Having gotten their feet wet as Arizona State football players, the newcomer group apparently still needed some time to acclimate on Saturday against Oklahoma State. Despite taking a 15-10 lead to halftime, the ASU offense fell flat in the second half, leaving its defense out to dry in a 27-15 loss.
In a game with few positives to take out of, the large group of rookie Sun Devils had their fair share of shortcomings, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
Offense
Starting with freshman Quarterback Jaden Rashada, his performance certainly wasn’t one to write home about. Going 16 of 29 on passes for 167 yards with a touchdown and interception, each could definitely be pinned on some questionable play calling in the second half, as well as offensive line struggles. Still, Rashada wasn’t shying away from accountability.
I thought I could’ve done a way better job,” Rashada noted postgame. “Offense could’ve had the defense’s back more. There was a lot of things I could’ve done better tonight.”
“I thought once again in the first half he came out and played really well,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said of the freshman’s performance. “I think in the second half, they took away the deep ball, backed everybody up.”
While the night ended poorly for Rashada, it didn’t start that way. Following a three-and-out to start off the offense’s day, Rashada would lead an 11-play, 77-yard scoring drive spearheaded by the run game primarily, but Rashada went 3/4 on passes and gained 25 of those yards in the process.
On ASU’s second and final scoring drive a quarter later, Rashada showcased his cannon arm for the second week in a row, hitting Elijhah Badger in stride off an RPO for a 65-yard touchdown pass. The read and throw by Rashada would, unfortunately, be his, and the entire team’s, final highlight of the night.
From then on, the Oklahoma State defense tightened up and made life hard on the freshman signal caller in his first game against a Power 5 opponent. Following the 65-yard touchdown strike and subsequent two-point conversion, Rashada’s numbers drastically fell off to just a 50% completion rate (10-20) for a meager 71 yards. The Cowboys’ pass rush was fierce on the young quarterback, who was limited to just five scrambles while being taken down for sacks thrice. With Rashada struggling as the game progressed, the team would slowly fold behind him.
If any positional group of newcomers stood out on the offense, it would be the running backs. Like Rashada, Cam Skattebo and DeCarlos Brooks started hot, making 10+ yard rushes on ASU’s first-quarter scoring drive. Most of Brooks’s success came up the middle, while Skattebo thrived off the direct snap, which he took two of those carries for a combined 19 yards, including the game’s opening touchdown.
Skattebo posted 64 yards on 14 carries scoring a touchdown and a two-point conversion, while Brooks had nine carries for 27 yards.
After rushing for 50 yards on nine attempts in the first quarter alone, the Sun Devil’s success on the ground halted quickly. For the rest of the game, ASU would attempt 25 rushes and gain a minuscule 60 yards in rushing, barely more than two yards per carry. Despite Oklahoma State playing with an extra safety, thus theoretically opening up the line of scrimmage, the ball carriers couldn’t get it going for the second straight week, this time against one of the Big 12’s better run defenses from 2022.
“We still couldn’t get into a rhythm running the ball,” Dillingham said. “When you can’t run the ball versus that defense consistently enough, it’s a challenge … we just couldn’t establish that run game.”
Of note, freshman Kyson Brown got his first carry in the collegiate realm but learned the new level the hard way by getting leveled for a three-yard loss and fumble (recovered by ASU) early in the second quarter.
No newcomer in the receiving room propelled the offense. Xavier Guillory had a chance to write the headline in the third quarter on a slant route in stride with no defender between him and the end zone, but he couldn’t hold onto the throw from Rashada. This drop would mark ASU’s last true chance to sway the game back in their favor and served as the only true notable play by a Sun Devil rookie out of the receiving corps.
Elsewhere, DeCarlos Brooks made two catches for eight yards, and Bryce Pierre hauled in one reception for 12 yards to amount for the entire newcomer production in receiving. Dillingham believes OSU’s defensive schemes, which utilize an extra safety, hindered ASU’s ability to make plays through the air.
