It took a while to shake the cobb webs off and get going, but eventually Arizona State and their 43 new players easily prevailed 40-3 over Northern Arizona, a team they’ve met 41 times and hold a 23-14-4 advantage against. It seemed for a while that their offense was going to sputter all night long holding just a 3-0 lead after the 1st Qtr on the first of four field goals on the night by true freshman Carter Brown. But things finally started to pick up in the 2nd Qtr and again after the break
ASU’s Junior QB, Emory Jones, didn’t exactly set the world on fire in the air but he managed the game well and didn’t make any critical mistakes, connecting on over 70% of his passes for 152 yards and no interceptions. Considering that last year he threw up 13 interceptions against 19 TD’s for the Florida Gators, Head Coach Herm Edwards was probably pleased that his box score had zero picks and more than pleased that Jones made up for the lack of TD’s in the air with two rushing TD’s to go with two more from Senior transfer RB Xazavian Vallady who, according to Michelle Gardner ot the Arizona Republic, “entered the game with 3,281 career rushing yards, more than any other active player in the FBS.” Between Carter Brown’s 16 points from four field goals and four extra points and those four rushing TD’s that’s all the points the Sun Devils needed, especially since Northern Arizona never scored again after connecting on that sole field goal in the 2nd Qtr. What a huge difference over last year in which Arizona State languished at the place kicking position with only 8 field goals total all season long.
The Sun Devils out-paced Northern Arizona in every category: 24 first downs to 7; 152 passing yards to 97; 267 rushing yards to just 23 as well as almost a quarter’s worth of difference in time-of-possession. The score could have been 54-3 but Arizona State had two defensive TD’s called back. One thing Edwards had to be really pleased about was the reduction in penalties over last year’s average of 79 yards a game, most in the FBS except for two schools. Even with all their new players they were only called for four offensive penalties totalling 35 yards compared to 13 in last year’s season opener. There are definitely areas that need improving as they were just 4-for-13 on third down conversions, but they were perfect in the red zone-going 5-for-5 with three TD’s and two field goals.
Arizona State hits the road to face a much tougher opponent in Oklahoma State on Saturday, September 10th. Although the Sun Devils have won two of the three times the teams have met, it’s been almost 30 years since their last game.