TEMPE – On a night where the 1996 Pac-10 champion Sun Devils were honored, it was fitting that a freshman starter named Jake became the first Sun Devil quarterback to catch a touchdown pass in Sun Devil Football’s 20-10 victory over Colorado on Saturday evening in Tempe.
Freshman quarterback Jake Fette passed for one touchdown and caught another from running back and fellow freshman Cardae Mack, becoming the first Sun Devil quarterback to catch a touchdown pass since Jake Plummer against UCLA in 1996.
Fette finished with 187 passing yards and a touchdown pass of his own coming on a 34-yard dot in the second quarter to Reed Harris, who finished with 104 yards on four catches. Mack finished with 80 yards on the ground, 17 yards receiving and was 2-for-3 passing for nine yards and the touchdown to Fette.
Carson Smith continued his sneakily exceptional season, going 2-for-2 on field goals and adding two extra points as he improved to 13-of-14 on field goals and 27-of-27 on extra points for the season.
It was otherwise a tale of two stingy defenses, with the two teams combined for just 616 total yards of offense. Owen Long matched his career-best with 17 tackles for his sixth game with double-digit tackles this season. The Sun Devils had eight tackles for loss, three coming on a trio of sacks by Albert Smith III - despite coming into the game with just 1.5 in his career.
ASU (5-4, 3-3 Big 12) held its third-consecutive opponent under 100 rushing yards as Colorado (3-6, 1-5 Big 12) finished with just 64 in the contest. It is the first time ASU held three-straight opponents under 100 rushing yards since 2023.
Colorado didn’t pick up its first first down until midway through the second quarter as the Sun Devils forced four three-and-outs to start the game and jumped to a 17-0 lead at halftime with the Buffaloes finishing with just 103 yards of offense in the frame.
Arizona State posted a sellout for the 11th time in its last 13 home games with 54,166 packing into Mountain American Stadium for the annual Salute to Service game while also celebrating Family Weekend.
How it happened
ASU forced a three-and-out on the opening drive and went 61 yards in 13 plays to open the scoring on a 31-yard field goal by Carson Smith.
Mack found Fette for a one-yard touchdown reception with 11:15 remaining in the half, showing off his high school quarterbacking prowess (and southpaw skills) as he made a jump pass while being tackled to find his quarterback for the score to make it 10-0.
The Sun Devils would take control late in the half as Fette found Harris for a 34-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-0.
Colorado kept things interesting in the second half, holding the Sun Devil offense sputtered to just 122 yards and cutting things to a 10-point game midway through the fourth quarter on a touchdown pass to make it 20-10.
Smith’s third sack of the game sealed the deal on Colorado’s comeback attempt on 4th-and-15 and the Buffaloes in ASU territory.
Up next
The Sun Devils will look to achieve bowl eligibility next weekend as the team flies across the nation to take on UCF on Saturday, Nov. 14, in Orlando. The game time and television allocation will be announced tomorrow. The 1,850 trek will mark the second-longest trip within the continental United States in program history behind only a 1997 trip to Miami (Fl.) that was ~1970 miles.