In a tightly contested game, the Colorado Buffaloes (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) finished strong to pull off a 34-31 upset at No. 24 Arizona State (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12). Despite the losing effort, the offense put together by far its best performance of the season, setting a new season-high with 31 points. The Sun Devils defensive effort left a lot to be desired, however, as the Buffaloes offense proved too much to handle. Here’s a look at the first-year players who contributed in tonight’s game.

Offense

In the 31-point effort, true freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels had the best passing game of his young career. He completed 24 of his 39 passes for 345 yards, a pair of touchdowns and an interception - which for the record was completely on him. Still, he proved throughout the night what he could do at quarterback, completing his 24 passes to nine different players.

Daniels also ran five times for 16 yards, but couldn’t find his way out of trouble in the unit’s final drive. After two tough throws that his receivers could’ve come up with, Daniels was sacked on third down and hit as he threw on the fourth & long, making the pass incomplete and ultimately proving to seal ASU’s fate.

Then, there are ASU’s pair of starting true freshman offensive linemen in right guard Dohnovan West and left tackle LaDarius Henderson. Both seemed to play well, despite falling apart in the offense’s final two plays to allow the pressure on Daniels, but that is something that can be pinned on the unit as a whole rather than just either of those two guys.

Neither were called for a penalty, in fact, it was senior right tackle Steve Miller who was flagged for a a 15-yard penalty for launching his body into a player’s legs from behind (only penalty on the o-line), which eventually led to ASU’s missed 48-yard field goal on the offense’s first drive.

A few freshman wide receivers made their presence known tonight as part of Daniels and the offense’s effort to spread the ball around. The obvious standout was true freshman Jordan Kerley, taking two catches for 59 yards. He took one completion, which Daniels got off right before getting lit up, for 33 yards deep into Colorado territory. Unfortunately for ASU, Daniels threw an ill-advised pass on the next play, resulting in his only interception this season.

Other new receivers who contributed were true freshman Ricky Pearsall, who caught a pass for 19 yards, and redshirt freshman Geordon Porter, who caught his first career for 11 yards, returning from a leg injury that kept him out for the first three games. Porter is the 29th freshman (true or redshirt) to see playing time this season.

True freshman Ethan Long was another notable contributor, taking some snaps in ‘Sparky’ formation and finishing the game with two rushes for 10 yards, in addition to his participation on practically every kickoff and punt.

Also seeing game action on the offensive side of the ball was true freshman fullback Elijah Juarez, who was seen blocking for Eno Benjamin’s three-yard touchdown run, true freshman tackle Ralph Frias, who was seen blocking for the field goal unit. True freshman tight end Nolan Matthews and junior college transfer wide receiver Brandon Pierce saw the field, yet neither of whom were targeted on any throws tonight. Redshirt freshman offensive tackle Spencer Lovell played as well.

Defense

It was a night to forget for ASU’s defense, surrendering 34 points and 475 yards to a talented Colorado offense, that didn’t miss a beat after losing its superstar in junior wide receiver Laviska Shenault early in the first half. It only gets worse when looking at the injuries the unit suffered late in the fourth quarter. In addition to redshirt sophomore nose tackle D.J. Davidson going down, starting redshirt freshman safety Cam Phillips (10 tackles, tackle-for-loss, pass defended), who we’re concerned with for the sake of this report, went down in pain after helping on a tackle, grabbing his left arm and never returning to action.

This meant true freshman safety Willie Harts had to step in for Phillips in the final minutes of action. He has appeared in each game thus far already, albeit mainly in a special teams role, but registered his first collegiate tackles in tonight’s action, tallying three.

The only other defensive newcomer who had a performance worth lauding was transfer defensive tackle Roe Wilkins. He notched a pair of tackles, but the stat sheet doesn’t do justice to the number of run and short-yardage plays that he disrupted.

Another newcomer who played on defense was transfer cornerback Jack Jones, who broke up a pass but was burned on a couple of others, including a Tony Brown touchdown catch. Additionally, freshman linebacker Case Hatch was credited for a tackle and the forced fumble that Colorado lost on a kickoff return, their only turnover of the night, although it seemed to be an unforced error.

Redshirt freshman defensive end Michael Matus saw game action but did not record any stats, nor did sophomore junior college transfer defensive lineman TJ Pesefea.

Sophomore transfer cornerback Timarcus Davis also saw action, getting credit for a tackle but having a rough time on special teams.

He was seen taking an earful from special teams coordinator and associate head coach Shawn Slocum after Colorado got a big kickoff return. The most significant play he was involved in though was when he was flagged for roughing the holder (for the record, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that penalty) on Colorado’s field goal attempt with 34 seconds to play. Even a made field goal would’ve made it a six-point contest but given ASU a slim chance to win with a late touchdown. Instead, the penalty gave the Buffs the final first down and they were able to finish the game in victory formation, closing out the three-point win.

Special Teams

With junior kicker Brandon Ruiz injured once again, it was up to true freshman Josh Plaster to handle kickoffs, and redshirt sophomore kicker Cristian Zendejas, officially on scholarship as of this week, to kick field goals.

Zendejas made all four PAT attempts and was 1-for-2 on his field goal attempts, making a 23-yarder but falling short on a 48-yard kick. If not for the aforementioned penalty that Miller committed on the drive, that latter field goal theoretically would’ve been kicked from 33 yards out, if it would’ve even needed to be kicked at all.

Sophomore transfer punter Michael Turk only came out to punt twice, totaling 117 yards on the night and an average of 58.5 yards per punt. He downed one of the two inside the 20-yard-line.

Other newcomers that saw snaps strictly on special teams were redshirt freshman linebacker Ely Doyle, redshirt freshman defensive back Alijah Gammage.