ASU Football: Rashaad Penny’s big night leads to a 30-20 Aztec victory

ASU football saw their 17-game regular season non-conference home winning streak snapped Saturday with a 30-20 loss versus San Diego State.

San Diego State running back Rashaad Penny has been hyped up all week. Players and coaches watched film on him, answered questions about him – and yet, they still remained confident about their chances to stop him.

That optimism quickly turned to skepticism.

With just over eight minutes left in the third quarter, ASU had San Diego State pinned at their own five on third down. A stop would’ve given them great field position; a simple conversion would have been fine.

But, foreshadowing for how the night would go for the Sun Devils, things got very, very bad.

Penny got the hand off and bolted. The ASU defense saw him, and in a blink of an eye, they didn’t.

A few fingers grasping for him at the line of scrimmage were the only detours he faced on the way to his first touchdown of the night.

Those watching at home may have thought he was running on an empty field. The closest Sun Devil was on the sideline, and those on the field – well, they watched the back of his jersey from 95 yards away.

Penny came at the Sun Devil defense early, often and pretty much in every facet of the game during the Aztecs’ 30-20 victory over Arizona State Saturday night at Sun Devil Stadium.

In a game that was filled with special team woes for ASU, including a 12-yard punt and a 29-yard kickoff, none hurt the Devils more than Penny’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second quarter.

More from Devils in Detail

• Sun Devils Primer: Game 2 vs Oklahoma State
• Sun Devil Insight: Quarterback Room
• Arizona State Spotlight: Kenny Dillingham
• Arizona State 2023 Season Opener: Off To A Good Start
• Arizona State vs USC Prediction and Promo (Expect Offensive Fireworks)

“We just had some kicks that were atrocious and obviously did a poor job preparing them as a special teams,” head coach Todd Graham said following the game. “Obviously [we] gave up the kickoff return for a touchdown and he’s a good returner and all that., but you’re going to play against good returners.”

“I thought special teams was chaotic and it shouldn’t be.”

The kick return gave the Aztecs a 14-7 lead, but the quick score forced the Sun Devil offense right back on the field. An offense that throughout the entire night looked sporadic, while lacking rhythm and a run game.

With running back Demario Richard sidelined due to a right knee injury, Saturday became the Kalen Ballage show for the ASU rushing attack.

SDSU was just fine with that however. When Ballage tried to pound the ball inside, SDSU loaded the box. When he tried to go outside, the Aztec corners got to him quick. Heck, when he went out of the “Sparky” formation a few times – they read it like a book.

Ballage finished with just 44 yards on 15 carries in an all-around disappointing night for ASU’s running game.

The positive from that quickly became quarterback Manny Wilkins.

The redshirt junior went 20-33 for 298 yards, two touchdowns and maybe most importantly, no interceptions against a defense that has led the country in the category over the last two seasons.

“They had a safety that moved to corner that we felt we could kind of go at, but I thought we did a great job of that [passing downfield],” Wilkins said. “I thought we had some times where we flashed some really good things, we just have to execute better.”

Those stats would have looked even better, though, without a critical drop from wide receiver John Humphrey.

Sitting at the SDSU 45, Wilkins threw a beautiful pass, Humphrey ran toward the endzone and had a surefire touchdown – the only problem was, the ball went right through his arms.

The touchdown (with a good extra point) would have given the Devils their first lead of the night midway through the third quarter; they ended up punting shortly after.

“I thought that was a tough one,” Graham said.”

They were right on the verge of gaining momentum, playing with the lead and cruising to victory. Those all vanished faster than the fans at Sun Devil Stadium could.

SDSU would go on an ensuing 11 play, 58-yard drive that lasted 6:28 and ended with a touchdown from, you guessed it, Penny.

It would be the running back’s third touchdown of the night, one that saw him gain a career-high 216 rushing yards on 18 attempts.

“We didn’t execute,” defensive lineman Tashon Smallwood said. “Missed assignments, just little things — not getting off the field on third down, we didn’t do that well. All those things add up, they add up to a loss.”

A late Sun Devil run wouldn’t be enough. A 53-yard touchdown strike to Frank Darby was followed by a missed two-point conversion and still kept the game a two-score deficit.

Poor tackling and missed assignments led to third-down conversions for SDSU, leaving the Devils on the wrong side of the clock, and ultimately, the scoreboard.

They failed to execute against a good team, they missed opportunities to grab the lead, and they fell to 1-1. More importantly, though, they played without an identity.

“We need to go to work and get better,” Graham said. “And find what our identity is.”

Whatever their identity is, if they can find that quickly, the team believes they can get the season back on track.

Next: ASU Football: Arizona State vs. San Diego State rapid reaction

“The season isn’t over,” Wilkins said. “It’s just go to the next game and go play ball. Sometimes you’re going to lose a game, it’s going to happen, just got to go to the next game, that’s it.”