ASU head coach Todd Graham admitted that his team’s sluggish play in the first half of Saturday’s opener against FCS opponent NAU was definitely nerve-wracking.

The Sun Devils led just 10-3 at halftime but were outgained 212 yards to 169. NAU even almost lead as sophomore quarterback Case Cookus threw a Hail Mary pass, which was eventually caught by junior receiver Emmanuel Butler. However, the officials ruled that Butler stepped out of bounds before reaching the end zone and time had already expired.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Manny Wilkins had a night of many firsts. He started his first career game, threw his first collegiate pass and even scored his first career touchdown on a 13-yard run to cap a seven-play, 44-yard opening drive.

After that first drive, the offense stalled, Wilkins threw his first career interception and ASU did not score again until Zane Gonzalez’s 33-yard field goal with 1:26 left in the half. Gonzalez also hit a career-long 53-yard field goal in the third quarter as the offense’s touchdown drought continued.

Graham said ASU’s quarterback competition was fierce dating back to the spring, but that he and the staff noticed weeks ago that Wilkins elevated the play of those around him and seemed like the guy who should start the opener.

“I thought (Manny) did a good job managing the game,” he said. “He made one bad decision throwing the interception, but I like how he responded to that and the demeanor on the sideline. Throughout that whole time, he was very positive.”

Wilkins also provided a bit of flash, hurdling two NAU defenders at separate points in the game. He finished 20-of-27 for 180 yards, and also carried the ball 14 times for 89 yards.

“I’d like him to be a little bit more careful than all that hurdling stuff,” Graham said. “Probably can’t stay healthy doing that.”

The Sun Devils eventually took a 20-6 lead into the fourth quarter and finally blew the game wide open en route to a 44-13 final.

The offense outgained NAU 456 yards to 425, including 276 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. Junior Demario Richard had 19 carries for 78 yards and junior Kalen Ballage carried 10 times for 58 yards.

Additionally, true freshman N’Keal Harry and redshirt freshman Nick Ralston scored their first career touchdowns. Harry’s score—initially a reception— was later ruled a 34-yard rushing touchdown. Ralston took a Brady White handoff 12 yards with 2:46 left in regulation.

“We felt like we could run the ball and it could open up plays and we would wear them down and pound them down and eventually we’d win,” Graham said. “But we expected to score a lot more points than we did in that first half.”

Graham said Saturday’s offense was simplified with a first-year quarterback and an offensive line that fielded four new starters. However, he hinted at the unit’s potential.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons, we’ve got a lot of things we can do,” he said.

ASU’s defense gave up 425 total yards, but only 13 points in true “bend, but don’t break” fashion. Most of the damage came through the air against an inexperienced secondary that has been a concern throughout the fall.

However, the Lumberjacks committed 11 penalties for 81 yards. The most crucial string came when they were on ASU’s 1-yard line, but two false starts backed them up to the 11-yard line. Then, a screen pass earned the yardage back before a delay of game eventually forced a field goal.

Cookus completed 23-of-33 passes for 369 yards and a touchdown, which was an 87-yard bomb to Elijah Marks over the top of Bryson Echols and ASU’s second-team secondary that was in a cover three. Marks caught eight passes for a career-high 174 yards and Butler had seven receptions for 118 yards to lead the Lumberjacks.

Three of ASU’’s regular defensive starters were out on Saturday though, which Graham said made it difficult.

Bandit safety Laiu Moeakiola was dressed but did not play due to injury. Senior linebacker Salamo Fiso and senior nose tackle Ami Latu were out for disciplinary reasons, Graham said. Latu will be back next week, but Fiso is still out indefinitely.

“It’s hard for me for them to miss a game because it breaks my heart because I don’t want them to,” Graham said of Fiso and Latu. “Our standards are really high. Our guys know that and they respect that and I think that they understand that, so that’s a tough deal.”

Additionally, junior linebacker Christian Sam injured what looked to be an ankle early in the game and never returned.

Still, Graham said he was proud of his defense, which made 10 tackles for losses.

“It is stressful because Laiu and Salamo and even Ami are guys with vast experience that are communicators,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons that we were as simple as we were. We wanted to make sure we didn’t beat ourselves by having mental mistakes and assignment errors.

“We were very simple, I think that’s the least amount of pressure we’ve ever run in a game. We said we weren’t going to blitz until they scored a touchdown, so we didn’t.”

ASU did not blow NAU out early and could not test its depth as much as it may have liked, but the Sun Devils are 1-0 heading into next week’s home game against Texas Tech and its Air Raid offense.

“It was 10-6 for a long time, but that didn’t count,” Graham said, laughing. “You guys will forget about that in a couple weeks.”