(Tempe, AZ) Arizona State came home after falling to BYU in Provo Utah last week 27-17 for the first blemish on their record.
After two relatively easy game at home and one test on the road, the Sun Devils still needed to work out the kinks on committing too many costly penalties, which finally caught up with them versus the Cougars.
Coach Hern Edwards was still in search of his first PAC-12 conference with at ASU now in his fifth year.
Colorado came in off a 30-0 pummeling to Minnesota last week.
Sun Devils got the opening kickoff but D.J.Taylor stumbled at the fourteen yard line.
First play from scrummage, Jayden Daniels hooked up on a twenty eight yard pass to Johnny Wilson, but the drive stalled out three plays later. This has been a reoccurring issue for the offense, get a big play and not putting together yardage on to keep the momentum.
The Devils second drive went much smoother as Daniels’ engineered a drive that ultimately had him running in from six yards out to get on the board first 7-0. It took 3:33 to go forty five yards in six plays after getting good field position off a lackluster Buffalo punt.
Colorado in their first two possessions, gained a total of eleven yards. The key to that point was the Devils secondary taking away the pass with “in your face coverage.” The Buffaloes run game was anemic with minus six yards on five carries.
The end of the first quarter the Buffs had difficulties getting their ground game rolling, rushing ten times to five plays passing. Neither had much success as they finished the quarter with thirty six total yards.
Outside the one scoring drive for ASU, the offense had only forty yards of offense. One of the sticking points to date was the Sun Devils allowing inferior teams to stick around early.
CU got things somewhat turned around to start the second quarter as they began a drive at their own eight yard line and got to the ASU twenty nine yard line before the drive stalled. Their field goal attempt was low after being tipped by defensive back Jack Jones.
Devils still up 7-0 at the 12:37 point of the second quarter.
A roughing the passer penalty on Colorado aided the next Sun Devil drive. The next play, tailback Rachaad White ran almost untouched into score.
Once again, the Sun Devils displayed their big play offense as they went seventy two yards in only seven plays. ASU extended their lead 14-0 with 9:28 left till the half.
With 8:38 in the quarter, defensive lineman D.J. Green II was flagged for roughing the passer with targeting to the helmet of Buffs QB Brenden Lewis. Green was disqualified after the play was reviewed.
After getting the ball back after another stalled Colorado drive, White was nearly tacked for a safety with the Devils starting the drive inside their own five yard line.
Daniels did what he’s done so many times in his career, getting big yardage when needed. His pass to Bunckley Shelton for thirty seven yards on a third and eleven advanced the ball ASU forty one. Once again the drive stalled seven yards later at the ASU forty eight.
Even with a two touchdown lead, it still seemed as Arizona State should have had a bigger lead going into halftime with the opportunities given them by their swarming defense.
Most Colorado’s drives were aided by defensive penalties, although not nearly as many in the first three games.
With :56 left, the Buffaloes rolled the dice on a fourth and four and got six yards to keep the drive alive.
The ASU defense stiffened but the Buffs fifty one yard field goal with thirteen seconds left in the half finally got the goose egg off the scoreboard as Colorado went into the locker room down 14-3.
As CU kept trying to get their rushing on point, they could only muster sixty five yards and a three yard average. They only attempted eleven pass attempts as the defensive backfield for ASU give up a stingy thirty six yards.
With the disparity of stats heavily in favor of the Devils, you might have thought ASU would have a bigger halftime lead.
Knowing that they weren’t put away in the opening half, CU took the second half kickoff and marched down the field with their rushing attack revived from the dead.
On a third down from the one yard line, running back Alex Fontenot busted over for the score. The Buffaloes were right back in the ballgame down only 14-10 at the 11:01 mark.
Now the Devils were the one’s that felt the pressure. Daniels and the offense scored quickly going seventy one yards in six plays. Back up tailback Elijah Badger went off tackle for seventeen yards to put the ASU lead back to two touchdowns, 21-10.
The Devils in the latter part of the third quarter continued to get big chunks of yardage on pass plays only to have their drives stall and have to punt.
At the conclusion of the third quarter, the Sun Devils were on the move again and began the final stanza at the Colorado thirty yard line.
The second play of the fourth quarter saw wideout “Tricky Ricky” Pearsall pass thirty yards to White with another quick sixty two yard drive in 2:28 and the Devils now could exhale a bit leading 28-10 but still 14:16 to go in the game.
Coach Edwards gave White and Trayanum a break midway through the quarter and freshman Daniel Ngata carried the load with some tough yardage between the tackles with a couple of big gains. That set up Daniels with a fifteen yard keeper that blew the game open 35-10 with 8:30 left to go.
The Buffs put together a drive in the middle of the quarter with the ASU defensive subs in the game and a Cole Becker thirty three yard field goal to put a slight dent in the lead 35-13.
In contrast to the Devils’ fast break big play offense, Colorado didn’t have the same firepower taking nine plays to go sixty one yards and almost four and a half minutes only to settle for three points.
In the end, ASU’s defense really stepped up and shut down the Buffalo offense. This was the most consistent defensive effort of the season and the final score showed with a 35-13 win and Edwards’ first win in a PAC-12 season opener.
ASU’s 439 yards validated their high power offense with a much better effort for consistency in the second half.
Daniels finished 18-25 for 236 yards and wasn’t sacked the entire game.
Next week, its back on the road for Arizona State as they travel to the Rose Bowl to face the rejuvenated UCA Bruins. Both are at the top is the PAC-12 South with Utah.
Tonight’s attendance was 44,803.
