ASU vs. UTSA: Instant Recap

The student section cleared pretty early, but for the good reason because the Herm Edwards’ era couldn’t have started any better on Saturday. Besides the delay of game penalty to start the game. Arizona State (1-0) got going very early and rolled to a 49-7 win over the UTSA Roadrunners (0-1).

In under two minutes into the game, it was all Sun Devils. N’Keal Harry took a third down screen pass and made it into a 58-yard touchdown to put ASU up 7-0.

The Sun Devil defense answered the offense with a score of their own. Defensive lineman Shannon Forman dropped into coverage, and the big man seemed to be hidden to UTSA quarterback Cordale Grundy. Forman made the play to score the pick six, increasing the lead to 14.

Arizona State didn’t continue to dominant the game that quickly afterwards, but for the rest of the way it was all Sun Devils.

Late in the second quarter, the Sun Devils took advantage of two short fields. Darius Slade created a fumble that turned into an Eno Benjamin three-yard touchdown. The drive couldn’t have continued with a great connection between Manny Wilkins and Frank Darby on fourth-and-3 that lead to a 24 pass near the sideline.

On the last drive of the first half, ASU used a short punt to start at UTSA’s 43-yard line. That led to a 11-yard touchdown from Wilkins to Terrell Chatman. The score to increase the lead to 28-0 was Chatman’s first ever score.

Arizona State’s second drive of the second half featured the first carries for Isaiah Floyd as a Sun Devil. Floyd got four straight carries for a combined 49 yards. The drive finished with a 7-yard score from Wilkins to Benjamin, which included a few jukes and twists from Eno to get in.

N’Keal then turned the game into 42-0 with 57 seconds left in the third. How you ask? By doing N’Keal Harry things. He took another short pass for a 31-yard touchdown, but he ran about 70-yards on a play that reminisced his against Utah two years ago.

Dillon Sterling-Cole entered the game for Wilkins in the fourth quarter. He helped lead the Sun Devils’ seventh touchdown drive that ended with Floyd punching it in from five-yards out.

UTSA finally got on the board with 6:03 left in the game, B.J. Daniels scored from four-yards out to make the game 49-7.

Wilkins threw for a total of 237 yards with four touchdowns. Harry finished with an impressive 140 yards on six receptions, with his pair of touchdowns. The running attack finished with 266 yards and averaged 7.4 yards per carry.

The defense did a phenomenal job in coordinator Danny Gonzales’ first game. The Sun Devils limited UTSA to 220 yards. They created three turnovers and racked up nine sacks. The pressure never let up against the inexperienced Roadrunner offense.

Darius Slade had two sacks including his force fumble and recovery. Chase Lucas had a pass breakup, three tackles-for-loss and a sack. Kobe Williams led ASU with six tackles on the night.

The Sun Devils will expect a tougher matchup next week when they host the 11th ranked Michigan State Spartans.