TEMPE - Arizona State’s first-night blueprint under the new NIL and revenue-sharing reality was clear: spread the money around, load up on playmakers, and trust the quarterback to make it all work.
With Sam Leavitt gone after cashing in at LSU as the No. 1 player in the transfer portal, the Sun Devils faced a choice. Chase a headline quarterback or build a deeper roster around a less expensive one. ASU went with the second path, landing junior Cutter Boley, the 15th-ranked quarterback in the portal, and using the rest of its resources to surround him with help.
That help showed up immediately in a 70-7 win over Morgan State. Seniors Reed Harris and Omarion Miller, two of the top four wide-receiver transfers in the country, were the biggest difference-makers. They finished with 239 receiving yards and three touchdowns, turning short throws and screens into easy explosive plays and making Boley’s first start feel almost effortless.
Kenny Dillingham liked the production, but the Arizona State coach was even more interested in everything that happened when the ball wasn’t in their hands.
"Good players are supposed to make good plays," Dillingham said. "But it's the extra things that separate guys, and that's what I was pleased with.
How we did the little things like that is one of my takeaways as a positive. We practice like that, and it shows up."
That meant downfield blocking, too. On sophomore running back Grayson Rigdon’s 54-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter, Harris wiped out a Morgan State defender and cleared the lane for Rigdon to finish the play. It didn’t show up in the receiving totals, but it fit the standard Dillingham has spent three years trying to build.
"We gotta take pride in everything we do," Harris said. "Whether it's catching the ball, running routes or blocking, because blocking is going to help the big plays happen. I feel like what happened tonight speaks for itself."
A lot of that approach comes straight from receivers coach Hines Ward, whose blocking reputation in the NFL is part of his message to the room. His rule is simple: no block, no rock.
"He preaches it every day, and every day we come in hearing the right things," Harris said. "He knows what it's supposed to look like, so being able to listen to him and learn from him helps a lot, and being able to do the right things every day."
Boley’s job in the opener was straightforward: get the ball to Harris and Miller and let them work. He delivered several sharp throws, but the wideouts were the ones who put the spotlight on why they were valued so highly in the portal. Against an overmatched FCS opponent, they looked every bit like the kind of difference-makers ASU paid for.
"I feel like everybody on this team just loves football," Boley said. "They love being here, they love working every day; it's super inspiring as a quarterback to be sitting back there and watch those guys compete as hard as they do. I'm super proud of our guys and how bought in they are and continue to stack days."
The 70 points were Arizona State’s most in a game since its 70-7 win over Arizona in the 2020 Territorial Cup. But that kind of output won’t be easy to come by again.
ESPN has ASU facing the 29th-toughest schedule in the country and the toughest in the Big 12, and the next challenge is a major one: a road trip to College Station to face No. 8 Texas A&M on Saturday.
It will be the Sun Devils’ first non-conference game against a top-10 opponent since they beat No. 10 Notre Dame, 55-31, in 2014.
Against Morgan State, the roster plan worked exactly as intended. Against the Aggies, the stakes around that strategy get a lot higher.
"We came out tonight and executed our style of ball," Boley said. "I feel like it's just getting used to learning those game plans every week and kind of diving in and getting locked into what you want to do week in and week out. I think this game really helped us see some of the things we did bad, some of the things we did good, and just taking that away and continuing to buy into the game plan."
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 🡒]