SALT LAKE CITY – Sun Devil Football got off to a slow start and was without starting quarterback Trenton Bourguet following an injury on its third offensive play en route to a 55-3 loss at No. 18 Utah on Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City.
ASU's offense was able to muster just 83 total yards behind a depleted offensive line and down to its fourth-string quarterback as injuries limited the Sun Devils' ability to compete on both sides of the ball.
Tre Brown had career-best 11 tackles while Shamari Simmons added 10 to lead the Sun Devil defense.
Bourguet attempted to rally and returned for one series in the second quarter, but sat the remainder of the game.
The Sun Devils (2-7, 1-5) could only notch 27 total yards in the first half, falling behind 24-3 at halftime. The Sun Devil defense forced a punt and a missed Ute field goal after two eight-play drives of 72 and 65 yards led to pair of early Ute touchdowns.
Utah (7-2, 4-2) jumped out to the 14-0 lead before the Sun Devils got on the board after a 78-yard kickoff return by Elijhah Badger led to a 35-yard Dario Longhetto field goal, but it was all Utes from there.
ASU closes its road season next Saturday at No. 19 UCLA and then hosts Oregon (Nov. 18) and Arizona (Nov. 25) in its final two games.
ARIZONA STATE QUOTES
Head Coach Kenny Dillingham
On the mood in the locker room...
"Guys are frustrated, rightfully so, ticked off and that's a good thing. I don't think our guys quit, but not being able to throw it, run it or do anything offensively is tough. It's hard to continue to get up and go when you can't block them, the simplest piece, but I think the guys are going to continue to fight, which they did tonight."
On Utah's run game...
"I thought they moved us. They moved the down lineman and you combine that with our defense being on the field every play, so if our defense is on the field every single play of the game, one, we can't get touches to offensive guys that we need touches to because we're not getting enough first downs. And then we had two defensive lineman go down, so you have two lineman go down on top of playing significant snaps and that's a recipe for disaster and fatigue."
On Utah scoring with eight seconds left...
"They're playing football. Our job is to stop them. I don't care if they would've thrown it. This is not pop warner, this is collegiate football. If they would've been throwing the ball fourth quarter, I would've been perfectly fine with it. If they felt they needed to get work in with a quarterback and throw the ball, that's 100 percent their decision to make their football team better because that's their job as their coaching staff. No issue with it at all, its our job to stop it."
On his respect for Kyle Whittingham and the Utah coaching staff...
"It's what I knew they were. That's why I've been showing clips of Utah since I got here is because this is the standard, in my opinion, of Pac-12 football and a culture that can respond and win through a test of time because they're physical, they're big, they play with a good offensive line and defensive line, they're tough and they're resilient and coming off a big loss, I knew we were going to get their best game and we were going to have to block them and tackle them and that's what the game was going to come down to."
#1 Jordan Clark, Defensive Back
On the defensive struggles in the first half…
"We have to execute from the jump as a defense. We just weren't doing what coach was asking of us. It wasn't a coaching thing, it was definitely on us and we got to get back to work this week to correct it."
On the defensive issues throughout the game…
"Our guys just weren't doing their job. We had some mishaps at the beginning and then people try to overcompensate and help other people do their job when all in all, we should play 11-man football. Whenever you try to do somebody else's job, even more people are out of position. It's on us. We got to make those plays."
On how tough it will be to bounce back from the loss…
"It shouldn't be tough at all; everybody should be embarrassed. Everybody should understand that this is not OK at all. Right now, everybody should be trying to figure out how we can get ready to beat UCLA. This game is behind us, and it should leave a bad taste in our mouth. Everybody should be embarrassed. This isn't Sun Devil football and this isn't the standard that we want to play or compete at, so we have to get back to work and finish."
On Utah's standard in the conference…
"I see the same thing I see from them every time I've played them since I've been in college. They're a program that does things the right way. It doesn't matter how many people are hurt, who's hurt whether it's a key guy or not. Whether it's Cam Rising playing or not, they're going to play to their standard constantly. They did a great job rebounding off of a loss last week and they played good football today. We didn't match it like we should have, and we'll get it fixed."
#7 Shamari Simmons, Defensive Back
On the defense allowing Utah's run game to thrive…
"It was just a lot of errors on us. I'll ride with this defense any day of the week and I'll take them over any team in the conference. We just need to come back on Monday and regroup."
On the defense constantly needing to be on the field…
"I really don't see it like that. With the defensive mindset, we expect them not to score at all. We can't really control what's on the other side of the ball. We can control what we can control, and we gave up 55 points."
FUTURE MEETINGS
The series continues once Big 12 play begins as ASU hosts Utah next season (2024), while the Sun Devils visit Utah in 2025. The teams take a break in 2026 with ASU hosting Utah in 2027.
TOUGH PLACE TO PLAY
Utah has now won 30 of its last 32 games at Rice-Eccles Stadium and had won 18 in a row prior to last weekend's loss to Oregon.
YEARS WHERE THREE ASU QUARTERBACKS STARTED (1996-PRESENT)
2023: Jaden Rashada (2), Trenton Bourguet (6), Drew Pyne (1)
2016: Manny Wilkins (10), Brady White (1), Dillon Sterling-Cole (1)
2009: Danny Sullivan (9), Samson Szakacsy (2), Brock Osweiler (1)
2000: Jeff Krohn (9), Griffin Goodman (2), Ryan Kealy (1)
1998: Ryan Kealy (9), Steve Campbell (1), Chad Elliot (1)
ASU's offense was able to muster just 83 total yards behind a depleted offensive line and down to its fourth-string quarterback as injuries limited the Sun Devils' ability to compete on both sides of the ball.
