ASU Football: Rapid Reaction of Sun Devils rout of Beavers

A historic performance on the ground from Eno Benjamin highlights ASU football‘s win over Oregon State.

At 2-2 on the season, ASU football in the Herm Edwards era has already flashed its fair share of highlights and lowlights.

Consecutive one-score road losses to San Diego State and Washington placed the Sun Devils in a peculiar spot as the heavy favorites against Oregon State.

Here’s how the night turned out for Edwards’ team.

Eno Benjamin with a historic night

Have a day Eno Benjamin.

ASU’s No.1  back had the night of his life with 312 yards and 30 carries and four total touchdowns on the night. He set both the single game and first-half single game ASU rushing yard records.

Benjamin’s shiftiness and speed was too much to handle for a Beavers defense that has struggled all season at containing the run. Oregon State entered the night allowing over 280 yards on the ground per contest.

With over 100 yards on the ground against a top tier opponent in Washington to go along with a record breaking night against Oregon State, Eno Benjamin has now become the most dangerous weapon on the Sun Devils offense.

Rough night for the rush defense

After allowing only eight total yards of offense to the Beavers in the first quarter, Danny Gonzales’ unit surrendered 126 yards on the ground alone in the second quarter.

Oregon State running back Jermar Jefferson found himself in a track meet against Benjamin. Jefferson finished the night with 254 yards on the ground and averaged 8.2 yards per carry.

Jefferson has been quite solid this season for the Beavers averaging 6.4 yards per carry heading into the night. Despite the success of the OSU freshman, ASU will need to vastly improve their rush defense if they want to have a chance at winning the Pac-12 South.

Subpar night for Wilkins

After being held to just 104 yards in the air last weekend in Washington, the ASU signal caller did not improve much against a vastly weaker opponent.

The red-shirt senior only threw for 162 yards on 14 completions. Wilkins was more effective on the ground with 61 rushing yards. The third-year starter had a clean pocket all night (no sacks) and faced a defense that has allowed over 40 points per contest this season.

Wilkins will have to improve for ASU to find their full potential on offense.

In conclusion

It was a field day for Eno Benjamin and the offense. ASU not only had the dynamic running ability of Benjamin but also controlled the line of scrimmage.

Defensively, the secondary held Beavers quarterback Conor Blount to only 145 passing yards but the Sun Devils found themselves hopeless in trying to stop Jermar Jefferson on the ground.

The performance may have not reflected on the scoreboard, but the Sun Devils had far from a perfect performance on the night against one of the weaker teams in the Pac-12.