(Photo: Travis Whittaker/WCSN)
It was cold, rainy and loud in Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night, an unwelcome environment for the Arizona State Sun Devils, who lost to the Utah Utes 21-3.
Every snap Jayden Daniels took, he was scrambling. He looked for his receivers numerous times on the move while shifting his feet. But after the play, Daniels was almost on the ground every time.
“We got to give [Utah] a lot of credit,” head coach Herm Edwards said. “They put a lot of pressure on our quarterback. They found ways to get to him. He was under duress for most of the day.”
Constant pressure and countless penalties on No. 17 ASU led to the defeat at the hands of the No. 13 Utes in Salt Lake City, dropping the Devils to 5-2 on the season (2-2 Pac-12).
While the Utes only recorded three sacks the entire game, Daniels never felt comfortable in the passing game. He only completed four of 18 passes for 25 yards and an interception.
“Their defensive line is probably the best I’ve seen so far,” Daniels said. “There’s a couple of things we could’ve done as an offense. Me getting the ball out faster and helping out with the defensive line and softening them up in ways. Those are things we got to look back on and build from.”
Running back Eno Benjamin did much of the heavy lifting on offense, recording 104 yards on 15 carries. The entire offense put up only 136 total yards.
But it wasn’t just a struggling offense that can be blamed for the loss. A season-high 12 penalties for 122 yards against ASU killed drives on offense and extended drives for Utah. Evan Fields suffered the harshest punishment of the offenders, as he was ejected from the game after a targeting call on Utah’s running back Zack Moss in the second quarter.
“I’m embarrassed by our football team when it came to the fouls,” Edwards said. “We lost our composure. I don’t believe in doing that kind of stuff. It mars the football game. I’ve never been involved in a game where a team had 12 fouls. Some reason, our team lost composure. That’s not the way we play.”
Defensive back Kobe Williams agreed with his head coach.
“We’ve never had a game where we’ve been penalized this much,” Williams, who recorded three total tackles, said. “The whole game was just penalties and turnovers really. Just playing solid defense and trying to keep it going. The penalties put us out of whack a little bit. That’s a tough team and they’re very physical.”
Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales also noted how his defense was playing with “a lot of emotion instead of passion” that caused the abundance of penalties.
Third down offense and defense was also a major issue for Arizona State. It let Utah’s offense go 7-of-14 on third-down conversions and Arizona State only converted two of 13 third downs.
“We couldn’t convert third downs,” Edwards said. “Can’t move the ball and you’re not going to score. That’s the game; we didn’t move the ball. We couldn’t do anything in the passing game; we were under duress for most of the night.”
Arizona State’s defense actually forced four turnovers for the game. Aashari Crosswell forced two fumbles, Tyler Johnson forced a fumble and Chase Lucas intercepted a pass. Yet, scoring only three points off four turnovers won’t win any games.
“We got turnovers early in the game but did nothing with them,” Edwards said. “It was one of those games where you got to give these guys a lot of credit. They have a fantastic defense and they didn’t allow us to score.”
Offensive coordinator Rob Likens, while not pleased with the offense as a whole, did appreciate Daniels not turning over the ball as much as he probably could have.
“He was very calm,” Likens said. “I would get him on the phone and I would ask what he saw and he gave me great answers. One thing I love about the kid is that most freshmen would throw picks. He had one bad decision but most of the time, he was protecting the ball. I know it might frustrate the fans but I’ve seen a lot of freshmen throw pick-sixes.
“You can’t help a team. With a team that good, you give them any help, you’re done. And we gave [Utah] a lot of help.”
Arizona State lost to a much better team on Saturday and as Edwards said, “a lot of our youth showed up on both sides of the ball today.” However, the Devils remain optimistic for next week against UCLA.
“It was just some things that we got to fix as an offense,” Daniels said. “We didn’t have our best game today but we can’t dwell on that. We just got to move on to UCLA.”
