by Justin Gaither, theSunDevils.com student media relations intern
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Herm Edwards era of Sun Devil football is officially underway, and in dramatic fashion. The Arizona State football team handled the UTSA Roadrunners with relative ease Saturday night, winning 49-7.
A quick flurry of early scores and a stoic defensive effort all game guided the Sun Devils to their 20th straight victory in a home-opener.
Coming off a 1,000-yard season in 2017, junior wide receiver N'Keal Harry led the charge, hauling in six passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns.
"The capability of N'Keal and those guys that make big plays with the ball in their hand was fun to watch," Coach Edwards said of the Chandler native. "We know a lot about N'Keal and what he means to this football team along with Manny, and I thought they had a fantastic night."
It didn't take very long for the Sun Devils to get going as their first drive lasted all of four plays. On third and short, redshirt senior Manny Wilkins connected with Harry, who promptly shook off a few would-be tacklers and took it 58-yards to the end zone to open up the scoring.
.@NkealHarry15 is just ridiculous ¯\_(?)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/pCaNvmrvLv
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) September 2, 2018
The quick start didn't stop there, however, as just two plays later, sophomore defensive lineman Shannon Forman intercepted UTSA Cordale Grundy's pass and took it back for a 25-yard pick-six, giving ASU a quick 14-0 lead.
PICK 6??@ShannonFormanJr gets the job done.
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) September 2, 2018
??: FS1@ASUFootball | #UTSAvsASU pic.twitter.com/m5TUHR78yf
The next 20 minutes were rather pedestrian, as both teams swapped punting drives three times, until a UTSA fumble, recovered by the Sun Devils, sparked the ASU offense once again.
From there, the Sun Devils would score touchdowns on each of their final two drives of the half as Eno Benjamin collected the first one with an easy three-yard rush and Manny Wilkins followed that up with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Chatman.
The Devils went into the locker room with a 28-0 lead, in large part because of a stout defensive effort and efficient production from play caller Wilkins and backfield workhorse Benjamin.
Benjamin came into the 2018 season with big shoes to fill following the departure of both Kalen Ballage and Demario Richard. The sophomore didn't seem phased as he set a career-high with 131 rushing yards on just 16 carries to go along with 15 receiving yards and two touchdowns, one on the ground and one through the air.
"It was okay. It can always be better," Benjamin said of his performance. "The offensive line did a great job and I owe a lot to them, like I said just being on the same page with them, understanding the situation we're in, knowing how the defense was set up and just knowing where I had to be. So I give a lot of credit to the offensive line and Offensive Line Coach Dave Christensen as well."
Benjamin got the scoring started in the second half as well, this time as a receiver, hauling in a seven-yard touchdown pass from Wilkins. The touchdown came late in the third quarter, following three straight drives that resulted in punts.
Don't stop, won't stop. ??@eno_benjamin5 to the ??.
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) September 2, 2018
??: FS1
@ASUFootball | #UTSAvsASU pic.twitter.com/1u1mljhnGR
The Roadrunners seemed to be poised to get on the board on the following drive, marching 50 yards down the field, but they were abruptly stuffed by the ASU defense, eventually resulting in a turnover on downs.
The following drive put the exclamation mark on the game as N'Keal Harry made multiple defenders miss once again and ran from one sideline to the other en route to a 31-yard touchdown, his second of the night. The score capped off a five-play, 61-yard drive and put ASU up 42-0.
The start of the fourth quarter would mark the end of the night for starters like Benjamin and Wilkins as redshirt sophomore quarterback Dillon Sterling-Cole and freshman running back Isaiah Floyd took over duties in the backfield for the final frame.
Floyd would provide the only offense for the Sun Devils in the final stanza in the form of a five-yard touchdown rush, the first of his career.
The shutout would not last, however, as the Roadrunners found paydirt with just over six minutes remaining on a four-yard touchdown rush of their own. The shutout bid would have been ASU's first vs. an FBS opponent since they blanked Washington State in 2010.
Arizona State outgained the Roadrunners 503-220 in total and held UTSA to just two yards on the ground all game. The dominant win kicked the Herm Edwards era off in grand fashion on both sides of the ball, but even so, the first year coach saw room for improvement.
"There's a lot of work still to be done for us to become a better football team than what we showed tonight," Edwards said. "There were spurts where I felt we played pretty good. I thought the defense, for the most part, tackled well. Offensively, though, we sputtered at times."
?? Decades of Opening Night Dubs ?????? pic.twitter.com/EutphrK7vy
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) September 2, 2018
The Devils are back in action next weekend in a massive game against the 11th-ranked Michigan State Spartans in what could be a statement game for Coach Edwards and company. The game will be featured on ESPN with kickoff scheduled for 7:45 p.m. at Sun Devil Stadium.
"We've got to do a lot of work still," Edwards added. "We've got a really good football coming into our stadium in Michigan State, so we've got a lot of work to do.