ASU Football: Aztecs dominated the Sun Devils in the trenches

The San Diego State Aztecs dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in its 28-21 upset win over No. 23 ASU football.

After Saturday night’s game against SDSU, it would have been hard to believe the Sun Devils (2-1) entered the game with the top-ranked rushing defense in the country. They had only allowed 65 yards on the ground through two games.

But the Aztecs (2-1) had different plans. With one of the best ground games in the country, their offensive line opened up holes one could drive a truck through at times.

“We knew what they wanted to do,” ASU head coach Herm Edwards said. “They wanted to run the football, and they did run the football. They ran it for 311 yards.”

SDSU’s star running back Juwan Washington had 138 yards on 27 carries, proving his worth. But sophomore running back Chase Jasmin entered the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter and did just as much damage with 112 yards on 19 carries.

“That’s how they’re built,” ASU defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said. “They are designed to try and run you in the ground.”

ASU struggled with tackling even when the defensive line was able to get penetration. The SDSU running backs were elusive and found ways to break free.

“They got up to the second level and we missed some tackles,” Edwards said. “There’s a reason they’re averaging about 10 wins per year. They run their offense, it’s honed, it’s a good offense.”

The Sun Devil offense had plenty of success through the air on Saturday night. However, the run game was practically non-existent for ASU.

Thirty-six yards was the final tally on the ground for the Sun Devils. It seemed like the offenses for both teams were completely opposite.

SDSU froze the ASU offense for the entire third quarter. The Sun Devils could only muster up 13 total yards of offense with -2 rushing yards, making it clear that a run game was nearly impossible to establish.

“I don’t know what the stats were but we rushed the ball absolutely terribly and you can’t win football games like that,” ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins said.

The ASU offensive line had not allowed a sack throughout the first two games, but gave up three against SDSU.

“We had a chance to be pretty good but we got out-physicalled tonight,” Gonzales said. “The humbling will come, we’ll teach them in meetings tomorrow and we can move forward and get better as a football team.”

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.