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Late in the first half Arizona State football coach Herm Edwards had running back Rachaad White and quarterback Jayden Daniels on the sideline with him during a stoppage of play. He pointed up at the scoreboard where some key statistics were noted, the most significant being penalties and the Sun Devils had 11 and it was only the first half.
No. 25 ASU chalked up a 41-14 win over visiting Southern Utah Thursday night in front of 44,456 despite being called for 13 penalties for 135 yards.
ASU (1-0) was bailed out by the defense forcing four turnovers, two of those interceptions by senior linebacker Darien Butler.
After the contest Edwards met with the media as usual, but every other question seemed to bring Edwards back to the topic of the miscues, some of which he chalked up to the emotion that comes with playing in front of a home crowd for the first time in 20 months. Other times it came down to not playing smart football.
“The Sun Devils actually played the Sun Devils. It was bad football, sloppy football. It was embarrassing football. That being said, I’ve never had a bad win,” he said. “There are a lot of things we have to improve on. When we stop playing the Sun Devils, because they’re really not on on our schedule, we have a chance to be a pretty good football team. But tonight we were not. We were too emotional.”
Daniels agreed with that assessment.
“If I’m being honest, I think we played sloppy on offense. We had a whole bunch of penalties. We still executed some things but we got to limit the penalties and the mistakes, the little things,” he said. “It’s the little mistakes out there on the perimeter that took back some big plays. Going forward we can’t beat a team with this many penalties.”
Eleven of the 13 penalties came in the first half and virtually all proved crucial. Perhaps the most costly came with ASU up 13-0 midway through the first quarter. With the Thunderbirds (0-2) facing a second-and-5 at their own 36, ASU’s Tyler Johnson was called for roughing the passer and the play reviewed for targeting. Johnson, ASU’s best pass rusher, was indeed assessed that penalty, meaning he had to sit out the rest of the game.
His absence was a factor especially with the Sun Devils already missing their top run stopper Jermayne Lole who is out after having triceps surgery.
The Thunderbirds scored six plays later, with a facemask penalty also aiding the visitors’ cause.
Edwards said Johnson was unaware of the reason for the flag and his ejection.
“He (Johnson) looks up and said, `What did I do? I said, `You don’t even know what you did” He said no. I said, `You can’t hit a guy with your helmet. I said if you want to get out and retire, let me know. Don’t get thrown out of the game. We need you. So now he doesn’t play. Tyler’s a great player. He’s a powerful guy. It’s just a shame. But that targeting thing is real.”
The first half also featured a roughing the punter call that gave the Thunderbirds a first down at the ASU 23. ASU got bailed out three plays later when Jack Jones stripped the ball from a Thunderbird ball carrier and it was recovered by D.J. Davidson.
ASU also went for and made a two-point conversion on a pass from Daniels to LV Bunkley-Shelton after the second touchdown, only to have that nullified by a pass interference penalty.
It was just that kind of night. Edwards wasn’t all that surprised.
“I know my team. I could sense it. And I harped on it. And I kept telling them. And then it showed up so now they can believe me. I tell them all the time. I told them, `You keep messing around and the Sun Devils are going to play the Sun Devils.’ Sure enough they played them. They played them hard. They fought tooth and nail. Boy they were trying to beat each other up. We got to get rid of that. That’s bad football.”
Southern Utah, which played its season opener five days ago against San Jose State, finished with 224 yards, 146 of that passing.
The ASU defensive line is still looking to gel without its most experienced player in Lole. Senior Shannon Foreman got the start in his absence with up-and-comer Omarr Norman-Lott also seeing action there. The Sun Devils had two sacks in the contest, one of those from walk-on B.J. Green who had been impressive in fall camp and drawn good reviews from his teammates.
Last week Edwards also said the thing he was most concerned about was the kicking game with the Sun Devils boasting a new punter and a new kicker.
True Freshman Eddie Czaplicki did an admirable job with two punts for an average of 46 yards. He had a 41-yarder that was downed at the Thunderbirds 1.
The placekicking was another story as Logan Tyler missed two extra point kicks, with one of those blocked. He did handle kickoff chores with five touchbacks in seven tries.
Miscues and all, ASU racked up 421 yards total offense, 222 of that on the ground. White and DeaMonte Trayanum each ran for two scores with White managing 58 yards on just seven tries and Trayanum netting 52 on six carries.
Daniels completed 10 of 12 passes for 12 yards and ran for another 40. He came out of the game midway through the third quarter because of cramps. His understudy Trenton Bourguet went the rest of the way.
“The passing game is still not quite sharp yet. Jayden I think is getting better, all the time, with those receivers,” Edwards said. “And the kicking situation is interesting to say the least. So there are some things we’ve got to fix.”
“For the most part it’s fun to win a football game. When you’ve been around as a long as I have, winning’s fun. No matter how it looks. It’s a win. That’s the most important thing.”
Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602 444-4783. Follow her on Twitter @MGardnerSports.
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