Three weeks into the 2023 season, Arizona State football fans have already met a lot of the new faces that they will see for the rest of the year. However, the newcomers that ASU fans got their first glimpse of in the 29-0 loss to Fresno State made a first impression that fans are not likely to forget.
Offense
Following the news that true freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada would not be available against the Bulldogs, head coach Kenny Dillingham announced that redshirt junior Trenton Bourguet and redshirt sophomore Drew Pyne would split quarterback duties over the first four drives of the game, each getting two drives before Dillingham would make his decision for the rest of the game.
On the third play of the game, Bourguet’s pass was picked off for ASU’s first turnover of the day. Then, on his second drive, Bourguet was hit trying to complete a pass. He went down with what appeared to be an injury to his lower left leg, so the Notre Dame transfer Pyne entered the game to make his first impression on Sun Devil Nation.
Taking over on the Fresno State 27-yard line, Pyne was immediately strip-sacked on his first snap as a Sun Devil. Three offensive snaps later, Pyne fumbled the ball again, this time on his own 13-yard line.
Pyne did lead one of ASU’s few positive drives, driving the team down to the three-yard line before four straight goal-line stops prevented ASU from scoring. However, it did not get much better for the Connecticut native as Pyne turned the ball over two more times on either side of the halftime break. Ending the first half with an interception and two drives into the second half, Pyne turned the ball over for the fourth and final time.
Pyne came into Camp Tontozona a little over a month ago, with many of the fanbase believing that he was a week one starter. But he pulled his hamstring, resulting in Rashada winning the starting job. Following his second interception and fourth turnover, Pyne did not return to the game, but it was not for performance issues. Dillingham announced postgame that Pyne was pulled due to an injury on the same leg as his previous injury. He finished the game, completing five of his 13 passes for 52 yards and two interceptions.
“I just think we have to be more consistent with where the ball needs to go,” Dillingham remarked. “I think there needs to be a more direct plan on if you get this look, this is where the ball goes. We should be able to see from the sideline exactly what’s going to happen before it even happens. We got to do some work, making sure everybody’s on the same page and making sure that they saw the defensive looks. Reality is everything that we saw; they’d shown on tape multiple times.”
With Pyne now unavailable, ASU was down to their fourth-string quarterback, redshirt sophomore Jacob Conover. Transferring from BYU, Conover might be a newcomer to the ASU fans, but he is not a newcomer to Frank Kush Field. After graduating from Chandler High School, Conover led his school to three state championships.
His luck inside Mountain America Stadium would not extend to his time on the field on Saturday night. Conover finished out the game for the Sun Devils, completing six of his 16 passes for 89 yards, as well as two interceptions.
Across their three quarterbacks, ASU finished the night with 188 passing yards on a 46 percent completion percentage, as well as five interceptions.
“I can’t worry about (the injuries),” Dillingham said. “I can worry about the guys that are going to practice on Monday, and then practice on Tuesday, practice on Wednesday, and play on Saturday. And that’s it. I can sit up here and complain, ‘Oh, we’re down six offensive linemen, we’re down four…’ What does that do? That’s a horrible message to a football team. We’re going to do whatever we can to score points. I’m gonna do everything in my power.”
The quarterback room is nowhere near the only position group dealing with injuries. The offensive line had six guys either inactive or playing through injury. The running back room was without DeCarlos Brooks due to an injury sustained in the Oklahoma State game.
Sacramento State transfer Cameron Skattebo was given the majority of the running duties on Saturday night, but due to ASU battling back from being down early, he did not see that many carries. He finished the night with five carries for just 15 yards.
Last week, true freshman running back Kyson Brown’s first snap as a Sun Devil went nearly as well as Pyne’s, fumbling the ball inside ASU’s half but coming up with the recovery. He did not see the field the rest of the time against the Cowboys, but with ASU down big and so many other injuries across the field, Kyson saw five carries on the night, finishing with a team-high 23 yards. Brown also had two receptions for 30 yards out of the backfield.
The offense finished with about as ugly a night as you possibly can have. Dillingham claimed that he had ‘never been involved in a game like that.’ Finishing the night with eight turnovers and the first home shutout loss since 1988 is a clear message that something is wrong with Dillingham’s offense.
It might only get tougher for the first-year head coach. After the game, Dillingham announced that Rashada would miss at least four more weeks, which might force ASU to use his redshirt year. Bourguet’s injury will require an MRI. Pyne’s injury did not seem as serious as Bourguet’s, but it appears as if ASU might welcome reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams and No.5 ranked USC next weekend with fourth-string Conover as their starting quarterback.
