Arizona State wasted no time making its new offense look dangerous.
In a season-opening rout Saturday night, the Sun Devils buried Morgan State 70-7 behind junior quarterback Cutter Boley, who delivered a huge debut with 387 passing yards, six touchdowns and nearly 78% completions. ASU piled up 432 yards through the air, and Boley set the program record for passing yards in an opening game.
“At the end of the day, we're not really worried about stat lines,” Boley said. “We're worried about wins and losses. Just getting it in these playmakers' hands and letting them work.”
That approach showed up everywhere. Eight different Sun Devils scored, and ASU’s first look at its revamped offense came off like a unit that had been together much longer than one game.
Senior receivers Reed Harris and Omarion Miller were immediate problems for Morgan State, combining for 14 catches. Harris finished with 137 yards and two touchdowns, while Miller added 102 yards and a score. The trio of transfers - Boley, Miller and Harris - looked every bit like the preseason buzz suggested.
“Being physical is what it all comes down to,” Harris said of his success in matchups. “Being able to hand fight at the line of scrimmage, throw some DBs around, play some blocks. At the end of the day, I want to be a put-together receiver, being able to do all the things that a pro player has to do.”
The Sun Devils made their point almost immediately. Thirty seconds into the opening drive, senior running back Kyson Brown broke loose for a career-long 46-yard touchdown. ASU then recovered an onside kick and turned that into another quick score.
Brown ended the night with 80 rushing yards on six carries and was one of four backs to reach the end zone. Sophomore Grayson Rigdon also made the most of his chances, turning two catches into scores of more than 50 yards each.
“We're so well-rounded when it comes to that,” Rigdon said. “Executing really isn't a big problem for us.”
Sixth-year running back Marquis Gillis and juniors Jason Brown Jr. and David Avit also scored on the ground, while sophomore tight end AJ Ia added a receiving touchdown.
Coach Kenny Dillingham liked the overall showing, but he wasn’t pretending it was perfect.
“We played a good game at times,” Dillingham said. “But there were still too many things that we can improve upon, and we got to keep getting better every single week.”
ASU’s defense did its part too, holding Morgan State to one touchdown and 188 total yards. Junior linebacker Owen Long said the group’s effort showed up the way it was supposed to.
“It's nice to see how hard you work to get to the football,” Long said. “Those are the things I think our defense is really built on. We were able to display it tonight.”
With the game in hand, the Sun Devils turned to their backups early in the third quarter, and the offense still put up 21 points in that period. Sixth-year quarterback Mikey Keene and freshman Jake Fette both got snaps before the two teams agreed to shorten the fourth quarter to 10 minutes.
ASU now moves straight into a much bigger test, heading to College Station to face No. 8 Texas A&M at Kyle Field.
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