ASU Football: Sun Devils Escape UT-San Antonio

The Arizona State Sun Devils were able to overcome a slow start to improve to 3-0 on the season.

The Sun Devils were coming off a huge victory against Texas Tech where everything on the offense seemed to be clicking, but tonight that was the complete opposite.

ASU saw themselves in an early 14-3 hole after the first quarter due to a muffed punt by Kalen Ballage paired with their slow start and sloppy offensive play to begin the game.

The Sun Devils were also coming into this game having just faced a great quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, and weren’t expecting UTSA’s quarterback, Dalton Sturm, to be as big of an issue for them.

Sturm proved to be an issue for them as he put up two touchdowns in the first quarter and would go on to be a part of every single one of UTSA’s scoring plays.

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ASU seemed to wake up after the first quarter with the offense waking up and answering back in the second quarter with two touchdowns of their own to be within two points of the Roadrunners at the half.

Out of the half, ASU looked more like the team everyone saw against Texas Tech. An offense that could move the ball, but still a defense that lacked consistent play but made big stops when needed. This type of play would lead to ASU getting the victory.

A big part of ASU’s victory was because of half time adjustments that were made in response to Sturm’s first half performance.

“We started keeping two linebackers in the box. He’s a good quarterback. He hurt us more with his legs. We went into the game and said that the number one play they were going to run was the quarterback draw and the quarterback pull-it-down and scramble. We were very prepared for that, but we were just making some errors early on. Just little things that you can’t do,” said Todd Graham when asked what adjustments were made at the half to deal with Sturm.

Another big part of ASU’s victory was because of the drive that saw ASU take the lead with 3:15 remaining in the game thanks to the wildly successful “sparky formation.”

When asked about the key plays of that drive, Wilkins responded.

“They came with a blitz, I rolled out and I saw Cam open and he made a great play. Then Kalen did a great job pushing the ball when we went into our sparky formation. I was really proud of our guys,” said Wilkins.

Next: ASU Football: ASU vs. UTSA Rapid Reaction

Next weekend ASU will begin Pac-12 play by hosting the University of California Golden Bears.

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