The good, the bad, and the ugly from Sun Devils' season opening victory

It wasn't the prettiest win, but the Sun Devils opened the 2025 campaign with a 38-19 win over Northern Arizona on Saturday night in Tempe.

The Good

Sam Leavitt

Sam opened his Heisman campaign season with maybe not the statement performance we were all expecting, but a respectable game. He completed 25 of his 39 passes for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns, relying heavily on the connection with Jordyn Tyson for 12 of those completions for 141 yards and both touchdowns.

Where he truly lit up the field was with his feet, tying Kyson Brown for the team lead with 73 rushing yards on 7 carries and two rushing touchdowns, including this 18 yard run for his second score of the night.

It wasn't the type of performance that makes him an immediate Heisman favorite, but sets the tone for the rest of the year.

Northern Arizona Coaching

Coach Dillingham held nothing back in his postgame press conference, making it clear that he thought the better coaching in the game came from the other sideline.

The Lumberjacks played a very bend don't break game last night, not letting the game get out of control after falling behind 14-0 in the 1st quarter. They ended up edging the Sun Devils in time of possession (31:34 to 28:26), able to string together decent drives to keep the game more competitive than most expected for a FBS/FCS matchup. The Lumberjacks defense also forced the Sun Devils to punt 4 times, and forced an interception in the 4th quarter that set them up in plus-territory with a chance to make the game all sorts of interesting late.

Sun Devil Crowd

The Sun Devil faithful showed up in a big way for the opener, packing Mountain America Stadium with 56,759 fans for the first season opening sellout since 1998. The student section especially came ready, setting a new record with 14,280 fans.

Keep it up fans, crowds like last night should be the expectation all season long!

The Bad

Offensive Playcalling

From my seat in Section 28, the playcalling was far too one-dimensional. Everyone knows that Leavitt to Tyson will be the connection to watch throughout the season, but Sam needs to spread out his targets more. When you have a tight end like Chamon Metayer who can also line up in the slot, he should be utilized was more than one catch for 20 yards. Furthermore, while the team put up over 200 yards rushing, there was no true balance to the playcalling. The NAU defense lived up to their billing of requiring constant communication, and the moments of fluidity on offense were not as many as I would have liked to see.

Ball Security

Leavitt's interception in the 4th quarter sticks with me probably more than it should. Leading by 18 points and having just reeled off three run plays after starting the drive at the 15 yard line, keeping the clock moving is the key at this point. Instead the drive stalled with a completion to Malik McClain for a two yard loss followed by a floater intended for McClain that was easily intercepted by Michael Beresford.

In what should have been a running situation to run out the clock, the Sun Devils tried to go for the jugular and thankfully did not get burned by the turnover.

Penalties

The discipline was not on display as the Sun Devils had too many procedural penalties on offense, racking up 93 penalty yards on 12 flags. They got away with the sloppy play this week, but Coach Dillingham will be sure to drive home the emphasis on minimizing these mental lapses as the season goes on against tougher competition.

The Ugly

ESPN+

Much was made first about why the No. 11 team in the nation was relegated to streaming only for their season opener, then about the quality of the stream in the second half, so much that Athletic Director Graham Rossini took to Twitter/X to address the concerns from those watching at home.

Full marks to Graham for addressing the issue head on, but the question has to be raised to the Big 12 and the folks at ESPN on the decision to put this game not on linear television. Thankfully the next two games will be on network broadcasting.

Officiating

I'm never one to point the finger of blame for any results to the officials, but there were multiple occasions from my vantage point where it appeared that the crew wasn't in control of the in game basics. From a questionable holding penalty that took a touchdown off the board to not being clear what down it was, this crew did not appear to be on their A-game this week.

Leavitt's Progression

I'll circle back to my earlier point about the overdependence on Jordyn Tyson. Both Sam and Jordyn will be high draft picks when their time comes, but the offense cannot run through one player. This team has an incredible amount of offensive weapons to keep defenses on their toes and not be too predictable.

Closing Thoughts

At the end of the day, a win is a win. While not a needle mover where the polls are concerned, it's far better to wake up today 1-0 rather than 0-1. The Lumberjacks were tough as advertised, and there is a lot of opportunity to improve on these subpar areas before next week's game in Starkville.