While it was not the result the Arizona State football team wanted, the Sun Devil offense cooked with a little more gas than the previous three games this season against Colorado on Saturday night.
The offense scored a season-high 31 points in the 34-31 loss Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium…21 more than the Michigan State game, 12 more than the Sacramento State game and one more than the Kent State game. However, Kent State is not a power-five team and ASU had to settle for field goals three times in that game whereas the Sun Devils attempted just two field goals (1-2) against the Buffaloes and had four touchdowns versus the three scored against Kent State.
It was by far the most offensive yards put up by ASU since the 455 total yards in the Kent State matchup. The Sun Devils had 453 yards of total offense on Saturday, over 200 yards more total offense than last week against Michigan State land over 50 more yards than the Sacramento State game.
ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels looked the sharpest he has looked maybe all season. The true freshman coming off of his first big upset as a collegiate quarterback did not seem to let the big win get into his head. Daniels was 24-39 with a career-high 345 passing yards while also rushing for 22 yards on the night. He continued his excellent chemistry with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. Daniels has been finding Aiyuk all season and he continued to look for the senior on Saturday. Daniels was able to find Aiyuk nine times for 122 yards in the game including a 53-yard catch and run.
One of the reasons Daniels had such success in the pocket was the work of his offensive line. Daniels was only sacked one time on Saturday after being sacked four times against Michigan State and five times against Kent State.
“They did a great job, being able to hold up the power on the line,” Daniels said. “You see the changes...you see the improvements…”
Another positive with Daniels’ performance was his ability to find different receivers. He was able to connect with nine different receivers in the game including tight end Curtis Hodges twice for 28 yards for Hodges’ first receptions of the season. He also hit Geordon Porter on an 11-yard reception for Porter’s first reception of the season as he had been inactive for the first three games of 2019. Of the nine different wideouts, seven of them had at least two catches.
ASU offensive coordinator Rob Likens was pleased with his wideouts in the game, especially freshman Jordan Kerley.
“I was very pleased with the youngsters,” Likens said. “Jordan Kerley kind of had a breakout game. Was very excited for him. I’ve just been waiting on that because he’s such a good player. I think every one of our receivers caught a pass. I mean it was crazy.”
It was not all fun and games though for the young quarterback on Saturday. Daniels overthrew wide receiver Frank Darby on two deep balls in the first half. Both passes would have potentially been touchdowns, something Daniels was not happy about.
“The first two (overthrown passes) in the first half, I overshot them so - those are plays that could have changed the outcome of the game,” Daniels explained.
Daniels also had his first collegiate interception of his career early in the fourth quarter when ASU was driving into Colorado territory, something Likens said was not necessarily all on Daniels.
“He did a good job,” Likens said. “You know he had that one mistake…wasn’t 100 percent all him…”
A big note for ASU on Saturday was the performance running the ball. Eno Benjamin was the only running back to receive a carry on Saturday and he seemed show shades of what Sun Devil fans witnessed last season. The reigning Pac-12 rushing champion from a season ago had his first big-game on the ground since week one against Kent State when he had 102 yards on 22 carries. Benjamin was the true workhorse for ASU against Colorado as he gained 84 yards on 20 carries, losing only one ard the entire night and more importantly for the Sun Devil offense, scoring two touchdowns. His 4.2 yards per rushing attempt were his most since week one by a mile as he had just 3.4 against Michigan State and a measly 2.9 against FCS Sacramento State. While his receiving numbers had been great to start the season, he was just not able to get it going after the first game, something he was able to do against Colorado.
“I just think…Eno is one of those guys that going into the season…we knew that people would stack the box and try to make the young quarterback (Daniels) beat them…,” ASU coach Herm Edwards stated. “I thought tonight he ran the ball for almost 100 yards…got into the endzone…We need to continue to be balanced on offense…”
The performance of Benjamin gave Edwards more confidence in the rushing attack heading into the Sun Devils’ road matchup with California this coming Friday.
“That helped us, we got the run game going and now we play the Cal Bears and they are pretty good on defense,” Edwards noted. They have a stout group of guys up there. It is good to get the running game going, especially when you go on the road, you are going to have to try to run the ball against good defenses on the road.”
One of the biggest testaments to the success of Benjamin running the ball well against Colorado is the obvious improvement of the offensive line. Just as it seemed to help Daniels in the game, the movement of Cohl Cabral back to center last week with 17-year-old true freshman Ladarius Henderson sliding into the left tackle spot seemed to work out for ASU. While the offensive line looked better pass blocking, it was the run blocking that was noticeably better on Saturday as Benjamin had holes to run through seemingly non-existent in the last two games.
While Edwards was happy about the performance of the run game, Likens did not exactly echo what his head coach had to say. He said while he thought the run game was solid on Saturday, he wants to see a big run which did not happen against the Buffaloes. He said it is something he is awaiting.
Despite all of the offensive improvements in the game, ASU sputtered late in the fourth quarter. The two-minute drill was poorly executed as the offense went nowhere on a potential game-winning drive.
However, despite the loss, Likens said his offense can “absolutely” gain confidence the way they played in the game compared to the first few weeks but said his group showed a lack of discipline at times in big situations and it cost them.
Saturday night was a step in the right direction. It will up to this group to prove that it wasn't an aberration.