Tre Brown had career-best 11 tackles while Shamari Simmons added 10 to lead the Sun Devil defense.
Bourguet attempted to rally and returned for one series in the second quarter, but sat the remainder of the game.
The Sun Devils (2-7, 1-5) could only notch 27 total yards in the first half, falling behind 24-3 at halftime. The Sun Devil defense forced a punt and a missed Ute field goal after two eight-play drives of 72 and 65 yards led to pair of early Ute touchdowns.
Utah (7-2, 4-2) jumped out to the 14-0 lead before the Sun Devils got on the board after a 78-yard kickoff return by Elijhah Badger led to a 35-yard Dario Longhetto field goal, but it was all Utes from there.
BIG PLAY ?? @Elijhahbadger2
— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) November 4, 2023
?? Pac-12 Network
??https://t.co/IrxTS48xCY#ForksUp /// #ActivateTheValley pic.twitter.com/Fgv5jPU276
ASU closes its road season next Saturday at No. 19 UCLA and then hosts Oregon (Nov. 18) and Arizona (Nov. 25) in its final two games.
ARIZONA STATE QUOTES
Head Coach Kenny Dillingham
On the mood in the locker room...
"Guys are frustrated, rightfully so, ticked off and that's a good thing. I don't think our guys quit, but not being able to throw it, run it or do anything offensively is tough. It's hard to continue to get up and go when you can't block them, the simplest piece, but I think the guys are going to continue to fight, which they did tonight."
I did a bad job preparing our team today! But even in a loss we will continue to improve, even if the improvement doesn't always show! That was a hell of a team we played today and kudos to them! Now time to get back to work and continue to improve every day! #SunDevil4LIFE… pic.twitter.com/plUXpicCM7
— Coach Dillingham (@KennyDillingham) November 5, 2023
On Utah's run game...
"I thought they moved us. They moved the down lineman and you combine that with our defense being on the field every play, so if our defense is on the field every single play of the game, one, we can't get touches to offensive guys that we need touches to because we're not getting enough first downs. And then we had two defensive lineman go down, so you have two lineman go down on top of playing significant snaps and that's a recipe for disaster and fatigue."
On Utah scoring with eight seconds left...
"They're playing football. Our job is to stop them. I don't care if they would've thrown it. This is not pop warner, this is collegiate football. If they would've been throwing the ball fourth quarter, I would've been perfectly fine with it. If they felt they needed to get work in with a quarterback and throw the ball, that's 100 percent their decision to make their football team better because that's their job as their coaching staff. No issue with it at all, its our job to stop it."
On his respect for Kyle Whittingham and the Utah coaching staff...
"It's what I knew they were. That's why I've been showing clips of Utah since I got here is because this is the standard, in my opinion, of Pac-12 football and a culture that can respond and win through a test of time because they're physical, they're big, they play with a good offensive line and defensive line, they're tough and they're resilient and coming off a big loss, I knew we were going to get their best game and we were going to have to block them and tackle them and that's what the game was going to come down to."
#1 Jordan Clark, Defensive Back
On the defensive struggles in the first half…
"We have to execute from the jump as a defense. We just weren't doing what coach was asking of us. It wasn't a coaching thing, it was definitely on us and we got to get back to work this week to correct it."
On the defensive issues throughout the game…
"Our guys just weren't doing their job. We had some mishaps at the beginning and then people try to overcompensate and help other people do their job when all in all, we should play 11-man football. Whenever you try to do somebody else's job, even more people are out of position. It's on us. We got to make those plays."
On how tough it will be to bounce back from the loss…
"It shouldn't be tough at all; everybody should be embarrassed. Everybody should understand that this is not OK at all. Right now, everybody should be trying to figure out how we can get ready to beat UCLA. This game is behind us, and it should leave a bad taste in our mouth. Everybody should be embarrassed. This isn't Sun Devil football and this isn't the standard that we want to play or compete at, so we have to get back to work and finish."
On Utah's standard in the conference…
"I see the same thing I see from them every time I've played them since I've been in college. They're a program that does things the right way. It doesn't matter how many people are hurt, who's hurt whether it's a key guy or not. Whether it's Cam Rising playing or not, they're going to play to their standard constantly. They did a great job rebounding off of a loss last week and they played good football today. We didn't match it like we should have, and we'll get it fixed."
#7 Shamari Simmons, Defensive Back
On the defense allowing Utah's run game to thrive…
"It was just a lot of errors on us. I'll ride with this defense any day of the week and I'll take them over any team in the conference. We just need to come back on Monday and regroup."
On the defense constantly needing to be on the field…
"I really don't see it like that. With the defensive mindset, we expect them not to score at all. We can't really control what's on the other side of the ball. We can control what we can control, and we gave up 55 points."
FUTURE MEETINGS
The series continues once Big 12 play begins as ASU hosts Utah next season (2024), while the Sun Devils visit Utah in 2025. The teams take a break in 2026 with ASU hosting Utah in 2027.
TOUGH PLACE TO PLAY
Utah has now won 30 of its last 32 games at Rice-Eccles Stadium and had won 18 in a row prior to last weekend's loss to Oregon.
YEARS WHERE THREE ASU QUARTERBACKS STARTED (1996-PRESENT)
2023: Jaden Rashada (2), Trenton Bourguet (6), Drew Pyne (1)
2016: Manny Wilkins (10), Brady White (1), Dillon Sterling-Cole (1)
2009: Danny Sullivan (9), Samson Szakacsy (2), Brock Osweiler (1)
2000: Jeff Krohn (9), Griffin Goodman (2), Ryan Kealy (1)
1998: Ryan Kealy (9), Steve Campbell (1), Chad Elliot (1)