ASU Football: Sun Devils use offensive explosion to outlast Texas Tech
By Zach Pekale
In the ASU football 68-55 victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders, junior running back Kalen Ballage blurred the lines of explosiveness.
There is a clear difference between explosiveness and offensive explosion. In the Arizona State Sun Devils’ 68-55 victory over Texas Tech, junior running back Kalen Ballage blurred those lines.
Working out of the Wildcat formation, Ballage tied the Football Bowl Subdivision record by rushing for seven touchdowns in addition to a receiving touchdown on a trick play. All but two of his scores came from inside the 10-yard line.
“I owe all of the credit to them [the offensive line], “ said Ballage, “Every day we just go to work.”
The offensive line faced the challenge this offseason of replacing four starters from the 2015 team. Through two games, this unit has passed the eye test.
Ballage’s eight scores propelled the Sun Devils in an offensive shootout that featured a combined 1264 yards of total offense between the two teams.
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“Kalen is just starting to scratch the surface,” said head coach Todd Graham.
Despite a massive 544-yard, five-touchdown performance from Red Raiders quarterback Patrick Mahomes, ASU was able to outlast their opponent by grinding down their Big 12 foe.
The Sun Devils ran Texas Tech into the ground behind 301 rushing yards from Ballage, junior running back Demario Richard and sophomore quarterback Manny Wilkins.
Through the air, Wilkins made tremendous strides as he threw for 351 yards and his first two collegiate touchdown passes, one to Ballage and the other to freshman wide receiver N’Keal Harry, the first of his NCAA career.
“He [Wilkins] had a giant growth from Week 1 to Week 2 and I am not surprised,” said Graham.
Defensively, the secondary still showed flaws but the front four was able to put pressure on Mahomes in key situations including a huge third-down sack by devilbacker Koron Crump and a pair of late interceptions from senior defensive back De’Chavon “Gump” Hayes to seal the game.
“It was going real fast and other than that we made plays and got stops,” said Hayes.
Next: ASU Football: Texas Tech vs. ASU Rapid Reaction
Following the win, ASU improves to 2-0 on the season as they prepare for the University of Texas-San Antonio on a short week to conclude non-conference play.