Colorado isn’t the only program in the PAC-12 that is attempting a reboot this season. Arizona State which seemed to be in good hands after the hiring of Herm Edwards in December of 2017 fell apart after an inquiry about potential recruiting violations—specifically the hosting of recruits on campus during sanctioned NCAA dead periods. In light of the allegations a number of assistants left the program, five all toll, including their defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce who had a direct pipeline to the recruiting of Long Beach Poly High School football players where he used to be head coach. With a transfer portal in place that is certainly handy for the crew of an apparent sinking ship, those departures led to what was termed a “mass exodus of transfers for the 2021 season.” Included in that group was their QB Jayden Daniels who fled to LSU as well as Eric Gentry, an All-American Linebacker who went to Lincoln Riley’s crew at USC. In spite of all that Edwards was able to hang on until a day after the team lost a 2022 pre-conference game to Eastern Michigan in which the Sun Devils were favored by 20+ points against a team that was expected to finish last in their conference. Running backs coach Shaun Aguano took over as the interim head coach until the hiring of Kenny Dillingham in late November last year. Dillingham is the former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Oregon Ducks. Prior to his stint at Oregon he also served in the offensive coordinator role for Florida State, Auburn, and Memphis. For Dillingham, much like it was for Oregon State’s Head Coach Jonathan Smith, it’s a return home as he is a Scottsdale raised native and 2013 graduate of Arizona State.
As far as the homecoming goes, so far so good as the Sun Devils took care of business in Week 1 against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds in spite of a two hour weather delay and a game played in conditions that the AP described as, “torrents of dust, lightning and sideways rain.” Credit for the three point winning margin goes to the Senior PK Dario Longhetto who connected on a 38 yard field goal with under a minute left in the 3rd Qtr to put Arizona State up by ten 24-17. The Thunderbirds would come back halfway through the 4th Qtr scoring on a 47 yard return of a blocked Sun Devil punt to close in within three points at 24-21 where the score would end up.
The new Arizona State QB Jayden Rashada—a true freshman who won the job after a hamstring injury to Drew Pyne who was a portal transfer and ten game starter for Notre Dame last year—didn’t connect on a lot of his throws, just under 60%, but averaged over 13 yards per reception and threw for 236 yards, 2 TD’s, and most importantly—no interceptions. The Sun Devils picked up another score on the ground while rushing 34 times for 135 yards. Justin Miller, QB for Southern Utah connected on under 50% of his passes for 123 yards, 1 TD, and no picks while their running game faired even worse, averaging under three yards per carry and picking up well under 100 yards—none of which led to any points on the board.
It was a win, although not a very impressive one as noted by head coach Kenny Dillingham’s after game comment of; “We got a lot of crap to fix, but we got it done.” High on that list of things to fix are the nine penalties for 100 yards which included a holding penalty that took away a TD run. As was noted in the AP recap for ESPN; “Southern Utah was barely better, flagged eight time for 71 yards.” The Sun Devils will be at home again this next Saturday, September 9th, against Oklahoma State.