Junior running back Kalen Ballage was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for matching an FBS record eight touchdowns in Saturday's 68-55 win over Texas Tech.
Ballage was also named to the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll and earned CBS National Player of the Week honors.
ASU head coach Todd Graham was reverent of Ballage's play at his weekly press conference Monday, but shifted gears toward Friday's trip to San Antonio as the Sun Devils (2-0) conclude the non-conference slate against UTSA.
Graham on going back to Texas: "It's hard to recruit in places we don't play"
— Stefan Modrich (@StefanJModrich) September 12, 2016
Cites great turnouts, third-largest ASU alumni base
Graham is a Texas native and 16 Sun Devils hail from the Lone Star state. The majority are concentrated in the Dallas-Forth Worth area, with a few others (notably freshman quarterback Dillon Sterling-Cole) in Houston and the southeast reaches of the state.
None are from San Antonio or the western half of Texas, however, which presents an opportunity.
"Our number one priority in recruiting is our home base here," Graham said. "Then, a gas tank away in Southern California and Texas – that's our third largest alumni base."
Staying Grounded
Graham emphasized postgame and in his Monday availability that the Sun Devils needed to stay humble and continue improving, despite a surprisingly fast start.
"We had a lot of growth from week one to week two," Graham said. "Obviously we had a bit more of a dynamic plan in week two, but it's just one game."
The gameplan offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey drew up dazzled Sun Devil fans, but Graham acknowledged that ball security and fundamentals must come first for trick plays to be effective.
"The origin of our offense is run, play-action pass," Graham said. "That sounds boring, it's not boring. It's about taking care of the football."
Lost in Ballage's dominance was a breakout game from redshirt sophomore quarterback Manny Wilkins, who silenced several critics of his game management in his debut versus NAU.
"To be honest, I liked that play, it kind of got me fired up." - Graham on Manny's second hurdle.
— Stefan Modrich (@StefanJModrich) September 12, 2016
"I gotta give a lot of credit to Manny," Graham said. "My favorite play of the whole game was when he pulled the ball down, and there was nowhere to run, and he threw the ball away."
Wilkins pulled off another jaw-dropping hurdle of a defender against Texas Tech. Although Graham said he wanted his starting quarterback to be smart, he was impressed by his fearlessness.
"To be honest, I liked that play, it kind of got me fired up." - Graham on Manny's second hurdle.
— Stefan Modrich (@StefanJModrich) September 12, 2016
Defensively, Graham acknowledged there were several plays he wasn't fond of — blown coverages, a roughing the punter penalty, and "when they scored touchdowns, probably."
After going with a mostly conservative pressure plan in the first half against Texas Tech, Graham turned up the heat. He got two takeaways as a result, but also saw the secondary burned on a couple 50+ yard touchdowns that kept the Red Raiders within striking distance as late as the start of the fourth quarter.
"We also are probably being a little too complex," Graham said. "We've had some breakdowns there. But we're going to do what we need to do to win games."
At the end of the day, Graham said his focus is on the things that are within his team's control.
"If you take away the critical errors and busted coverages, we win by three or four touchdowns."
Injury updates:
– Graham said redshirt senior linebacker Salamo Fiso will miss the UTSA game, and hopes to have him back for conference play.
– Sophomore tight end Jay Jay Wilson will return from his suspension and be active for Friday's game.
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepressport on Twitter.
