On a night when a thunderstorm rolled through Tempe and made a mess of Mountain America Stadium, the on-field performance from Arizona State and Hawaii on Saturday reflected the conditions.

The sluggish play was evident as the first quarter neared its end when the Rainbow Warriors blocked Sun Devils senior punter Nick McLarty’s punt, one of the numerous special-teams mishaps ASU committed in the contest. 

Later on, after a pair of first downs, Hawaii moved into a first-and-goal situation from the 2-yard line, looking poised to punch in its first touchdown of the evening and take an early lead over the Sun Devils. 

Instead, an avalanche of penalties and sacks over the next two minutes turned the Rainbow Warriors’ goal-line opportunity into a fourth-and-goal from the 33-yard line. 

With the south endzone a distant memory, Hawaii had no choice but to send out senior kicker Sean Olvera-Harle for a 51-yard field goal attempt. 

Olvera-Harle’s kick sailed wide right of the posts, leaving the Rainbow Warriors with a blocked punt in ASU territory and nothing to show for it. 

The Sun Devils instantly turned Hawaii’s mistakes into a touchdown drive with freshman running back Cardae Mack finishing it off with one of his two touchdowns on the day, putting the Rainbow Warriors in a 14-3 hole. 

ASU (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) never let Hawaii (1-5, 0-3 MW) back within one score past that drive, controlling the game the whole way en route to a 30-12 victory on Saturday, Oct. 10, at Mountain America Stadium. While the Sun Devils came out on the winning end, it didn’t come without a collection of mistakes from the home team. 

Despite the win, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham still expects more from his team as the season rolls on. 

“I want to play better,” Dillingham said. “This is a team that can continue to grow, and you got to find a way to win games while you’re growing.”

The Sun Devils showed room for growth on all sides of the ball in the win. 

Starting with the offense, ASU went just 3-for-10 on third down, a concerning pattern for junior quarterback Cutter Boley and crew. 

Even with Dillingham dealing the play-calling responsibilities to offensive coordinator and 2025 play-caller Marcus Arroyo, the Sun Devils struggled to reach the sticks on third down. 

Many of those misses were completions that fell short of the line to gain, which aligns with Arroyo’s screen-heavy play sheet. 

Dillingham noted ASU’s lingering issues on third downs and wants to clean them up moving forward. 

“We’ve got to convert those third downs,” Dillingham said. “That was the one thing on offense that we got to continue to get better at.” 

On the defensive side, the 12 points allowed are the fewest by a Sun Devils opponent since ASU’s 70-7 throttling of Morgan State on Sept. 5 and serve as a strong bounce-back showing after surrendering 55 points to Baylor on Oct. 3. 

Even then, the Sun Devils didn’t completely eliminate the Rainbow Warriors' offense, surrendering 316 total yards and 21 first downs on Saturday. 

One drive in particular raised concerns about ASU’s defense discipline. 

On fourth-and-4 in Hawaii territory, junior defensive back Rodney Bimage Jr. was penalized for pass interference, giving the Rainbow Warriors new life on a fourth-quarter drive. 

One play later, Bimage was tagged for pass interference again, gifting Hawaii another first down and moving the ball across midfield. 

Then, on the next play from scrimmage, a late out-of-bounds hit by sophomore defensive back Jessiah McGrew drew a flag for unnecessary roughness, which put the Rainbow Warriors just outside the red zone.

Even though Hawaii went on to turn the ball over on downs, the chain of penalties highlighted sloppy play by a Sun Devils defense that came into Saturday ranked 15th in the FBS in fewest penalty yards per game.

With all aspects taken into account, the final product was a decisive ASU win, but it left many searching for more from this team, especially the fans. 

In fact, some Sun Devils fans who waited out a lightning delay at halftime formed a chorus of boos after the ASU offense went on some empty drives. 

Although he knows the past few weeks have been frustrating for fans, Dillingham urged Sun Devils’ supporters to stay confident in ASU to break out of its slump. 

“Fans are going to cheer, and they’re going to boo … that’s their job,” Dillingham said. “That’s why … it’s an awesome sport because there’s emotion involved."