The good, the bad, and the ugly in Sun Devils win over Kansas State

In a game where Arizona State played three quarterbacks, one might expect a disastrous game for the Sun Devils. That marks a symbol of things going wrong or went wrong for a team with either injuries or bad play.

On Saturday, it was both, as sixth-year Mikey Keene went down with an injury and junior Cutter Boley got benched for freshman Jake Fette. The Sun Devils rallied around Fette to a 28-17 win over Kansas State, resulting in a lot of good things.

The Good

The defense needed to take a huge step up after getting boatraced by Texas Tech. It took that step, limiting the Wildcats to 278 yards.  

The pass defense limited Jacob Knuth to 194 yards on 41 attempts. The rush defense held the Wildcats to 84 yards on 32 attempts.

The Sun Devils raked 10 tackles for loss, including three sacks. Freshman defensive lineman Julian Hugo had three sacks in as many games.

Senior safety Adrian "Boogie" Wilson had two tackles for loss, his first two of the season. Junior linebackers Martell Hughes and Owen Long both had 1.5 tackles for loss. Fifth-year Blazen Lono-Wong had 1.5 TFLs, including his first sack of the year.

Mikey Keene was having an excellent game before injury. He was moving the ball well with his arm and connecting with senior wide receiver Reed Harris.

Harris went for 147 yards on six receptions and over 100 in the first half. That was his fourth game over 100 yards this season.

Freshman Cardae Mack popped off for 159 yards averaging 6.1 yards per carry. He scored four touchdowns and took several direct snap runs.

Mack set a milestone with the most touchdowns by an Arizona State freshman since Demario Richard in 2014 and the most rushing touchdowns by a Sun Devil freshman since Leon Burton in 1955.

The Bad 

The offensive line struggled, allowing four sacks. In the past two games, they have allowed 10 sacks and are struggling. 

The Ugly

Cutter Boley had an awful game. He completed one of his five passes and was booed often, including when he first game in setting a tone for the rest of his game.