The Arizona State Sun Devils moved to 2-0 Friday night -- and 7-1 at Sun Devil Stadium under Herm Edwards -- with a 19-7 defeat of Sacramento State behind the leg of Cristian Zendejas, who kicked four field goals, and a big-time, late third-down conversion from Jayden Daniels to Eno Benjamin.
Zendejas had three-pointers from 36, 26 (twice) and 35 yards while Daniels was 17-of-27 for 304 yards, with the big play a 72-yard catch and run by Benjamin on a third down with under five minutes to play.
"You have to give Sacramento State a lot of credit," ASU head coach Herm Edwards said. "I told their coaching staff that they had a great plan, especially defensively. We have a lot of work to do for next week, that's for sure."
"We really kept them out of the end zone and held them to seven points. This is a team that scored 77 last week. You hold someone to seven points, and you feel like you should win a football game. That was the case here. Going forward, we're going to have to play a lot better, especially offensively. We have to sustain some drives and that's what's so disappointing with us right now. We're not sustaining any drives. We have a lot of three-and-out's and we're punting the ball. Our kicking game really saved us again. The punter is creating long fields for those guys and then the field goal kicker came in and kicked them all through. That was basically the game. We scored one touchdown off a great catch-and-run by Eno. We had one called back on a foul. Just silly things that you can't do. We had a bunch of those things happen tonight."
MOST PASSING YARDS BY A SUN DEVIL FRESHMAN
467-Rudy Carpenter vs. Rutgers, Dec. 27, 2005
432-Jeff Krohn vs. Oregon, Oct. 28, 2000
304-Jayden Daniels vs. Sacramento State, Sept. 6, 2019
Brandon Aiyuk caught four passes for 98 yards, while Benjamin had four catches for 94 yards and ran for 69 yards on 24 carries.
The Sun Devil defense came up with the first big stop of the game after the Hornets marched into ASU territory on their second drive of the game. The Hornets would drive the ball as far as the ASU 30 before the Sun Devils turned up the heat on Sacramento State's offense. The Hornets went backwards, losing two yards over the next three plays. On fourth and 12, Hornet quarterback Kevin Thomson threw his second straight incompletion and ASU took over the ball on downs.
The Sun Devil defense forced the Hornets to turn around the ball over on downs again midway through the second quarter. For the second time in the game the Sun Devils started a drive in Sacramento State territory after holding the Hornets for no gain on fourth and one at the Sacramento State 33. This time ASU would take advantage of the outstanding field position, driving to the Sacramento State 18 to set up the first points of the game, a 36-yard field goal by Zendejas.
The Sun Devils will now play at No. 19 Michigan State next Saturday (Sept. 14) at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on FOX. Last year, ASU put up 13 fourth-quarter points in a 16-13 defeat of the No. 15 Spartans in the second game of the season.
Zendejas had three-pointers from 36, 26 (twice) and 35 yards while Daniels was 17-of-27 for 304 yards, with the big play a 72-yard catch and run by Benjamin on a third down with under five minutes to play.
"You have to give Sacramento State a lot of credit," ASU head coach Herm Edwards said. "I told their coaching staff that they had a great plan, especially defensively. We have a lot of work to do for next week, that's for sure."
"We really kept them out of the end zone and held them to seven points. This is a team that scored 77 last week. You hold someone to seven points, and you feel like you should win a football game. That was the case here. Going forward, we're going to have to play a lot better, especially offensively. We have to sustain some drives and that's what's so disappointing with us right now. We're not sustaining any drives. We have a lot of three-and-out's and we're punting the ball. Our kicking game really saved us again. The punter is creating long fields for those guys and then the field goal kicker came in and kicked them all through. That was basically the game. We scored one touchdown off a great catch-and-run by Eno. We had one called back on a foul. Just silly things that you can't do. We had a bunch of those things happen tonight."
MOST PASSING YARDS BY A SUN DEVIL FRESHMAN
467-Rudy Carpenter vs. Rutgers, Dec. 27, 2005
432-Jeff Krohn vs. Oregon, Oct. 28, 2000
304-Jayden Daniels vs. Sacramento State, Sept. 6, 2019
Brandon Aiyuk caught four passes for 98 yards, while Benjamin had four catches for 94 yards and ran for 69 yards on 24 carries.
Defense was the theme of the first half as the two teams combined for only 209 yards in total offense (Sacramento State – 131 yards/ASU – 78 yards)..@eno_benjamin5 House call ????
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) September 7, 2019
Sun Devils 19
Hornets 7
?? https://t.co/zFI2hAIjxY pic.twitter.com/JjGndUtZAb
The Sun Devil defense came up with the first big stop of the game after the Hornets marched into ASU territory on their second drive of the game. The Hornets would drive the ball as far as the ASU 30 before the Sun Devils turned up the heat on Sacramento State's offense. The Hornets went backwards, losing two yards over the next three plays. On fourth and 12, Hornet quarterback Kevin Thomson threw his second straight incompletion and ASU took over the ball on downs.
Aiyuk -- who hauled in a 24-yard reception on ASU's first play from scrimmage -- would account for ASU's next big play of the game early in the second quarter, bringing a Sacramento State punt back 38 yards to set up the Sun Devil offense at the Hornet nine-yard line. Unfortunately the Sun Devils could not convert the excellent field position into points as ASU RB A.J. Carter was separated from the ball just short of the goal line after catching a pass from Daniels on third and goal. The Hornets recovered the ball in the end zone to turn ASU away.That offseason grind paid off for @eno_benjamin5. ??
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) September 7, 2019
Benjamin discusses how his preparation with @JayD__5 this summer prepared him for his big catch tonight. pic.twitter.com/kDFQF8VRQX
The Sun Devil defense forced the Hornets to turn around the ball over on downs again midway through the second quarter. For the second time in the game the Sun Devils started a drive in Sacramento State territory after holding the Hornets for no gain on fourth and one at the Sacramento State 33. This time ASU would take advantage of the outstanding field position, driving to the Sacramento State 18 to set up the first points of the game, a 36-yard field goal by Zendejas.
The Sun Devils will now play at No. 19 Michigan State next Saturday (Sept. 14) at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on FOX. Last year, ASU put up 13 fourth-quarter points in a 16-13 defeat of the No. 15 Spartans in the second game of the season.