(Photo: Brendan OKeeffe/WCSN)
Arizona State Football looked refined Saturday night.
Although it may still need some polishing, the offense was cohesive and not as reliant on the run game. The 35-13 victory over Colorado was certainly a step in the right direction as the Sun Devils found other ways to execute offensively rather than just running the ball.
The ASU offense was balanced, a trait that the Sun Devils’ coaching staff has strived to meet this year. It’s been no secret that when the Sun Devils run the ball, they’ve usually found success in 2021. However, a looming question, and to an upper ante a missing component, in ASU’s first three games has been a solid passing game.
Be that as it may, junior quarterback Jayden Daniels and his wide receivers displayed several glimpses of what a solid ASU passing game could look like Saturday night against the Buffaloes.
“We can’t just always try to run the ball, run the ball, run the ball because people are stacking the box,” head coach Herm Edwards said. “They did a nice job of that today, for the most part.”
A prime example of this refinement took place in the third quarter when ASU quickly responded to Colorado scoring its first touchdown of the night with a scoring play of their own the following drive. The touchdown came from redshirt freshman wide receiver Elijhah Badger who ran for 17 yards into the endzone and put the Sun Devils up 21-10.
“He’s one for one,” Edwards said. “Touched the ball one time, ran a touchdown. That’s a pretty good average.”
Badger’s scoring play came off of several passing plays in which Daniels was able to connect three times with redshirt freshman receivers Johnny Wilson and LV Bunkley-Shelton for more than 10 yards.
“Hopefully it’ll get [even] better, because it’s gonna have to be because we got eight more Pac-12 games,” Edwards said.
The scoring drive was a good picture of what ASU’s offense could look like against their upcoming opponents in UCLA and Stanford.
Offensive coordinator Zak Hill sprinkled in a variety of plays on Saturday night, including a rewarding trick play in the fourth quarter. It began with a lateral from Daniels to junior wide receiver Ricky Pearsall. Pearsall then connected with White for 30 yards in the endzone. The trickery allowed the Sun Devils to extend their lead at the start of the fourth quarter to 28-10.
Daniels ended the night with 18 of 25 completions for 236 yards. The multi-faceted junior was also used on some designed runs, which gained him 75 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
“I think Jayden’s feeling more and more comfortable out there,” Hill said. “I know our wide receivers are hungry and they’re doing a good job in practice.”
There were several receivers who gained more than 60 yards on Saturday night. Bunkley-Shelton led the Sun Devils with 76, while White and Wilson each had 70 yards in the air.
Though Daniels led ASU in rushing yards, redshirt freshman running back Daniyel Ngata racked up 33 yards on the ground. Despite the second-straight absence of sophomore running back DeaMonte Trayanum, Ngata has stepped up and played a crucial role for the Sun Devils’ offense.
“With Daniyel, I think he’s always ready to go,” Hill said. “He’s done a great job preparing himself and he always seems to come through with some great runs.”
To make the victory even sweeter for ASU, Saturday night was the first time the Sun Devils kicked off Pac-12 play 1-0 in the Edwards era.
With UCLA next weekend, it was seemingly imperative that ASU bounced back from the demoralizing loss against BYU in Provo. With regained confidence and morale Saturday night, and an offense that is trending in the right direction, the matchup at the Rose Bowl in six days figures to be a tight one.