“I’ve never in my career been involved in a game like that,” Dillingham said. “I literally couldn’t even explain how that’s even possible, but we’re gonna get it fixed. I’m going to get it fixed. That’s a guarantee that I’m going to get [the offense] fixed.”
Defense
It is hard to find bright spots when a team turns the ball over eight times, but the ASU defense made thier case on Saturday night. Not a single one of the eight turnovers turned into a touchdown, as this group held the visitors to just 15 points on five field goals.
The Bulldogs scored touchdowns on just the first drive of the game and the first drive of the second half. The rest of Fresno State’s drives resulted in either a punt, a turnover on downs, or a field goal coming off of one of ASU’s eight turnovers. All in all, it was a miracle the score was as tight as it ended up being.
“I know our guys are disgusted by how we played,” Dillingham noted. “Our defense fought hard and battled. Eight turnovers, giving up 29 points. That’s remarkable. To be honest, when you have eight turnovers and you give up 29 points. It’s just one of the most incredible things I’ve ever been a part of. If we were to just punt on offense, we probably would have had a better football game.”
“We’re a team. We win and lose together,” senior safety Chris Edmonds said. “No matter what offense has going on. We’re gonna keep going out there. Everybody’s gonna keep going out there and battle for those boys. Because I know that they were still out there battling. So I’m not going to place the blame on nobody.”
Perhaps the best play on either side of the ball for the Sun Devils Texas transfer EDGE Prince Dorbah. The redshirt junior failed to record a sack while in Austin and recorded just a half sack across the first two games of the season in Tempe. On the first Fresno State drive of the game, Dorbah came around the edge, beat his man, and sacked quarterback Mikey Keene for the first solo sack of his college career.
However, Dorbah wasn’t done. Halfway through the third quarter, Dorbah brought Keene down again for a loss of 12 and his second sack of the day. Overall, it was a great day for the Dallas native as he finished with eight total tackles, two sacks, and two quarterback hurries.
Coming into Saturday, ASU is expected to be without one of their most important players on defense, redshirt senior safety Shamari Simmons. Simmons appeared to hurt his elbow in practice during Wednesday’s practice. It was believed that he was in line to miss the game, yet when warmups started, he was out there with the first team, playing with a large elbow brace on his left arm.
Simmons played, and he played well. Immediately following Dorbah’s second sack of Keene midway through the third quarter, defensive coordinator Brian Ward dialed up a safety blitz. Simmons broke through the line untouched, sacking Keene for a loss of nine yards.
“No, because that kid is tough,” Dillingham answered when asked if he was surprised Simmons suited up. “I mean, that kid loves the game. That kid is tough. That kid played really well through what he went through at practice and coming back the next day and playing. I mean, it’s just incredible. Kudos to him.”
While one newcomer became available tonight, another one went down. EDGE Clayton Smith has been one of ASU’s most valuable players so far, but at the end of the first quarter, he went down with an injury to his lower left leg. He needed help to walk off the field, and he eventually returned to the sideline out of his pads and in a walking boot.
Special Teams
Last week was not a great performance for graduate punter Josh Carlson, averaging under 40 yards a punt. However, following the Oklahoma State game, Dillingham backed his punter in the postgame presser, claiming that he had a lot more in his leg. Against Fresno State, Carlson had two punts of over 45 yards, with one reaching 50.
Full list of newcomers participating in the game:
DB Demetries Ford (3 total season appearances)
DB Shamari Simmons (3)
DT Tristan Monday (3)
DT Dashaun Mallory (3)
EDGE Clayton Smith (3)
LB Tate Romney (3)
LB Tre Brown (3)
OL Sione Finau (3)
OL Leif Fautanu (3)
RB Cam Skattebo (3)
WR Xavier Guillory (3)
P Josh Carlson (3)
WR Melquan Stovall (3)
RB Kyson Brown (3)
EDGE Prince Dorbah (3)
K Dario Longhetto (3)
LS Slater Zellers (3)
OL Bram Walden (3)
DT Sam Benjamin (3)
EDGE Elijah O’Neal (3)
OL Max Iheanachor (2)
DT CJ Fite (2)
QB Drew Pyne (1)
QB Jacob Conover (1)
OL Sean Na’a (1)
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