The good, the bad & the ugly in the Sun Devils' bounce back game against Hawaii

There is a difference in the levels of football between Arizona State’s last two opponents. Baylor is a one-loss team in the Big 12, arguably the second-best conference this year. Hawaii is a one-win team in the gutted Mountain West Conference, which lost five teams and gained three.

That being said, the Sun Devils should play better against Hawaii than they did against Baylor. They did better, but there were still things to improve.

The good

Arizona State’s rush offense was excellent, averaging 7.7 yards per carry and totaling 231. Senior Kyson Brown averaged over five yards per carry. Junior Cutter Boley burst a 20-yard run, putting him at five yards per carry.

Freshman Cardae Mack broke out. He ran for 154 yards and two touchdowns, the most yards by an Arizona State freshman in his life. He averages 9.7 yards per carry this season, the most out of all Sun Devils.

Mack’s touchdowns were the first of his career. He did that on his birthday.

The rush defense played well. They held Hawaii to 64 yards on 22 carries. 

Freshman defensive lineman Julian Hugo recorded his first two sacks of his career. Senior defensive lineman Jalen Thompson collected a sack as well.

Senior wide receivers Reed Harris and Omarion Miller had good games, accounting for all but 20 of the offense’s receiving yards. Harris caught two touchdowns on 91 yards. Miller brought home 78 yards. 

Harris has gone over 90 yards in every game except against Kansas this season. Miller has been more inconsistent but has three games over 75 yards.

If there was an okay section to these articles, the majority of the team would fall in here, including pass defense, junior quarterback Cutter Boley and the turnover margin.

The bad

The Sun Devils went three-and-out three times in the game. All three times occurred in the first two drives of each half.

The Sun Devils play calling was not balanced. 162 of 189 passing yards came in the first half. 179 of the 231 rushing yards came in the second half.

The ugly

Junior punter Nick McLarty has struggled often this season, averaging in the low 40s in yards per punt. He had one of his kicks blocked, going only nine yards. Including the block, he averaged 34.8 yards. Not including it, he averaged 41.2 yards per kick.

For reference, Kanyon Floyd averaged 41.4 yards per punt last year while battling injury. Matt McKenzie averaged 34.5. 

Four different defensive backs took penalties during the game, albeit one came on special teams by freshman Zeth Thues. Junior Rodney Bimmage Jr. took two on back-to-back plays. Ashton Stamps and Jessiah McGrew took a penalty each.

The rest of the team did not have an accepted penalty call.