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By Matthew Roy
Cronkite News

TEMPE – Saturday afternoon in a packed Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich., the Arizona State football team pulled off the upset of the college football week by beating 18th-ranked Michigan State, 10-7. With the win, the Sun Devils improved to 3-0 and climbed into the AP poll at No. 24.

The last time the Sun Devils were ranked was, well, last season, after they beat MSU, 16-13, on a last-second field goal at Sun Devil Stadium. That win gave first-year head coach Herm Edwards his first signature win and the Sun Devils cracked the AP poll at No. 23. 

ASU didn’t handle prosperity well, losing four of its next five games, three of them in Pac-12 play. Edwards is using that example as a cautionary tale for this season’s youth-laden team.
“Last year, we were in a similar spot, we had some success, and we got our nose punched in,” Edwards said Monday at his weekly news conference. “We’ll find out, all the warning signs are there and I’m gonna talk about them all week. Then we gotta go on the ball yard and find out and see how we handle it.”

The makeup of last year’s team was much different than this one. Last season’s team was led by senior Manny Wilkins at quarterback. This year, it is Jayden Daniels, the first true freshman to start a season at QB for the Sun Devils.

Last year, the offensive line was buoyed by juniors and seniors. This year’s line has tapped into the freshman class. Edwards has continuously said these are the players that this team has and they are going to play, but holdovers from last year are warning the new players of the pitfalls of early success.

“That’s the conversation you want from your leadership group because I think some players don’t realize when you have these kinds of opportunities,” Edwards said. “They don’t come along a lot when you’re rolling like this and we’re not even playing good yet on offense. I shouldn’t say not good, not consistent on offense.”

As conference play begins, the team will have to be resilient, Edwards said. The offensive line has been in flux and started two true freshman on Saturday, right guard Dohnovan West and left tackle LaDarius Henderson. Senior Cohl Cabral also moved back to center after sliding to left tackle in the offseason to compensate for departures. 

“We knew that probably taking a guy that was up for a bunch of awards (Cabral) at the center position and moving him to left tackle, that was going to be a little bit of a problem for him and for our offense,” Edwards said. “After watching us play, I came to the conclusion that we have a freshman quarterback, just start some more of them. It doesn’t matter. That’s what we got. So what are we afraid of? Let’s just move him back.” 

Starting two true freshmen up front with a true freshman starting QB, who tweaked his ankle early on in Saturday’s contest and left the stadium in a boot, is not an easy task for any team, but Edwards said that the offensive line that started Saturday is the line that will start the rest of the season, barring injury. It is easier to help a freshman tackle out with chipping and leaving a tight end in than it is to help out a freshman center, he said. 

Despite the offensive struggles, the defense and special teams have been some of the best in the nation. Redshirt sophomore kicker Christian Zendejas is 8-for-8 on field goals and was voted Pac-12 special teams player of the week last week. Redshirt sophomore punter Michael Turk ranks third in the nation in average yards per punt at 49.5, and the defense has allowed 21 points through three games, ranking second in the FBS in points allowed. 

“They are starting to get a personality and there is a lot of improvement there,” Edwards said. “I think the thing they have done is, they have limited points to keep us in games and that’s going to be hard this week.”

ASU opens Pac-12 play against Colorado on Saturday in Tempe at 7 p.m., the first game on a nine-game conference schedule. The Buffaloes are tied for 39th in the nation at 36.3 points per game.

“We are a work in progress now,” Edwards said, chuckling. “This is not over yet, by no stretch of the imagination and we are going to hit some potholes and when we hit ‘em, I’ll be up here and I’ll basically be talking the same way. I won’t be like, ‘The house is on fire!’

“We’re good, we got sprinklers.”

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