SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The Arizona State Sun Devils went into Utah knowing a storm was brewing, and that they’d have to face it without star sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt.
Between the pouring rain at kickoff and temperatures that reached into the low 40s by the end of the game, something was off with the ASU defense.
“It shouldn’t really matter,” junior defensive lineman CJ Fite said. “No matter what the weather is like, the fans, how loud it is. All of it should be irrelevant.”
No matter what the issue was, it was extremely prevalent throughout the game, with the Sun Devils showing no control of the run game.
“[Blocking and tackling] has been a strength, and just to be dominated like that on both sides of the ball…just to get out-physicaled like that, I have to look at myself to see what I have done different that allowed that to happen,” ASU coach Kenny Dillingham said.
The Utes put up 276 yards rushing, almost half of which came from junior quarterback Devon Dampier.
Earlier in the week, Dillingham commented on Dampier, saying he wished he had recruited the quarterback harder out of high school and commended him.
Dampier ran wild on the Sun Devils’ defense, finishing the day with 120 yards on the ground. All three of his touchdowns on the day came via the run.
The Arizona native was the first Utah quarterback to rush for over 100 yards since the 2015 season.
“When coach Whittingham tells you that this is the best o-line that he’s had, that tells you all you need to know,” Dillingham said. “They’re a hard team to stop, and I was really, really impressed with how they played.”
Two of those offensive linemen, junior Spencer Fano and sophomore Caleb Lomu, are major NFL Draft prospects for after the 2025-2026 season.
As a unit, the Utes’ offense averaged 6.57 yards per carry.
Despite the box score, completing under half of his passes and only going for 124 yards through the air, Dillingham felt that senior quarterback Jeff Sims played a solid game.
“I thought he played pretty well…he extended plays, obviously the timing, the more he's back there, the better timing he’ll get with the guys,” Dillingham said. “It's hard to judge throwing the ball in 15-20 miles per hour winds and rain. The second half, you saw he threw a couple that were pretty good.”
The loss of graduate offensive lineman Ben Coleman also played a role for an o-line that was already injured, not to mention simply not playing up to standards.
Coleman may be one of “a few” players who Dillingham said may miss an “extended period of time.”
The first play after Coleman left, there was a holding call that killed an early drive that looked promising.
That instance wasn’t the only time that a holding call killed momentum. Right before the first half ended, a 13-yard scramble from Sims was called back, stalling a drive and forcing ASU to go into the half down three scores.
The Sun Devils will have to fix their struggles quickly if they want a shot at taking down No. 9 Texas Tech, which beat up on Utah a couple of weeks ago.