The ASU football team promised it would begin the 2004 season with a different attitude. And while it may have only been facing the University of Texas at El-Paso, it's safe to say the Sun Devils accomplished their mission.
While they may have started off slow, the Sun Devils eventually delivered the kind of fireworks expected when a Pac-10 team hosts a squad from the Western Athletic Conference. ASU trounced the Miners 41-9.
"I was pleased with our defense all night," ASU head coach Dirk Koetter said. "We just beat that team by five TD's and we should have beat that team by five TD's."
The game could easily be summed up by the tale of the two teams' quarterbacks. UTEP's Jordan Palmer showed he was in charge of an unfamiliar offense taught by new head coach Mike Price. The inexperienced sophomore went through some severe growing pains as he threw 21 for 44 for 196 yards including four interceptions.
For ASU, senior Andrew Walter made his 25th-career start, and showed why he is touted as one of the nation's best signal callers. For the day, Walter went 18 for 37 for 241 yards with three touchdowns and no picks, even though he left at the end of the third quarter.
"It was good to spread the ball out," Walter said.
All in all, it was a much better start than the shaky performance in ASU's season opener a year ago against NAU, but the Sun Devils still had their share of bad as well as good moments.
There was the pleasantly surprising play of the depleted secondary, which was missing its two biggest stars but held the Miners to under 200 yards on 44 pass attempts. There was the startlingly vicious play of junior college transfer Dale Robinson, who after an impressive training camp showed he has the capability to be a force in the maroon and gold.
But there was also a blocked punt by the Miners, two sloppy fumbles that were recovered by ASU, and a number of dropped passes that hit receivers in the hands.
"A couple of plays, if we could have them back or they were neutral, we would have won by even more points," Walter said.
"Offensively, I thought we were out of sync all night; we never got in a rhythm," Koetter said. "But a win is a win. We just didn't get our home runs tonight."
After forcing UTEP to punt from midfield on the game's opening drive, the Sun Devils took their time as they marched down the field to begin the scoring. A 14-play, 72-yard drive was stalled when Walter miscalculated a short, third-down pass to sophomore tailback Loren Wade on the UTEP 5-yard line. Sophomore kicker Jesse Ainsworth then eased in the 22-yard field goal.
The Sun Devils then went three and out on their next two drives to end the first quarter.
ASU's offense then cleared the cobwebs as the second quarter commenced.
Sophomore wide receiver Terry Richardson scored the team's first touchdown of the season when he hauled in a long pass from Walter on a play action, before sprinting into the corner of the endzone as a host of Miner defenders could not catch him.
On UTEP's next drive, Palmer was chased by ASU junior linebacker Jamar Williams and tossed up a pass that was intercepted by senior free safety Emmanuel Franklin.
Franklin returned the pick 28 yards to the UTEP 30-yard line. Franklin had one man to beat on the runback, but got tripped up.
The Sun Devils made the Miners pay for their mistake four plays later when Walter threw a quick strike in the endzone to a leaping Brent Miller. The redshirt freshman tight end made the catch as his younger brother, much-heralded freshman Zach Miller, was even more open a few yards away.
On the Miners' next drive, the Sun Devil D came up big again as Franklin stepped in front of a Palmer pass to senior tight end Jonas Crafts, bobbled the ball, and then returned the interception to the house 48-yards for the touchdown to give ASU a 24-0 advantage.
"I was in the wrong defense, but all is well that ends well," Franklin said.
The Miners finally got on the board late in the quarter when they blocked a punt by ASU redshirt freshman punter Chris MacDonald. The ball eventually rolled out of bounds at the ASU 49. Palmer then tossed a 37-yard pass to sophomore wide out Johnnie Lee Higgins over ASU junior cornerback Josh Golden. On the next play, Miner senior tailback Howard Johnson danced his way to a 12-yard touchdown run.
The Sun Devils continued to up their advantage in the third quarter when Ainsworth boomed a 48-yard field goal on their second drive to give ASU a 27-6 lead. Later in the quarter, Walter found his favorite target, junior wide receiver Derek Hagan, wide open in the endzone for a 15-yard score.
After Walter left the game at the end of the third quarter, sophomore backup Sam Keller got his chance to pick apart the Miners' secondary as he tossed a 68-yard touchdown strike to redshirt freshman Rudy Burgess to end the scoring for the Sun Devils.
"Offensively, I thought we were out of sync all night; we never got in a rhythm," Koetter said. "But a win is a win. We just didn't get our home runs tonight."
Injury update: The night was not a total success however, as ASU suffered a number of injuries in the game. The most severe came to starting left guard, red shirt freshman Brandon Rodd, who likely will be lost for the season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Tailbacks Hakim Hill and Loren Wade were also banged up.
Reach the reporter at Christopher.Drexel@asu.edu.
