TEMPE, Ariz.-- The Sun Devil football team won its 21st- straight home opener Thursday night, defeating the Kent State Golden Flashes 30-7. Arizona State (1-0) notched 456 total yards, bolstered by true freshman Jayden Daniels, who threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns.
Daniels' air raid performance was the most passing yards by an ASU quarterback in the first game of his career. Not only did he become the first true freshman to start at quarterback on opening day, but also the third freshman quarterback to win his first career start, joining John Walker (1984) and Dennis Sproul (1974).
"These guys don't treat me like a freshman, they treat me like I'm an upperclassman so sometimes I forget I'm a freshman," said Daniels. "I really don't pay attention to those types of things, I'm just here to help the team win in any way possible."
Just the beginning ?? pic.twitter.com/23AYBuG241
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) August 30, 2019
With Kent State (0-1) driving around the six minute mark in the first quarter, redshirt-junior Jack Jones forced his first fumble as a member of the Sun Devils, leading to Daniels' first career touchdown pass and ASU's first touchdown of the season on an eight-yard pass to Eno Benjamin for his third career touchdown catch.
That Jayden-to-Eno connection ????
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) August 30, 2019
?? https://t.co/3EyPGio2Kd pic.twitter.com/0WflesraHq
Benjamin ran for 102 yards on 22 carries, his 10th 100-yard rushing game of his career already good for the eighth most in school history.
In the third quarter, Daniels found Brandon Aiyuk who took a bubble screen pass to the house for 77 yards - longest reception of his collegiate career - and the play that separated Kent State and Arizona State. Aiyuk caught four passes for 140 yards receiving and the one touchdown.
"I knew that if we could get a screen off and just get one or two blocks off we could be gone and that's what Brandon (Aiyuk) did," said offensive coordinator Rob Likens. "(Daniels) did a great job finding a throwing lane on that particular throw, under duress. Got a different arm slot and found my man Brandon."
Things to know:
- Moves ASU to 78-27-2 in season openers, including a 60-15-1 mark in home openers
- Arizona State converted 7 of 13 third downs, while holding Kent State to just 3 of 14 on third down conversions
- 25 freshmen played tonight (14 true freshmen, 11 redshirt freshmen), the largest number of freshmen to play in a game for ASU in the modern era.
- Cristian Zendejas becomes the third member of his family to score a point for the Sun Devils, following his dad (Louis Zendejas 1981-84) and uncle (Alan Zendejas 1987-89).
- In total, ASU limited their mistakes to just six calls, resulting in 50 total yards.
Following suit of its defensive performance throughout the 2018 season, the Sun Devil defense limited the Flashes to 200 total yards of offense and forced six fumbles. Kent State scored its lone touchdown with 12:29 in the fourth quarter.
"The defense did a fabulous job," said Herm Edwards. "The defense, with those sudden changes where they held them to field goals, are big-time wins. You need to seize those opportunities and the offense needs to take advantage of those opportunities."
.@_SavageSZN8 is a STUUUPID deep threat ????
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) August 30, 2019
Our catch of the game is Frank Darby's 42-yard first down snag ?? pic.twitter.com/I6eob7s9p5
The special teams unit for the Sun Devils were in mid-season form, as Cristan Zendejas connected on all-three field goal attempts including his first-career field goal with Brandon Ruiz out. Michael Turk punted five times for a total of 315 yards, an average of 63 yards, and a long of 75. The 63.0 yards per punt mark by broke a NCAA record. The record for highest average yards per punt in a game with minimum five attempts was Braden Mann of Texas A&M on Sept. 22, 2018, as he had a 60.8 yards per punt average vs. Alabama on punts of 56, 65, 62, 61 and 60 for 304 yards. Turks punted five times for 315 yards with boots of 64, 62, 65, 49 and 75 in his Sun Devil debut.
"The best defensive player, and I'm taking him on our side of the ball… (Michael) Turk," said defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales. Unbelievable. The last field he flipped, that was 75-yard punt. That can really help us as we go along in the season changing field position."
The Sun Devils return home next weekend against Sacramento State. The 7 p.m. kickoff can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks and heard on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.
A New Era ?? pic.twitter.com/WdMfBx4Yk3
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) August 30, 2019
Our punter is better than yours ?? pic.twitter.com/p3Yac1Qtpj
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) August 30, 2019