ASU Football: Devils Overcome Sluggish Offensive Performance in 19-7 Victory

(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)

Arizona State (2-0) overcame poor offensive play to pull away from Sacramento State 19-7. On a rather disappointing night for ASU in the red zone, Cristian Zendejas knocked in four field goals, and Jayden Daniels passed for over 300 yards and a touchdown to give ASU its second win of the season.

A win is a win for Arizona State, but the way they pulled it out did not necessarily please head coach Herm Edwards.

“There are some things that are very glaring,” Edwards said. “There is no consistency on offense. It seems to be a big play or nothing. We can’t keep living like that on offense. We got to get some points on the board.” 

ASU totaled 395 total yards and fifteen first downs compared to Sacramento State’s 305 total yards and sixteen first downs. However, ASU totaled only 78 yards of offense in the entire first half because of sloppy play. Interior pressure from the Hornets overwhelmed the Devils offensive line, forcing Daniels to throw uncomfortably, and his receivers did not help him out as they dropped several passes. 

“[Drops] are drive killers,” Edwards said. “You have a drive, you have momentum going and then all of the air comes out of the offense.”

The Devils converted four-out-of-five red zone attempts into points, but they all came via field goals. The only touchdown came on a 72 yard catch and run over the middle by Eno Benjamin. 

Benjamin rushed the ball for 24 carries and only 69 yards, averaging 2.9 yards a carry but caught four passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. 

Daniels played under constant pressure from the Hornets defense. While Daniels may have only been sacked once the entire game, Edwards knows that in order to win over the next couple of games, the offensive line must control the line of scrimmage, something he did not see much of on Friday.

“You can’t play offense on your heels,” Edwards said. “When [defenses] change the line of scrimmage, it is hard to run and throw the football. It looks bad. And that is what it looked like for most of tonight.”

Daniels said it wasn’t completely the offensive line’s fault for not protecting him and paving the way for Benjamin on the ground. Daniels instead put some of the blame on himself for the lack of execution on offense.

“I got to get the ball out faster,” Daniels said. “I missed a couple of throws. I got to be better. As an offense and as myself, we also need to be better on third down.

“I probably need to take some more shots to loosen the defense. There’s some plays I missed that could have probably opened up the run game a little bit more.”

To Daniels’ point, Arizona State went 5-for-17 on third downs Friday night, leading to five punts from Michael Turk. 

Four penalties for 60 yards combined also hurt ASU, including a 15-yard penalty by Brandon Aiyuk that wiped out a 68-yard touchdown catch by Frank Darby. 

“That was just bad football,” Aiyuk said. “The play was going away. I just let my emotions get to me.”

The Devils’ defense managed to shut down the Hornets for most of the game, holding them to a shutout until the 6:20 mark of the fourth quarter. This performance came after Sacramento State put up a whopping 77 points the week before against NAIA opponent Southern Oregon.

Chase Lucas led the defense with seven solo tackles while DJ Davidson racked up 2.5 tackles for a loss. Cam Phillips picked off a pass in the fourth for the lone interception of the night. 

Despite the defense’s relatively strong performance [14 points against in two games], it’s the lackluster performance on offense that has many wondering if it can make the adjustments necessary for when it faces No. 19 Michigan State on the road next weekend.

“We didn’t play to the standard we had set for the week,” Daniels said. “We got complacent and we didn’t play out the play.”

ASU must now center its attention to the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing next Saturday. Kick off is slated for 1:00 p.m Pacific time. 

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