Every Monday, Nick Rogers would speak with the captains of the Cajon High School football team and ask them to choose the uniforms for Friday’s game. There would be some deliberations, but it often wasn’t an issue.
One week, though, the captains approached their coach on Thursday with a request to switch up the gear they had selected three days prior. Rogers obliged. The next night, Cajon suffered a rare loss with Jayden Daniels under center.
From then on, it became written in stone: You don’t change your uniform combination. What you picked on Monday is what you wear. It was an effect largely spearheaded by the Cowboys’ ultra-superstitious quarterback.
“Every time that came up, (Jayden) was like, ‘Coach, don’t even think about changing this uniform. This is what we’re wearing,’ Rogers recalled Daniels telling him.
Watching the games on television, it’s hard to miss the images of Daniels constantly chewing on his mouthpiece. When he’s on the sideline. When he’s taking the snap. When he’s scrambling for his life.
Daniels’ mom, Regina Jackson, said he’s done it for as long as she can remember. Rogers noted that there is a “loose rule” in high school that requires kids to have their mouthpiece in their mouth.
“He’ll have it in his mouth but he’ll just have it sitting there and dangling,” Rogers said. “He’ll just gnaw at it. I guarantee it’s going to be the same mouthpiece probably all year. He had a lot of superstitions.
“He’ll wear the same socks. He’ll wear the same socks and eat the same stuff before.”
Jackson, Rogers said, would drive to Cajon every Friday before games and bring her son the same pregame sandwich every week. In Tempe, Daniels has likely resorted to a new pregame meal that he’ll never waver from -- just like his fourth quarter message to Herm Edwards that has now preceded three game-winning drives.
“I walked over to Jayden like I always do,” Edwards said. “He said, ‘I know.’ I said, ‘All right, well, go do it. This is it. No more. We won’t get the ball back again.’ He said, ‘Coach, I got you.’”
With 2:30 remaining, Daniels led the Devils on a 10-play, 75-yard drive, which included an epic crescendo that saw the freshman helicopter into the end zone for the game-winning score. The Sun Devils won 38-34, improving to 5-1 and 2-1 in conference play, keeping pace in a tight Pac-12.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday.
1. If you felt strangely comfortable Saturday, you’re not alone
Is it too much to say that Jayden Daniels is carrying the Arizona State offense on his back? Maybe. But even so, it’s not an outrageous thought and that, in it of itself, is amazing.
He threw for a career-high 363 yards and four total touchdowns against the Cougars. He again didn’t have a turnover. All with a less-than-stellar offensive line -- a group that forced offensive coordinator Rob Likens to call max protection on most passing plays. None of that phased Daniels; he just kept gnawing on his mouthpiece and led the Sun Devils down the field with time-consuming drives.
Perhaps more important than all of that, though, is Daniels’ demeanor. If something phases the freshman, he hasn’t shown it. He’s never too high, never too low, a stoic figure that ASU’s locker room and fans can feel comfortable with. Don’t take that lightly.
As a freshman who played in just six games, Daniels has already earned trust -- to the point that the stands and sideline of Sun Devil Stadium seemed eerily calm during that final drive. It felt like there was an aura of here we go again that provided calm in the most hectic moments. When’s the last time that happened?
2. Sun Devil secondary didn’t break
At practice last week, the Sun Devil secondary had to keep reminding each other of what was going to happen. Washington State was going to throw the ball a lot. They were going to give up catches, were going to give up big plays. Don’t worry, be ready for the next play, they told each other.
Perhaps no one better showed that than corner Jack Jones, who WSU quarterback Anthony Gordon seemed to be picking on with a flurry of quick slants. Jones, normally ASU’s backup corner, was on the field more than usual because, in an effort to bring different blitzes and put pressure on Gordon, the Devils switched their normal 3-3-5 scheme to a 2-3-6.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jones played 75 snaps, was thrown at 23 times and gave up 16 catches for 184 yards and one touchdown. Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said Jones was supposed to have safety help on most of those plays, however. Regardless, that’s not great. Neither is the 466 yards Gordon threw for against the Devils. But the WSU signal-caller threw the ball 66 times, the most pass attempts ASU has seen since 2014.
Despite all that, ASU only allowed three passes over 20 yards. In other words, they had short-term memory, not letting one bad play turn into a bad game. For a young defense about to play meaningful games with postseason implications, that’s an important step.
3. Devils game plan puts them in close games but allows them to win
No one in Tempe seems to enjoy the close games ASU finds itself in every week. Edwards joked his young team is going to give him a heart attack. Likens admitted he was emotionally drained after the game. But these are the situations the Sun Devils game plan for. That’s not saying they want close games, but they feel it allows them the best chance to win.
Earlier in the week, Edwards approached Likens and told his offensive coordinator he wanted a game plan built on ball control, scoring a lot of points, limiting punts and holding a time of possession advantage.
“I was like, ‘Yeah. Sure. We can do that,” Likens said with a chuckle. “That’s what we had to do.”
After the game, Likens ran to the field and embraced his players who greeted him with a message about their successful game plan.
“They were like, ‘Coach, we did it. We did what we said we were going to do,’” he recalled. “It’s just so satisfying.”
4. Brandon Aiyuk has a career game
Earlier this year, ASU wide receivers coach Charlie Fisher said that senior Brandon Aiyuk was the best slip-screen runner he’d seen since Torry Holt, who Fisher coached at North Carolina State. A lot of that was based on Aiyuk hitting creases with an uncanny conviction and courage.
Aiyuk hauled in a short slant late in the second quarter and turned upfield like he was racing in the 100-meter dash and the gun just went off. He caught the pass about 12 yards away from the line of scrimmage and blew past two defenders for the 86-yard touchdown.
“I mean, that’s supposed to be a 10-yard play. He gets it, and he runs off of it. When you get him one-on-one and he can hit a crease,” Edwards said of Aiyuk. “He is unique with the ball in his hands.”
It was the highlight of Aiyuk’s career day, which included seven catches for 193 yards and three touchdowns. There were major questions about ASU’s receiving corps after the departure of N’Keal Harry. In the past six weeks, Aiyuk has shown to be an admirable successor to Harry. He already has 651 yards and with his elite speed and route-running ability will likely have no problem finding an NFL suitor in a few months.
5. Will Saturday’s game at No. 13 Utah decide the Pac-12 South?
Every team in the Pac-12 South now has a conference loss. And Colorado, the only team to beat ASU, has two Pac-12 defeats. What that means is the Sun Devils now control their destiny, which, given the circumstances of a freshman quarterback and a banged-up offensive line, is about all ASU could have hoped for.
The Sun Devils, which moved up to No. 17 in the most recent AP Poll, have just three remaining games against teams with a winning record: at No. 13 Utah (5-1), vs. No. 12 Oregon (5-1) and vs. Arizona (4-2).
For those that think the Pac-12 South is a two-horse race between ASU and Utah, Saturday’s game likely puts the victor on a clear inside track to represent the south in the Pac-12 Championship. Saturday’s winner will hold the tiebreaker, which would, in theory, still keep ASU atop the south standings even if they say, I don’t know, lose to Oregon on November 23.
Now, Utah still has to play Cal (4-2), at Washington (5-2) and at Arizona which offers plenty of opportunities to trip up, especially given the Pac-12’s cannibalistic nature.
Even so, it would be understandable that the fan base celebrating on Saturday night checks on flights to Santa Clara in early December. Just don’t book anything.
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