(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
The No. 24 Sun Devils (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) were unable to overpower the explosive offense of the Colorado Buffaloes (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) in Tempe Saturday night, losing 34-31.
ASU came into the contest allowing just one touchdown per game — all coming in the fourth quarter. With Colorado’s scoring offense ranked No. 39 in college football coming into Tempe, the Devils could not contain it.
Arizona State allowed 14 points and 145 yards of total offense in the first quarter. The no-huddle, fast-paced offense of Colorado did not allow ASU to settle down.
“We have to do a better job when they go tempo – lining up faster,” junior defensive back Evan Fields said. “Once they started going fast, we didn’t have enough urgency to get lined up. They got us out of place and made some plays.”
The lack of offensive production has been the theme of Arizona State football this season. That was not the case in this matchup as the first half included no punts between the two teams.
“I had the mindset is was going to get into the thirties,” head coach Herm Edwards said. “You watch them enough, you know it’s going to be that kind of game. It didn’t let me down.”
The beginning of the second half was a different chapter.
Colorado and ASU shared punts to start the second half – the defenses showed up late to the party. Although the Devils held the Buffaloes to ten points in the second half, the early-game offensive emergence was the difference.
“They were up 14 before you could take your hat off and sit down,” Edwards said. “We made a good comeback to get it within reason. [I thought] a stop here or there was going to dictate who would win this football game.”
With the defense playing uncharacteristic football by allowing 34 points – more than it has combined to allow all season – there were obvious reasons for the lack of stops.
With an average of almost 2.5 sacks per game this season, Arizona State could not break through the Colorado line. A clean jersey on senior quarterback Steven Montez allowed him to break out for 337 yards through the air and three touchdowns.
“The quarterback had a lot of time to throw – a lot of time,” Edwards said. “That’s not fun with a quarterback that can throw the ball like this guy. We have to find a way to get to the quarterback. If we don’t, it’s going to be a long year.”
The offense outperformed its expectations.
Coming into the first conference game of the season, the Devils averaged just under 20 points per game. After two quarters, ASU had 21.
“We picked up as an of offense and we’re finding our rhythm now,” freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels said. “We just have to keep building off of it. I don’t see anything, like the No. 1 need, but I just see we have to build off some things.”
The story of the game was how to maintain momentum.
There were two turnovers in the game – both at crucial times. The first was a second-quarter Colorado kickoff return fumbled and recovered by ASU which then led to a seven-play scoring drive to tie it in Tempe.
The last was Daniels’ first turnover of his young collegiate career – an interception over the middle inside Buffalo territory – early in the fourth quarter.
“It was opportunities missed,” Edwards said. “You’re playing games like this, it’s a scoring affair. You got to make a play, whether it’s on offense or defense, to change the momentum of the game. We weren’t able to do that.”
Daniels finished the game with 345 passing yards and two touchdowns, including the lone interception.
“He’s done a lot of good things,” Edwards said. “He’s going to throw some interceptions, that’s going to happen. Hopefully he doesn’t throw a lot of them. You live through it.”
No. 5 had one of his better games as a freshman. Daniels took more deep shots against the Colorado secondary. Though he hit some key targets, he was not successful early on.
“We know the type of receivers we have…I feel like nobody in the country can guard him,” Daniels said. “The first two in the first half — I overshot them. Those are plays that could have changed the game – changed the outcome of the game.”
Junior running back Eno Benjamin was not able to eclipse the 100-yard mark on the ground but hit the endzone twice.
“[Benjamin] ran the ball for almost 100 yards, had some good catches, got into the endzone,” Edwards said. “He’s been scoring touchdowns for us which is good. I think we can build on this and continue to be balanced on offense.”
ASU will have minimal time to dwell on its first loss of the season. The Devils will travel to an undefeated Cal team and face another tough conference opponent.
“I might not go home,” Edwards said. “Just get [this] tape over with and be done with it so I can start on Cal.”
