Three was the number that flipped Saturday for Arizona State.
After starter Mikey Keene left with an injury and junior Cutter Boley stalled out over three straight drives, freshman quarterback Jake Fette became the third quarterback to see the field and immediately changed the feel in Tempe. The spark he brought, paired with freshman running back Cardae Mack running wild, helped the Sun Devils shake off Kansas State 28-17 in a bounce-back win.
Coach Kenny Dillingham made the reason plain.
“We just wanted some energy,” Dillingham said on the move to Fette. “We felt like there was a lull, and you could see it with the guys on the sideline … we're a team that can't get into those lulls, right? We can be suffocated by them at times.”
Fette stepped in and delivered it fast. On his first real drive in a Sun Devil uniform, he pushed ASU down the field on a 71-yard touchdown march that put the Devils in front for good. He finished 3-for-6 for 45 yards.
“Jake's got that look in his eye,” Dillingham said. “Jake's got the swagger, the confidence when he moves around, and we just wanted the spark there with Jake.”
That switch lit the fuse for Mack, too. The freshman back scored four times, becoming the first Sun Devil freshman since Leon Burton in 1955 to rush for four touchdowns in a game. Mack piled up 159 yards on 26 carries and became impossible to ignore as ASU’s featured runner.
“(The coaches) said if we got the hot hand, he was going to roll with the hot hand,” Mack said.
For ASU, the game had already been building around Keene’s start before everything changed late in the first half. The sixth-year quarterback, a Chandler native playing at home, completed short passes and helped keep the offense moving, but he was hurt after hitting sophomore wide receiver Raiden Vines-Bright and then getting caught underneath two linemen.
Before leaving, Keene had thrown for 160 yards on 50% completions without a touchdown, while doing enough to keep ASU on schedule and ahead of the chains.
“He's playing football in his hometown,” Dillingham said. “Twenty minutes from where he grew up.
He scored 14 points early. We're moving.
We feel a vibe, and he played really well; his leadership was good.”
Boley returned to the role, but the crowd wanted more than what it saw. Chants of “We want Fette” mixed with boos as he went 1-for-5 for seven yards and took two sacks.
Once Fette took over, the atmosphere carried over to the defense. ASU forced five straight stops, including four turnovers on downs, and effectively slammed the door on Kansas State’s offense.
“Trust in the guys around you,” junior linebacker Martell Hughes, who finished with 14 tackles, said. “You’re one of eleven on defense.
That's what we live by. That's what coach Ward preaches.”
Kansas State was also operating with a backup quarterback of its own. Avery Johnson was out injured, so fifth-year Jacob Knuth made his first collegiate start in Tempe.
ASU kept him in check, holding him to 194 passing yards and one touchdown while also clamping down on the run game. Junior running back Rodney Fields Jr. managed just 36 yards, and Kansas State finished with only 84 rushing yards overall.
“We saw that they were lining up in the same thing,” Hughes said on the defensive adjustments. “Showing the same pictures, so we knew what to attack.”
Senior wide receiver Reed Harris helped set the tone early with an explosive start, including a 51-yard catch on the first offensive play and a 39-yard gain later in the half. He led the Sun Devils with six receptions for 147 yards.
ASU now turns to Halloween in Provo, Utah, where it will face BYU. The Cougars entered the week No. 2 before suffering their first loss of the season to UCF.
After the game, Dillingham said Fette is expected to start next week.
“This is one of the best environments he'll get to play in college football,” Dillingham said on starting Fette in Provo. "It doesn't get much louder or disruptive than this one.
So what is that, throw him into the fire? Here we go.”
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Cardae Macks breakout against Kansas State did more than help Arizona State bank a 28-17 win. The true freshman running back handled 26 carries for 159 yards and four touchdowns, a performance that instantly changed the conversation around the Sun Devils backfield and gave the offense a young option it can keep leaning on.
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