No. 13 Utah held host Arizona State to six yards rushing in the Sun Devils’ first game since the firing of head coach Herm Edwards to cruise to a 34-13 victory in Tempe, Ariz., on Saturday.
Shaun Aguano, the running backs coach under Edwards, is the interim head coach for ASU, which is 1-3 for the first time since 1994.
The Utes (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) rushed for 205 yards and two touchdowns in the Pac-12 opener for both teams. Utah held ASU (1-3, 0-1) to 267 yards of total offense.
Arizona State’s Xazavian Valladay, who had more than 100 yards rushing in each of the first three games of the season, finished with only 30 on eight carries.
The Sun Devils’ first four possessions of the game included three punts and an interception thrown by Emory Jones. Jones threw for 261 yards while completing 21 of 36 pass attempts, with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Utah took a 14-0 lead with 3:16 left in the first quarter following consecutive scoring drives that ended with Cameron Rising connecting with Dalton Kincaid for touchdown throws of 29 and 6 yards.
Rising completed 19 of 29 pass attempts for 260 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception. Tavion Thomas was Utah’s leading rusher with 60 yards on 11 carries.
The lead mounted to 24-3 with 44 seconds left in the first half following Ja’Quinden Jackson’s 2-yard touchdown run.
Javen Jacobs’ 47-yard kickoff return set up a 47-yard field goal by Carter Brown as time expired in the half to cut the lead to 24-6. Brown also made a 36-yard field goal earlier in the half.
Jaylen Dixon’s 11-yard touchdown run with 6:16 left in the third quarter increased Utah’s lead to 31-6.
Jordan Noyes capped Utah’s scoring with a 28-yard field goal with 10:49 remaining.
Arizona State got into the end zone on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Messiah Swinson with 2:06 left.
–Field Level Media
