Arizona State overcomes travel turmoil in Orlando

(Photo: Ryan Petcove/WCSN

ORLANDO, Fla. — Preparing for a road game is something Arizona State knew it’d have to do frequently. It was scheduled to travel 18,375 miles, the fifth-most in the FBS.

But what does a team do when the flight doesn’t take off?

On Friday night, ASU boarded a plane bound for Orlando, where it was set to take on Central Florida. However, the pilot came over the intercom to deliver unwelcome news: the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a nationwide ground stop. 

Hours later, the Sun Devils returned to their football facility. Players, coaches and staff members unloaded from team buses and drove home for the night. The plan was to get some rest before flying out early Saturday morning. The game was pushed back two hours.

At 5:54 a.m. Arizona time, every player was on the bus headed to the airport six minutes ahead of schedule. Before boarding, players were handed Firefly recovery devices, which are worn on the legs and provide gentle electrical pulses to aid recovery.

Around 1 p.m. Florida time, ASU arrived in Orlando less than five hours away from kickoff. Players stretched as they exited the plane. The Sun Devils later spent more than an hour at a nearby hotel for a meal and meetings before heading to the Acrisure Bounce House.

After two drives, ASU’s offense looked like a jet-lagged unit. UCF gifted the Sun Devils with a kickoff out of bounds to open the game, but they only reached the Knights’ 48-yard-line despite starting at their own 35. ASU also needed a fourth-down conversion to keep the drive going.

The Sun Devils once again punted on their next series. After two sluggish drives to open the game, however, ASU (6-4, 4-3 Big 12) punted just twice. That turnaround fueled a 26-13 victory over UCF (5-5, 3-4 Big 12) and clinched bowl eligibility.

“Excuses are like buttholes; everybody has them, and they all stink,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “Nobody’s going to care what the circumstance was because nobody cares about circumstances. They care about results.”

The Sun Devils’ third drive was on the verge of another three-and-out, facing third-and-4 from their own 32. But offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo opted for a screen pass to fourth-year receiver Reed Harris, and it gained just enough yardage to move the chains.

Later in the drive, Arroyo extended his streak of dialing up passes from non-quarterbacks. In last week’s win over Colorado, first-year running back Cardae Mack got the responsibility. On Saturday, Mack wasn’t the only one.

Mack took the direct snap and looked to his right, where three receivers were lined up in a triangle. He tossed it to fourth-year wide receiver Derek Eusebio, who then threw downfield to fourth-year tight end Anthony Miller for a 28-yard completion. 

Those 28 yards were more than Miller had ever recorded in a game. The play set up ASU’s first touchdown of the night.

“That was a dot,” Dillingham said. “(Eusebio’s) going to put that one on his phone for a long time. It’s going to go straight to the video archives and the video bank for him.”

Eusebio had the Sun Devils’ longest pass play of the first half until first-year quarterback Jake Fette found Harris for a 34-yard contested catch. That put ASU in Knights territory, but the drive stalled after Fette missed an opportunity on third-and-5.

Fourth-year running back Kyson Brown was wide open in the flat with plenty of green grass in front of him. But Fette never looked his way, instead forcing a throw over the middle to second-year receiver Cory Butler Jr. Fifth-year linebacker Jayden Jennings broke up the pass.

The Sun Devils did something they hadn’t done all season and asked sixth-year kicker Carson Smith to attempt a field goal from more than 50 yards out. Smith drilled it, ensuring the big play wasn’t wasted.

Smith made all four of his field-goal attempts and cashed in on both extra points. In total, he accounted for 14 of ASU’s 26 points.

“(Smith) got the game ball today,” Dillingham said. “Kudos to him, that dude’s been lights out. Our specialists have been really good this year.”

The Sun Devils’ opening drive of the second half consisted of nine plays but gained only 39 yards. Still, it burned 4 minutes, 19 seconds off the clock, nearly matching the 4:46 of possession UCF had during the entire third quarter.

ASU’s second series began with 5:55 remaining in the third quarter and didn’t end until roughly 13:40 remained in the fourth. It ended with a Mack touchdown on a direct snap from eight yards out and put the Sun Devils ahead 23-7.

“Making sure we finish the game off the right way,” Fette said. “Making it easier on our defense by putting a touchdown on the board instead of a field goal, just trying to ice the game.”

Because both teams entered the night with five wins, one was guaranteed to leave bowl eligible. Just two years ago, the Sun Devils were in the midst of a two-season bowl drought.

ASU will now play beyond the regular season for a third straight year under Dillingham. At the moment, though, he appears largely indifferent to that accomplishment.

“I’m just focused on right now,” Dillingham said. “Obviously that will be a positive for us, but it’s not something I’m thinking about.”

On the same day the Sun Devils traveled across the country, they’ll make the same flight home just hours after playing a game. The last 24 hours have been tumultuous for ASU, but Dillingham has no plans of slowing down.

“I’m going to spend the next six hours on this plane watching football and doing absolutely nothing,” Dillingham said. “Then wake up at 7 a.m. Arizona time, rock and roll and get back to the grind.”

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