Cardae Mack didn’t know he was about to become the center of Arizona State’s offense. He was simply told the Sun Devils would “roll with the hot hand.”
That turned into a night for the record books.
The true freshman powered ASU to a 28-17 win over Kansas State at Mountain America Stadium, rushing for four touchdowns and becoming the first Sun Devil true freshman since Leon Burton in 1955 to score at least four times on the ground in a game.
“It’s a blessing honestly,” Mack said. “You know we work hard every week in practice and just to see it pay off, today was truly a blessing.”
ASU shuffled through three quarterbacks in the game, and each one leaned on Mack as the steady piece of the offense. Mikey Keene, Cutter Boley and Jake Fette all handed him the ball, and Mack made the most of every chance, finishing with career highs of 26 carries and 159 rushing yards.
“Honestly, (I) just followed the game plan coach put in,” Mack said. “My O-line just executed everything that they needed to do. That was really it.”
He got rolling right away. Mack capped the Sun Devils’ opening drive with a nine-yard touchdown run, then opened the second quarter with another score. That one came out of ASU’s wildcat look - the Sparky formation - and it landed against the Wildcats.
Mack already had some comfort operating on direct snaps. Atascocita High School in Humble, Texas, he was a dual-threat quarterback as a junior, and before he was officially a Sun Devils commit, he told Vype.com that Kenny Dillingham was “an offensive genius.”
“There’s already a plan in place of how they intend to utilize me in their schemes,” Mack said.
When Keene went out with an injury, Mack’s role only grew. Dillingham said he was being “conservatively aggressive” with the quarterbacks he had available, and in the second half the freshman took over even more, carrying 17 times for 113 yards and two additional touchdowns to help put the game away.
Dillingham didn’t need many words to sum it up. Asked about Mack’s performance, he called him a “stud.”
“He shows up every day to work, great energy,” Dillingham said. “We’re playing some freshmen here that are playing good football…. I think we’ve got a good amount of guys in there that are young bucks that are making an impact early.”
Mack’s four rushing scores were the most by a single ASU running back in a game under Dillingham, though the coach was careful not to jump straight to comparisons with Cam Skattebo.
“I’m not going to say that yet,” Dillingham said. “Cam was a special player, a different kind of back.”
Still, Dillingham said there were some similarities.
“Shorter, quickness, contact balance like Skatt,” Dillingham said. “Skatt was just a little bigger, thicker from that perspective.”
He also pointed to a back he coached at Oregon while serving as offensive coordinator in 2022.
“Same like Bucky Irving, a little bit, with some of the acceleration through the holes,” he said. “Bucky was probably a little faster at the end of his career when I coached him, which Cardae is a freshman.
“He’s going to get faster and faster.”
On Saturday, that speed was enough to tilt the game ASU’s way.
In Other News...
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History does not offer much comfort for the Wildcats in this spot, either. Arizona has struggled badly in Lubbock over the years, and the trip has been one of the most difficult on the calendar for this program. Texas Tech is also trying to steady itself after a recent loss to Cincinnati that could matter in the playoff picture, which adds another layer to a game where both teams arrive with momentum, pressure and a lot still unresolved. [Read more 🡒]