defensive success.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.