New cast of characters on offense effective in 40-3 season opening win
Even in the fifth year of an illustrious college football career for running back Xazavian Valladay, he still gets nervous about the “new.”
“This is the first game, so there’s a lot of emotions flying around; we just didn’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot,” the Wyoming transfer said. “It was just new; we were a little antsy. We got it out of the way, so we’ll be good.”
Valladay couldn’t have done a better job hiding whatever nerves he may have been feeling. In his first game as a Sun Devil, he stole the show, rushing for 116 yards on 15 attempts, scoring two of ASU’s four touchdowns in the process. He and fellow newcomer quarterback Emory Jones paced the Sun Devil offense in what was a huge night. ASU scored early and scored often, ensuring a widely predicted blowout win would come true in the form of a 40-3 beat down of Northern Arizona.
The Arizona State ground game overwhelmed the undersized Lumberjacks. In addition to Valladay’s big night, Emory Jones and Daniyel Ngata enjoyed success with their legs as well. Ngata carried ten times for 60 yards. Jones tucked it and ran 11 times for 56 yards, finding the end zone twice in the process. ASU was able to empty the bench by the start of the fourth quarter, allowing Tevin White to break the seal on his collegiate career. He carried eight times for 31 yards, the first of which was a 16-yard scamper.
“It was a game where we went in with a mindset of trying to run the football, and we accomplished that,” head coach Herm Edwards said. “Everybody ran the ball well. X, Daniyel, even the little sophomore (referring to freshman Tevin White) I closed my eyes and looked up, and he looked like someone who used to run the ball here. There’s a lot of things we still have to work on too.”
ASU started slowly, stalling and settling for a field goal on its opening drive before allowing NAU to drive deep down the field on the ensuing possession. At the end of the first quarter, the Sun Devils led just 3-0. The ship was righted, to say the least, the rest of the way, as a maroon and gold onslaught put up 21 in the second and 13 in the third to bury their in-state neighbors from up north. ASU accumulated 443 yards of offense.
If the goal going into tonight’s game was to dominate NAU without opening the playbook past the prologue, mission accomplished. The dominant ground game allowed Emory Jones and the offense to execute a brief but very efficient night in the air. Jones passed just 18 times, completing 13 times for 152 yards. The most impressive part of the passing game on Thursday night? Six different Sun Devils caught passes. Jones’s chemistry with the entire receiver group is evident; this versatility will be huge in the long run.
“I told ya’ll we got playmakers,” Jones said with a grin. “We have a lot of talented guys in that receiver room.”
Elijhah Badger’s four receptions were the high mark of the night. Messiah Swinson and Andre Johnson each added three, while Giovanni Sanders, Bryan Thompson, and Ngata added one apiece. Arizona State struggled mightily to spread the ball around to its receivers in 2021. On Thursday night, Jones did so tonight with surgical precision.
It may have been a predictably low stress game for Herm Edwards, but the fifth-year head coach still had bones to pick with his team’s performance. Even with the 40-point total, it could have easily been above 50 had the Sun Devils not stalled deep in NAU territory on four separate occasions.
“It was one of those games where there’s a lot to learn from it, but I thought the composure of the team was pretty good,” Edwards said. We moved the ball well, but then we settled for field goals. We were not very good on third downs. We have to not let third downs get away from us offensively.”
Valladay and Ngata made sure the receivers weren’t the only ones being praised for depth and consistency. While X took the lead for most of the evening, he was frequently and effectively relieved by Ngata. The duo combined for 25 carries. Each one felt like it was taken with fresh legs; even the ones that were snuffed out near the line of scrimmage looked as though they had big play potential early on.
“You don’t want to put everything on one guy, and you definitely want to keep the defense on their toes and wear them down,” Valladay said when asked what kind of challenge he and Ngata present to opposing defenses. “When you have backs that can do what we do, and then you can obviously throw the ball, it means big plays for your offense and keeping the defense off the field.”
Beyond the X’s and O’s, Valladay appreciates being able to continue to play ball with a group that has already become so close as to be referred to as “family’ by a number of players.
“It’s definitely a great feeling to be back on the field with my new family,” Valladay said before summarizing any tangible aspect of his big night. “Give it all to God, definitely a great feeling. Many more good things to come.”
Ball Hawks on Defense (with a twist)
ASU officially tallied two interceptions on the evening, but fans will remember three. Kyle Soelle provided the first turnover of the season when he picked off a shallow crossing route late in the first half. The ball found the arms of an ASU defender in the previous possession when Kejuan Markham picked off an errant pass and took it back to the house, but an offside foul by Anthonie Cooper negated the entire play. Later on, Chris Edmonds snatched up a tipped pass and took it the other way for an apparent score. Yellow laundry on the field, a horrifying, post-traumatic stress conjuring sight for many Sun Devil fans, took the score off the board. Omar Norman-Lott’s holding foul came during the return, though, so the interception still stands for Edmonds.
Highlighting these two penalties feels like hovering a magnifying glass over a small insect, as they were only the costliest pair of four total, amounting to just 32 yards.
“It wasn’t that bad!” Edwards exclaimed. “Last year it was 13, 11 in the first half and two in the second. Look, you’re going to get a foul or two. You just don’t want them to be the ones that really hurt you.”
The two defensive penalties ultimately didn’t hurt them tonight, but those flags can be backbreakers in a closer game against a higher caliber opponent.
Special Teams Notes
Placekicker was one of the closest competitions throughout preseason camp. Jace Feely and true freshman Carter Brown battled it out for the entirety of August without a starter officially being named. That competition seems to have been for not, as Carter Brown went 4-4 in his first game, drilling two from 40+ yards. Special teams coach Shawn Slocum indicated earlier this week that the team might go with a two-kicker approach. If Brown has anything to say about it, that won’t be the case.
As Edwards has repeatedly said during his tenure, winning any football game is hard. After the off-season they’ve endured, the sweet feeling of victory was welcomed with open arms by these players and coaches. Arizona State is 1-0, and they passed their first test with flying colors.
“This is a team that has great camaraderie, and you sensed it on the sideline,” Edwards said. “They talked about it, but then you gotta go be about it.”
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