(Photo via Evan Barcanic/WCSN)
On second-and-7 on his 29-yard line, Oregon redshirt sophomore wideout Gary Bryant Jr. caught a screen pass and was met by redshirt senior safety Shamari Simmons just ahead of the line to gain. With a stiff arm and spin move, Bryant Jr. beat Simmons before shedding three more tackles on the way to a 71-yard touchdown, making the score 35-0 midway through the second quarter.
It wasn’t a game-changing play in the sixth-ranked Ducks’ (10-1, 7-1 Pac-12) 49-13 victory at Mountain America Stadium, but instead a perfect representation of how Saturday afternoon went for Arizona State Football (3-8, 2-6 Pac-12). No matter what the Sun Devils did to try and get back in the game, it was no use. Their opponent was simply better.
“They’re just a really good football team, to be honest,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “That’s a team that can win a national championship. If that team runs the table, they deserve that opportunity, because that’s one of the best football teams I’ve played, in my opinion, in my entire career.”
During Pac-12 Media Day this past July, Oregon senior quarterback Bo Nix expressed his gratitude for Dillingham — his offensive coordinator at Auburn and most recently in Eugene last season — but said he couldn’t wait to “beat his tail” when he visited Tempe in November.
He did just that on Saturday, and then some.
Entering the game with the highest completion percentage (77%), second-most passing touchdowns (29) and seventh-most yards through the air (3,135) in the FBS, Nix had yet another Heisman-caliber performance against ASU. The veteran quarterback picked apart the Sun Devils’ defense, as he went 24-for-29 and threw for 404 yards with six passing touchdowns, tying a program record. Nix was so dominant through two quarters that he only played one series in the second half, with his team leading 42-0 heading into the locker room.
“Especially in the first half, he came out hitting on his reads, and it kind of felt like there were times where he was just making calls on his own,” graduate defensive tackle Dashaun Mallory said. “I think it was more so his ability to truly be a mastermind out there … [I] got nothing but respect for the guy.
“I mean, he actually was controlling the entire game from the first snap to the last snap, and give respect to where respect is due. Bo Nix is that guy.”
Oregon’s offense got the ball rolling right away, with Nix and junior tight end Patrick Herbert hooking up for a 23-yard touchdown to cap off a nine-play, 75-yard drive. This was a sign of things to come for the ASU defense, which allowed the Ducks to find the end zone on their first six drives.
It didn’t help that Nix’s wideouts were consistently getting open and picking up chunk yardage seemingly at will. Five different receivers scored touchdowns on Saturday, with Herbert and redshirt sophomore Troy Franklin each recording two and the Ducks totaling 463 receiving yards. While Oregon didn’t record a rushing touchdown, junior running back Bucky Irving and sophomore running back James Jordan both averaged over five yards per carry, creating a nightmare for the Sun Devils’ defense.
“They’re a really good football team,” Dillingham said. “There’s nothing to take away. All right, take away the run. Well, now you play man coverage, and you have to cover three wideouts that are going to play on Sundays, one who could be a first-round pick, with a quarterback who could win the Heisman. Alright, take [away] the pass. Well, they lead the country in yards per carry, and they have three [offensive] linemen that are gonna get drafted and a running back who’s gonna get drafted.
“I told them, ‘You guys shouldn’t hang your head. We gave everything we got, and [Oregon]’s a better football team.’ Point blank, simple.”
Conversely, ASU struggled to get going when it had the football. The Sun Devils logged just 205 passing yards — with redshirt junior quarterback Trenton Bourguet accounting for 142 — and had much of the same fate on the ground, finishing with 111 yards.
While the Sun Devils moved the ball 75 yards downfield on their first drive of the game, they ultimately came up empty-handed, as graduate kicker Dario Longhetto missed a 43-yard field goal try.
An inability to finish drives quickly became a theme on Saturday, in large part because ASU seldom reached the line to gain on third downs. The Sun Devils posted a 21% third down efficiency — going just 2-for-8 in the opening two quarters — a major factor in being held scoreless heading into halftime.
“I think we just got to finish drives, getting down in the red zone, getting down past the 50 [yard-line],” redshirt junior tight end Jalin Conyers said. “We want to put points on the board regardless. It’s finishing drives, keep playing hard, I mean, hey, that’s a really good football team, they’re in the top whatever they are for a reason.”
ASU did find some success in the second half, however. After conceding 42 points before the break, the Sun Devils allowed just seven and outgained Oregon 169 yards to 159 in the final two quarters, albeit mostly playing against sophomore backup signal caller Ty Thompson.
The Ducks’ shutout was snapped in the third quarter thanks to a 43-yard field goal by Longhetto, but that wasn’t the final time ASU put points on the board. With under nine minutes to go in the game, graduate wideout Melquan Stovall took a handoff, avoided a tackler in the backfield, and followed his blocks to the outside for a 15-yard score, his first of the season. Longhetto later added another field goal, bringing the Sun Devils’ second-half point total to 13.
“I challenged our guys at halftime,” Dillingham said. “‘Let’s go win the second half. This game, let’s just go win the second half.’ That was it, and they went out there and they won the second half. And that’s not a win, I understand it. You know what, it shows the guys are actually trying to do what I asked, they’re trying to compete.”
Despite rattling off two conference victories in the past four weeks, the stretch has lacked consistency. The Sun Devils’ inaugural conference victory over Washington State a month ago was followed by a 55-3 blowout at the hands of then-No. 18 Utah. After defeating UCLA at the Rose Bowl last week, ASU was tasked with hosting Oregon, a one-loss team with College Football Playoff aspirations.
But in Bourguet’s eyes, it isn’t unusual to be constantly faced with adversity — it’s a part of life.
“There’s gonna be ups and downs, and it’s how you respond,” Bourguet said. “I thought this team did a great job of coming out for that second half and competing. It was 42-0, and we very easily could have held our heads down and not even came out for the second half to compete. But the offense, we came out and we tried to have some momentum. [The] defense did a good job. But for us, it’s football, but it’s life.”
