For the second consecutive week, ASU senior quarterback Rudy Carpenter was near perfect.
Carpenter completed 27 of 36 passes for 345 yards and three touchdowns as the No. 15 Sun Devils (2-0, 1-0 Pac-10) routed Stanford, 41-17, in its Pac-10 Conference opener.
Carpenter completed passes to nine different receivers.
“It definitely makes it easier having a guy like Rudy, where you know where the ball is going to be every time,” said sophomore wide receiver Kerry Taylor, who led the Sun Devils with five catches for 92 yards and a touchdown.
Carpenter’s play was not completely without error on Saturday, as he was the first to admit.
“It was a good win, but I’m disappointed with how I played a little bit,” Carpenter said. “I threw an interception that was a terrible [decision].”
Carpenter’s interception, his first on the season, came in the second half on a pass thrown into traffic in the middle of the field.
Carpenter also turned the ball over in the third quarter when he fumbled the ball after being sacked by Stanford’s senior linebacker Clinton Snyder.
“We put a lot of points up, but we have to get better with the turnovers,” Carpenter said.
The ASU offense moved the ball effortlessly in their first two drives. But after bogging down near the goal line, the Sun Devils settled for two field goals from sophomore kicker Thomas Weber.
Early in the second quarter, ASU cured its red zone woes when Carpenter hit senior wide receiver Michael Jones for an 11-yard touchdown to give the Sun Devils a 13-7 lead.
But the game got away from Stanford because of a few plays before halftime.
After a Stanford field goal made the score 13-10, Cardinal kicker Travis Golia kicked the ball out of bounds on the ensuing kickoff, giving ASU the ball on their own 40-yard line with just under a minute to go in the second quarter.
After a roughing the passer penalty against Stanford on the first play of ASU’s drive, Carpenter hit a wide-open Taylor for a 45-yard touchdown, giving the Sun Devils a 20-10 halftime lead.
“Scoring there before the half was probably the turning point in the game without a question,” coach Dennis Erickson said.
The game was put away early in the third quarter when junior running back Dimitri Nance scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Sun Devils up by 17 points.
Carpenter set a school record for passing yards in a two-game span with 773 yards in the first two contests this season.
“He understands, obviously, what’s going on in this offense a lot better,” Erickson said of Carpenter. “His throws have been very accurate throws.”
Carpenter was hit often in the pocket, but quick passing routes nullified the Cardinal’s blitz packages.
“I think our receivers did a good job [of] recognizing the blitz and coming up on their hot routes,” Carpenter said.
After a slow start, the ASU defense held the Stanford offense in check.
The Cardinal scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game, a breakdown the defense contributed to being over-anxious.
“I think we were a little too excited,” said junior defensive end Dexter Davis, who had two sacks for the Sun Devils. “I think some of the guys, myself in particular, got winded real quick because we were amped to play.”
Junior linebacker Gerald Munns led the defensive effort for the Sun Devils with seven tackles and an interception.
He also deflected a pass over the middle that led to an interception by senior safety Troy Nolan.
“Gerald was all over the place,” Erickson said. “We needed him to do that because of their running game.”
The ASU defense held Stanford’s junior running back Toby Gerhart, who rushed for 147 yards in the Cardinal’s first game, to 68 yards on the ground.
The Sun Devils were equally impressive against the passing game, holding Stanford quarterbacks to 120 yards passing while intercepting three passes.
Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu.
