Sun Devil Football Opens Pac-12 Play Against No.13 Utah at Home

THE GAME –  Sun Devil Football remains in the confines of Sun Devil Stadium this Saturday, Sept. 24 as the squad opens up Pac-12 action against the defending league champions, #13/14 Utah, in Tempe, Ariz. It will mark the first game of interim head coach Shaun Aguano‘s regime and is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. AZT kickoff on ESPN (Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek and Tom Luginbill on the call) and will be carried over the airwaves on ESPN 620 AM (Tim Healey, Jeff Van Raaphorst, Kevin Turner).

ON THE UTES/PAC-12 OPENERS –  ASU leads the all-time series against the Utes, 22-10, though Utah has taken two straight and four of the last six.  This will mark the sixth time in the last eight contests that ASU will be taking on a ranked Utah program. ASU is 18-23-2 all-time in Pac-12 Openers overall, though it is 27-15-1 all-time in its first Pac-12 HOME game of the year.

KICKING OFF

• ASU has held opponents to less than 30 points in 31 of 46 games since 2018, notable as it DID allow 30+ in 32 of 43 previous games dating back to a span from 2013-17.
• ASU has rushed for at least 100 yards as a team in 21 straight regular season games. It is the longest streak of rushing for over 100 yards as a team since the last 10 games of 1995, all 11 in 1996 and the first two of 1997 – a 23-game stretch over three seasons. The 21-game streak tied for the fourth-longest active streak in the nation with Buffalo and Western Michigan dropping out this past weekend (Army 173, Air Force 48, UCLA 22). 
• The Sun Devils have extended their active FBS-leading streak of games not allowing a 50+ yard play to 18 straight games. That is tied for the second-longest streak in the FBS over the last decade with Iowa State (2018-19) and three games behind UCLA’s 21-game streak without a 50+ yard play allowed from 2013-15.
• ASU is one of just three FBS teams to rank in the Top-35 nationally in fewest plays over 30 yards allowed in EACH of the last four seasons. Coincidentally, the other two teams in the category are the Pac-12’s Cal and Utah.
• Since 2018, ASU has held opponents to 400 total yards of offense or less on 26 occasions over 46 games (56.5 percent of the time). For comparison, ASU accomplished the feat just 24 times in the 65 previous games (36.9 percent) from 2013-2017. 
• The Sun Devils have reached double-digit scoring in 77 consecutive HOME games, tied for the sixth-longest active streak in the FBS.
• X Valladay’s is the first Sun Devil with over 100 rushing yards…