(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
A first half full of punts and allergic to points opened Friday night football at Sun Devil Stadium. Arizona State’s week two matchup with Sacramento State featured two teams which had scored 30 and 77 points respectively in week one, but sloppy offensive play was the story of the first half.
Arizona State’s offensive line – a topic of discussion all week long due to the inexperience of freshmen Dohnovan West and Jarrett Bell – was unable to get any push during the majority of the first half. All-in-all, junior running back Eno Benjamin was able to muster just 14 yards on his eight carries, often finding multiple Sacramento State defenders in the backfield right away.
One of the bright spots for ASU on the offensive side of the ball was senior wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who caught the first play from scrimmage for a gain of 24 yards and returned a punt 38 yards to set up the Sun Devils on the Sacramento State 9-yard line to begin the second quarter.
From there, running back A.J. Carter dropped a pass in the flat on first down before catching a pass and fumbling at the half-yard line on the next play.
Following his opening night 284-yard passing performance, freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels went 7-for-13 with 62 yards passing to go along with four carries for 19 yards. The combination of poor offensive line play, a couple of missed throws from Daniels and a few drops from Sun Devil receivers resulted in an opening half that drew boos from those in the stands.
The lone scoring drive of the half was the result of a fumble recovery from senior linebacker Khaylan Kearse-Thomas after the Hornets elected to go for it on 4th-and-1 from their own 32-yard line. Chase Lucas led the Sun Devils with five tackles, with D.J. Davidson and George Lea combining for the only sack ASU registered.
