ASU's home opener may not have gone the way the team or its fans had hoped but after two late touchdowns, the Sun Devils nonetheless came away with a 35-21 victory over the Cal Poly Mustangs.
Here are three important things to know after the ASU's home opening win.
Missing Jaelen? Big targets lead the way
Jaelen Strong's departure to the NFL left ASU with a big hole in its offense, both literally and figuratively. Strong, a 6-foot-4 receiver, was a big body capable of going up and getting jump balls in the back of the end zone against smaller defensive backs.
In the second game of the season, redshirt senior quarterback Mike Bercovici seemed to miss that presence on the outside.
The back shoulder fade was a play that Strong ran well and often during his time as a Sun Devil and both Bercovici and former Sun Devil Taylor Kelly had success throwing it up to Strong on that route.
Late in the third quarter with his team inside the 10-yard line and looking to score, Bercovici tried to run the same play with redshirt senior Devin Lucien but twice in a row the pass fell incomplete. A few plays later, Bercovici went back to Lucien in the end zone and was intercepted.
Despite a lack of success on that drive, Bercovici targeted both Lucien and tight end Kody Kohl often down the stretch and seemed to get into a rhythm with both.
Lucien, a 6-foot-2 transfer from UCLA, finished with a team-high seven catches for 79 yards. Kohl, a 6-foot-3 tight end, only had three catches but he was targeted often inside the red zone and caught a 10-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.
Without Strong in the lineup, it will be interesting to see if Bercovici continues to target bigger receivers like Lucien and Kohl to try and find similar success he had with Strong.
Special teams still not so special
While the special teams didn't give up any back-breaking plays like Christian Kirk's punt return touchdown in the Texas A&M game, the unit still had some serious hiccups against Cal Poly.
Kicker Zane Gonzalez, typically one of the best and most consistent kickers in the Pac-12, missed a 28-yard field goal attempt with 12 minutes left in the game that could have given the team a lead.
Additionally, freshman defensive back Kareem Orr was flagged with a penalty on punt coverage in the first quarter which gave the Mustangs an extra fifteen yards.
However, the most glaring special teams hiccup might have been sophomore running back and punt returner Jacom Brimhall muffing two punts.
Brimhall, playing in place of an injured "Gump" Hayes, recovered both of his fumbles so neither counted as turnovers but both will likely be moments new special teams coach Shawn Slocum touches on in the coming week's practice.
Defense fails to force a turnover
Cal Poly tallied 330 yards of total offense against the Sun Devils, running 80 total plays, 72 of which were rushes.
By keeping it on the ground, the Mustangs limited the opportunities for ASU's playmaking secondary to come away with any interceptions.
As a result, the Sun Devil defense didn't force a single turnover, something the unit has relied on in the past.
Cal Poly had the ball for 32 minutes, nearly seven minutes longer than ASU. That allowed the Mustangs to repeatedly run the ball down the throat of ASU's defensive line.
Head coach Todd Graham's mantra since arriving in Tempe has been "Embrace the Grind" but in this matchup the Mustangs turned that around on the Sun Devils, grinding them down to the tune of 284 rushing yards and an average of 4.1 yards per rush.
Reach the assistant sports editor at icbeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @ICBeck21.
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