After struggling for a majority of its season opener against NAU, the ASU football team was the subject of criticism from top to bottom, frustrating head coach Todd Graham. But when being 1-0 isn't enough, there's only one thing to do: make a statement.
The Sun Devils (2-0) did just that, piling on the points in a 68-55 win over Texas Tech at Sun Devil Stadium Saturday, tying the third-best point total in program history behind a record-setting eight touchdowns from junior running back Kalen Ballage.
After commenting on the harbingers of doom during the week, Graham alluded to them after the game when talking about his pregame talk to his players.
"We told our guys that we were going to somehow, someway win this game and we did," Graham said. "I think we surprised some people but we definitely did not surprise ourselves."
The first surprise of the game was when ASU came out of the gates throwing the ball.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Manny Wilkins stepped back to pass on each of ASU's first four plays and accounted for the first score of the game on his first career touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver N'Keal Harry.
That's when Ballage took over.
Over the next three quarters, the 6-2, 227 pound back dominated the Red Raiders, equaling his touchdown total from his first two collegiate seasons.
In all, Ballage touched the ball 15 times, totaling 185 offensive yards and finding his way into the end zone eight times. He scored four times in the second quarter and twice in both the third and fourth quarters, fueling the Sun Devil offense.
Six of Ballage's seven rushing touchdown came out of a Wildcat formation that ASU debuted during the game, one that the Sun Devils had only been practicing for "two or three weeks."
Despite the offensive explosion, the Red Raiders stayed in the game.
Junior quarterback Patrick Mahomes continued his excellence through the air, completing 38 of 53 attempts for 540 yards and five touchdowns — finding 11 different receivers in the process.
Despite the gaudy numbers against them, the mindset remains constant for the ASU defense.
"They truly, in the locker room, did not care," Graham said. "And I don't care."
That's because ASU buckled down when it needed to, though, stopping Mahomes and Texas Tech on three straight third quarter possessions and giving the offense good enough field position to capitalize.
The third possession finished with redshirt senior cornerback De'Chavon "Gump" Hayes intercepting his first career pass and returning it to the Tech 1-yard line, giving Ballage an easy score to put the Sun Devils up 17 points and essentially sealing the game.
While many would bask in their record-setting night, the only number that matters to Ballage is the one next to the letter "W" in the record book.
“To be honest, I really don’t care about it," Ballage said of his record-breaking performance. "You can ask these guys, I really don’t care about it. I want to win football games and that’s what this is about to me and that is what happened tonight."
Instead, Ballage gave the credit for his huge night to his offensive line – redshirt senior Evan Goodman, redshirt sophomore Sam Jones, junior A.J. McCollum, redshirt senior Stephon McCray, and redshirt sophomore Quinn Bailey – who attended the press conference with him.
"Tonight, these guys, what they did up front was absolutely amazing," Ballage said. "And that's why I decided to bring all five of them up here, because they deserve it."
The critics that emerged last week will be hard to find, but Graham still sees areas in which the Sun Devils have to improve. For now, ASU can rest easy with the zero in the loss column for at least one more week.
“We have a chance," Graham said. "We just have to get better, get some things cleaned up, get people healthy and correct a lot of mistakes. There were a whole lot of mistakes tonight that were made because of mental errors.
"We just have to be more consistent, but we are 2-0."
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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