Arizona State wasted no time making a statement in its season opener, and Cutter Boley made sure it was loud.
The sophomore quarterback delivered the best performance of his young career Saturday night at Mountain America Stadium, throwing for 387 yards and six touchdowns as the Sun Devils rolled past Morgan State 70-7. The win came before 54,004 fans and marked the ninth straight sellout crowd in Tempe.
Boley’s six touchdown passes matched the most by an ASU quarterback since Andrew Walter did it in 2004. He also piled up multiple career highs in the rout, helping Arizona State reach 682 total yards - its biggest offensive output since piling up 652 against Texas Tech on Sept. 10, 2016.
The scoreboard kept climbing, and history kept getting nudged. Arizona State’s 70 points tied for the second-most in program history and matched the 70-7 win at Arizona on Dec.
11, 2020. Only the 79-7 victory over Colorado State on Nov. 22, 1969 has produced more.
Reed Harris was a huge part of the fireworks in his Sun Devil debut. The wide receiver finished with six catches for 137 yards and a career-best two touchdowns, with scoring grabs of 28 yards in the opening quarter and eight yards late in the first half. Sophomore running back Grayson Rigdon also added two receiving touchdowns, while Omarion Miller and sophomore tight end AJ Ia joined the touchdown parade as Boley spread the ball around.
Arizona State set the tone immediately on the ground. Kyson Brown ripped off a 46-yard touchdown run just 30 seconds into the Sun Devils’ first drive, and ASU has now scored on 11 straight season-opening drives dating back to 2015, the best such mark in college football.
The run game kept churning from there. Nine different rushers combined for 249 yards, 7.1 yards per carry and four rushing touchdowns. Marquis Gillis and David Avit each found the end zone on the ground, and Jason Brown Jr. capped the night with ASU’s 10th total touchdown.
Next up, Arizona State heads into SEC country for a matchup with No. 8 Texas A&M.
The game is set for Saturday at 9:00 a.m. MST/11 a.m.
Texas time and will be televised nationally on ABC.
In Other News...
Arizona State Faces A Bigger 2026 Test Than Fans Realize
Arizona States 2026 season already carries the feel of a reset, even after the program locked up Kenny Dillingham on a five-year extension in December. The bigger challenge is not just replacing a few key pieces, but rebuilding almost the entire offensive identity, with no full-time starters returning on that side of the ball and Sam Leavitt gone to LSU.
The schedule only sharpens the pressure on the Sun Devils because every early step will come with a measuring stick attached. With dates, opponents and broadcast windows now mapped out, fans can see how quickly the new-look roster will be thrown into the spotlight, and the real question is how much room Dillingham and his staff will have to settle things before the games start to matter in a bigger way. [Read more 🡒]
ASU Just Found Its Next Big Receiver Debate
Arizona States rebuilt passing game gave fans a first real look at what the Sun Devils might have on the outside in a 70-7 rout of Morgan State. The new-look receiving group wasted little time making an impression, with transfers Reed Harris and Omarion Miller quickly emerging as the names to circle as the offense settled in around them. Several other transfer additions also got their first game action, adding to the sense that this group is still taking shape.
Kenny Dillingham had reasons beyond the box score to like what he saw from the receivers, pointing not just to the plays they made with the ball but also to how they helped the rest of the offense function. For a team that spent the game sorting out new pieces, that kind of complete effort matters, especially when it comes from players trying to carve out roles early. The only real question now is how ASU will sort out the pecking order once the competition gets tighter. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona State Sent A Message But The Real Test Comes Next
Kenny Dillingham spent the offseason pushing an aggressive identity, and the Sun Devils wasted little time showing what that looks like in practice. With a roster that includes plenty of newcomers and a new quarterback in Cutter Boley, Arizona State opened the year with a performance that reflected the coachs emphasis on discipline and effort, even in a game that quickly got out of hand. It was the kind of start that can help a team settle in while also revealing how much work remains as the pieces come together.
The tricky part now is sorting out how much of that opener says about Arizona State and how much says about Morgan State. Big early results can look loud without answering the harder questions, especially for a team that turned over so much of its roster and is stepping into a Big 12 schedule that will ask far more than a one-sided opener ever could. For Dillingham, the message was clear enough on the field, but the real measure of this group will come once the competition tightens and the margin for error disappears. [Read more 🡒]