The Jay Sawvel era of Cowboy football is off to a less than ideal start as the Cowboys dropped their opening game 48-7 to the Arizona State Sun Devils.
There aren’t many positives for the battered and beaten Cowboys in their season opener, as they leave Tempe with almost as many injured players as first downs in the game. Tyrecus Davis, Isaac White, Nathan Geiger, DeVonne Harris and Connor Shay all exited the game with injuries for the Cowboys, fortunately none of which seem too serious for the Pokes at this time.
Starting quarterback Evan Svoboda never could get going, as he was only 6/15 with 42 yards passing the ball to complement two interceptions, one of which was a pick six on his first pass attempt of the night on the second play of the game.
“We took a gut punch the second play of the game, and we didn’t really recover and respond the way we needed to respond,” Sawvel said postgame.
“It’s not an effort issue,” he continued. “It was just the fact we could never get momentum on either side of the ball”
On the contrary to the sluggish Cowboy offense, Sun Devil starting quarterback Sam Leavitt would have a field day against the Cowboy defense, throwing for 258 yards with two touchdowns. He’d also add 47 rushing yards.
The Cowboy offense couldn’t get anything by a ferocious Sun Devil defense, as the Cowboys could only muster 59 yards of total offense. The Sun Devils seemingly couldn’t be stopped on offense, though, as they’d nearly eclipse 500 yards of total offense, featuring a balanced offense with 258 passing yards and 241 rushing yards.
“We couldn’t get yards on first down,” Sawvel said of his offense. “We can’t live in third and really long, and we did all night tonight.”
If there ever was one positive coming out of this contest, it would be freshman backup quarterback Kaden Anderson entering the game late and leading the Pokes on their only touchdown drive of the night, finishing 4/5 with 36 yards passing with one passing touchdown.
The Cowboys would have a nightmare start on the offensive side of things, as Svoboda would throw a pick six as Zyrus Fiaseu would step in front of the pass of Svoboda and easily cruise into the end zone.
Svoboda would find more success in his second drive of the night, striking a pass to Devin Boddie Jr. to move the chains for the first time in the game. DJ Jones, the North Carolina transfer who earned the starting job after an injury suffered by Harrison Waylee, would rip off a 15 yard run towards midfield for the Cowboys before a slew of penalties would stall the second drive for the Pokes. To add insult to injury, Svoboda would toss yet another interception after the Pokes would attempt to convert on 3rd and 23.
The Sun Devils looked much more the part early on in their first offensive possession, as Sun Devil running back Cam Skattebo, who Sawvel praised mightily before the contest, was seemingly on track to lead the Sun Devils to another touchdown before defensive end Tyce Westland made a huge play on third down to sack Sun Devil quarterback Sam Leavitt. This would force the Sun Devils to kick a field goal, making the score 10-0 in favor of the Sun Devils early in the first quarter.
The Cowboys’ offensive struggles would continue in their third series, as the Sun Devils would force a three and out on the Cowboy offense. The Sun Devils would then march back down the field and this time find the endzone, as the rushing attack of the Sun Devils would run over the Pokes’ defense on their way to taking a 17-0 lead to end the first quarter.
Things wouldn’t get any better for the Pokes starting the second quarter of the game, as they’d be forced to punt again as the Sun Devils would march right back down the field and score yet another touchdown courtesy of Skattebo.
Neither side of the ball for the Cowboys could get anything going, as the Sun Devils would kick another field goal towards the end of the quarter to end a disastrous first half for the Cowboys where they’d find themselves in a massive hole heading into the second half, trailing 27-0 heading into the locker room.
If there was any statistic that was any indication of how the first half went for the Cowboys, it would be the fact that the Cowboys had more than double the amount of penalties compared to first downs in the first half, managing a measly three first downs compared to seven penalties in the first half.
The Sun Devils wouldn’t let off the gas to start the second half, as they’d drive down the field to score another touchdown to make it 34-0 as their defense would also force the Pokes to another three and out on the Pokes’ first offensive possession of the second half.
The Cowboy defense would finally force the Sun Devils to punt the ball for the first time midway through the third quarter but the Cowboy offense again couldn’t do anything in their second drive of the second half as Tyler King would drop a backwards pass from Svoboda that the Sun Devil defense would scoop up and take to the endzone for their fifth touchdown of the night. To follow that up, the Cowboys would then go three and out on their next drive.
Sun Devil running back Kyson Brown would then completely outrun the Cowboy defense, as they’d make it a 48-0 game late in the third quarter. The Cowboys would finally manage a first down in the second half with 1:25 left in the third quarter, though that success would be short-lived as the Cowboys would punt on the next set of downs leading into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter wouldn’t feature much more excitement for a deflated Cowboy squad, except for at the end of the quarter. Anderson would take over under center and lead the Cowboys to their first points of the night, as he’d find fellow freshman wide out Chris Durr Jr. in the endzone to give the Cowboys a positive end to a disastrous night in Tempe.
“There’s some players on our team that learned a lot tonight, and as coaches we have to learn how to help them,” Sawvel said. “We dug ourselves a hole and we never could figure out how to create a momentum to get out of it.”
“We all have to look in the mirror and own it.”
With a tough Idaho Vandal team that tested the #3 team in the nation in Oregon just a few hours prior to this contest coming to Laramie next week, the Cowboys will have to regroup quickly after this tough loss to be ready for their home opener on September 7.
