(Photo via Bec Striffler/WCSN)
What happened at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday was nothing short of a massacre.
Fresh off its first Pac-12 and Power 5 win of the season, ASU football carried a rejuvenated spirit into Salt Lake City to take on No. 18 Utah. The Sun Devils, who saw significant improvements on multiple fronts against Washington State last weekend, planned to continue to build on their success.
But instead of looking like the victors they were last week, the Sun Devils (2-7, 1-5 Pac-12) played one of their worst games in program history and ended up on the wrong side of a 55-3 dredging by the Utes (7-2, 4-2).
Reminiscent of ASU’s Week 3 matchup against Fresno State, redshirt junior Trenton Bourguet earned the start but was forced out of the game due to an injury suffered early in the first quarter. Redshirt sophomore Jacob Conover took over, but he was incapable of jumpstarting the Sun Devils.
In what was the Sun Devils’ worst offensive performance since 1946, ASU totaled an atrocious 83 yards, and Conover finished with a measly 41 yards on 5-for-22 passing, continuously overthrowing and underthrowing open receivers. In the back half of the third quarter, junior running back Cam Skattebo took most of the snaps, but ASU saw little to no improvement.
Upon Conover’s return to the backfield after Skattebo, he threw an interception from his own 12-yard line, punctuating the disastrous day.
The Sun Devils’ lone score came on a 35-yard field goal by graduate kicker Dario Longhetto in the first quarter. But even that drive was a failure in its own right, considering ASU failed to get in the end zone after redshirt junior receiver Elijhah Badger returned a kickoff 78 yards to Utah’s 21-yard line.
After several short gains by Skattebo, a pair of incompletions by Conover, and a loss of six yards on a carry by freshman receiver Kaleb Black, ASU found itself just three yards closer to the end zone than where it started.
And yet, despite ASU’s offense playing worse than it had all season, it was the lackluster outing from the Sun Devils’ defense that surprised many.
Play on the defensive side of the ball was abysmal, with ASU’s defense allowing 513 yards to the Utes. The season-most 352 rushing yards surrendered to Utah was just one shy of the total amount of rushing yards ASU had given up in its previous five games combined, including a matchup in which ASU gave up 196 yards to Cal.
The Utes’ offense wasted no time putting points on the board to start the game. On the first drive of the game, junior quarterback Bryson Barnes threw his first of four passing touchdowns on the day.
The Utes took care of the Sun Devils using big plays to garner chunk yardage and move quickly down the field. Utah had 12 rushing plays that went for 10 or more yards, including the 54-yard score by sophomore back Ja’Quinden Jackson, the 59-yarder by redshirt freshman quarterback Nate Johnson and the 22-yard touchdown by junior running back Charlie Vincent that put the Utes over the half-century mark.
Even when ASU found positive yardage or made key plays, penalties wiped its accomplishments off the board.
Twice in the first quarter, personal fouls from redshirt freshman defensive lineman Blazen Lono-Wong and redshirt junior edge Prince Dorbah, respectively, resulted in additional yardage for the Utes. Both drives resulted in passing touchdowns to junior receiver Devaughn Vele.
In the third quarter, a 72-yard punt return touchdown by graduate receiver Melquan Stovall was called back due to a holding penalty on ASU’s own half of the field. Even at its lowest, ASU couldn’t overcome its own mistakes. Down 31-3, ASU had a 41-yard Skattebo completion to redshirt junior receiver Troy Omeire erased because of offensive pass interference.
Saturday’s performance was a complete turnaround from ASU’s stellar offensive showing against Washington State last weekend and ASU’s dominant defensive outing at No. 5 Washington two weeks ago.
One week after providing hope for the future, the Sun Devils snuffed it out. Head coach Kenny Dillingham and company will look to move on from this game against Utah at UCLA next week, but for fans, media and critics, the 52-point loss will not be easily forgotten.
