After a marginal showing against Missouri, the Arizona State offense came to life once again under the lights of Sun Devil Stadium. The Sun Devils put up 512 yards of total offense against a Utah defense that was ranked 15th in the country coming into Saturday night's game.
To the surprise of some, it was the arm of Taylor Kelly and the hands of his receivers that hurt Utah the most in ASU's 37-7 victory. Kelly threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns in just over three quarters of work. Redshirt freshman Michael Eubank came into the game in the fourth quarter and completed 4/5 passes for 46 yards. In total, ASU quarterbacks went 23/31 with 372 yards and three touchdowns.
Perhaps the most impressive unit of the night was the ASU wide receivers, who received much criticism after last week's loss against Missouri. Nine different receivers caught passes for ASU Saturday night.
Kyle Middlebrooks, Alonzo Agwuenu, Kevin Ozier and Jamal Miles all got into the offense tonight. Miles had his most productive game of the season, as the senior caught four passes for 59 yards.
"That's the way the offense works," said ASU head coach Todd Graham about having nine receivers with receptions tonight. "The bottom line is winning. I don't care about anything else but winning and that's what we have to do to win," said Graham.
Rashad Ross led the team with 87 receiving yards on five catches. Ross had receptions of 29 yards and 38 yards, the latter being for a touchdown that put ASU up 7-0. Tight end Chris Coyle had another solid game for the Sun Devils. The junior notched six catches for 62 yards, including a long of 27.
Graham also complemented on his offensive line, a unit that allowed three sacks.
"I thought our OL did a good job, we just have to eliminate procedural penalties," said Graham. "Good players win games and that's what happened tonight," said Graham.
Graham insists there is still more to work on says the team will improve off of Saturday's performance.
"We had a lot of teachable moments for Taylor (Kelly) and Michael (Eubank)," said Graham. "You have to take what the defense gives you."
ASU hopes this potent passing attack carries through to next week when the Sun Devils go on the road to face California.