“They play with an extra safety,” Dillingham noted. “When he’s not in the run-fit, and he’s playing the vertical passing game, you’re plus-one in the run game. Throwing the ball, other than screens, you’re gonna be throwing into bad numbers.”
Those mismatches ultimately would shy Dillingham and Beau Baldwin away from getting aggressive offensively in the second half passing, as can be seen in the decline of long passing plays in the late stages.
Defense
Like their offensive counterparts, Arizona State’s defense came out of the gates well before slowly faltering as the game continued. In the first half, the Sun Devil pass rush flustered both OSU quarterbacks while keeping their rushes in check. ASU’s run defense in the first half was nothing short of stellar in fact, holding OSU to a net total of zero yards on the ground in six carries.
“Our defensive line did a really nice job getting to the backfield,” Dillingham said of the first half run defense. “First half, we did a phenomenal job stopping the run.”
On the other end of the sword though, the Sun Devil pass defense struggled in the first half, surrendering 141 yards on 14 completions in 20 attempts. While they were able to flip that script and allow just eight completions for 50 yards on 12 attempts, the run defense would crumble in trade off.
“Some of the things that they brought in the second half, there was some misfits,” newcoming linebacker Tre Brown said. “We obviously gotta be better. You see the points on the board, we lost. Definitely something to improve on as far as defense.”
In an unanswered, 17-point second half, Oklahoma State would tally 113 yards on 19 carries, nearly six yards per rushing attempt which greatly aided their offensive success. With the pressure on the Oklahoma State backfield easing up greatly (ASU didn’t have a sack in the second half), they were able to make significantly more plays in the second half than in the first. What also factored into that was ASU’s fatigue on defense, which was on the field for nearly a minute-and-a-half than it was in the first half.
“Second half, they leaned on us a little bit, which is unfortunate,” Dillingham said. “Part of that is we couldn’t keep our defense off the field. They were playing so many snaps. Our dept isn’t quite where we want it to be, and they started leaning on us, and it showed.”
Both Demetries Ford and Shamari Simmons were key players out of the secondary newcomers, who both were very helpful in run support throughout the night, combining for 14 tackles and a QB hit by Ford. Prince Dorbah and Tre Brown both shared their first sack as Sun Devils in the second quarter as well. Brown, Dorbah, Simmons, and Sam Benjamin all also collected a tackle for loss in the game.
From the linebacking core, Tate Romney was fifth on the team in total tackles with five, including some nice chase down tackles on Oklahoma State ballcarriers to limit big plays. Tre Brown tied with Romney with five tackles, including three of them being solo.
On the defensive line, Dashaun Mallory had four rip-downs of his own, with Clayton Smith, CJ Fite, and Tristan Monday combining for four altogether.
Special Teams
Kicker Dario Longhetto converted a PAT on ASU’s first scoring drive. On kickoffs, the senior forced a touchback on all three of his kickoffs on Saturday.
Punter Josh Carlson’s day was far busier and ultimately much more detrimental in his performance. Taking the field on four occasions, Carlson totaled 148 yards on his four punts, averaging only 37 yards each. His longest boot went just 44 yards, with only one of his kicks pinning Oklahoma State inside their own 20.
Full list of newcomers participating in the game:
DB Demetries Ford
DB Shamari Simmons
DT Tristan Monday
DT Dashaun Mallory
EDGE Clayton Smith
LB Tate Romney
LB Tre Brown
OL Sione Finau
OL Leif Fautanu
OL Max Iheanachor
QB Jaden Rashada
RB Cam Skattebo
WR Xavier Guillory
WR Melquan Stovall
RB Kyson Brown
EDGE Elijah O’Neal
P Josh Carlson
RB DeCarlos Brooks
EDGE Prince Dorbah
K Dario Longhetto
LS Slater Zellers
OL Bram Walden
DT Sam Benjamin
DT CJ Fite
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