Sun Devil Football Hits Road For First Time at Texas Tech

THE GAME - Sun Devil Football hits the road for the first time this weekend against Texas Tech, taking on the Red Raiders on Saturday, September 16 at 5 p.m. Arizona time in Lubbock, Texas. The game will be shown on the Fox Sports Network and available locally on Fox Sports AZ Plus as well as the Fox Sports Go app. 

AN ASU VICTORY WOULD... 

• Improve the Sun Devils to 3-1 all-time against the Red Raiders.
• Ensure a winning regular season non-conference record for the sixth consecutive season under Todd Graham and the ninth consecutive season overall (went 1-2 in non-conference games in 2008).
• Improve ASU to 14-4 under Todd Graham in regular season non-conference games since 2012. 
• Be the team's seventh victory in the last eight regular season games against non-conference opponents.
• Improve the Devils to 15-5 all-time against teams currently playing in the Big 12.
• Give Todd Graham his 90th career win overall.

#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)

1. The Sun Devils lead the nation with 3.19 tackles per game since the 2012 season and are second at 7.92 TFL per game as well.

2. 23 of 30 Jalen Harvey career catches have been for 1st down and he's tied for Pac-12 lead in WR rating at 158.3.

3. Chad Adams is one of just 11 safeties in the Pac-12 without a missed tackle this season, despite leading all safeties with 144 snaps played.

4. The Sun Devils have scored 70.8 percent of the time following an opponent turnover since 2012 (92 of 130) w/ 71 TDs (54.6 percent).

5. Kalen Ballage needs just four touchdowns (has 24) to move into ASU's all-time top-five for rushing touchdowns (28).

6. 65 student-athletes earned Scholar Baller recognition last year and 431 Football Scholar-Athletes have done so in 8 semesters under Graham.

7. Crump leads all Pac-12 players with 15 pressures this season, notable as no other player - regardless of position - has more than 11.

8. Since 1Q interception at Arizona last year, Manny Wilkins is 76-of-108 (70.3) for 932 yards, 7 TDs and 0 INTs. 164.25 QB efficient rating.

9. Dating back to '16, @MannyWilkins5 has 300+ passing yards in three of last five games and 298 in another. 

10. Wilkins ranks in the Top-32 in every major passing category entering the weekend and is 14th nationally with a 175.7 passing efficiency.

Sat's @FootballASU game at Texas Tech is on FOX Sports Arizona Plus (channels: https://t.co/cqzQUstmDF) & nationally on these networks pic.twitter.com/xaIV18dHwI

— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) September 11, 2017

THE RED RAIDERS - The Sun Devils are 2-0-1 all-time against Texas Tech, following an exciting game in Tempe last season that saw ASU pull away down the stretch behind Kalen Ballage's NCAA record-setting eight-touchdown performance en route to a 68-55 victory.

After dismantling Eastern Washington via a 56-10 rout to start the season, Texas Tech enters the matchup having scored 50 or more points in 11 of its last 13 home games. Nic Shimonek completed his first 14 passes against Eastern Washington en route to finishing 26-of-30 overall for 386 yards and three touchdowns. Shimonek's 14-straight completed passes was one shy of the Tech single-game record. Shimonek took advantage of Tech's depth at wide receiver, finding Keke Coutee and Derrick Willies on passing touchdowns of over 60 yards. Tech was one of four FBS programs to throw two touchdown passes over 60 yards during the opening weekend of college football.

Texas Tech forced three turnovers in the win. EWU had averaged 46.3 points per game in its last three meetings against FBS foes such as Washington (2014), Oregon (2015) and Washington State (2016).

THE BIG 12 - ASU is 14-5-0 all-time against teams currently playing in the Big 12 and holds a winning record against each of the eight teams it has played from the conference with the exception of Texas (0-1).

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

• Kalen Ballage has three rushing touchdowns this season, good for 15th nationally and now has 24 in his career, creeping up on ASU's all-time Top-5 in the category (the threshold being 28 rushing TDs).
• Koron Crump leads all Pac-12 players with 15 pressures this season, notable as no other player - regardless of position - has more than 11 hurries thus far this season. Crump led all returning Pac-12 defensive players with 46 total QB pressures (sacks/hits/hurries) last season.
• Since his first quarter interception at Arizona last year, Manny Wilkins is 76-of-108 (70.3) for 932 yards, 7 TDs and 0 INTs with 164.25 QB efficiency rating. Wilkins has thrown for 300 or more yards in thee of his last five games, and had 298 in one of those.
• A troublesome area in recent years for the Sun Devils, Chad Adams is one of just 11 safeties in the Pac-12 without a missed tackle this season and leads those 11 players with 144 snaps played thus far. Dasmond Tautalatasi has been efficent on the other end of the field, missing just one tackle this year on 144 snaps. 
• 23 of Jalen Harvey's 30 career catches (76.7) have gone for a first down while he has averaged 16.9 yards per catch average in career and 47 yards per catch on two career touchdown receptions. Harvey is tied for the top rated wide receiver in the Pac-12 this season with a 158.3 rating with five catches on his six targets for 104 yards.

STRIKE FIRST

• Arizona State has scored first in 44 of the 67 games with Todd Graham at the helm and is 33-11 when doing so.
• The Devils are 1-0 this season when scoring first (NMSU).

STRIKE FAST

• 262 of the Devils' 374 offensive scoring drives under Todd Graham have come in three minutes or less (70.1 percent). 
• Of ASU's 62 scoring drives last season, 40 came in under three minutes (64.5 percent).
• Two of ASU's four scoring drives in the opener came in under three minutes. In fact, both came in under 30 seconds - marking the first time ASU had two scoring drives of 50+ yards occur in less than 30 seconds since the 2014 USC game.

GETTING STARTED ON THE RIGHT FOOT

• The Sun Devils have outscored their opposition 575-339 in the first quarter under Todd Graham.
• The Sun Devils are 25-4 under Graham when holding their opposition scoreless in the first quarter.
• ASU has posted an impressive 32-3 overall record under Graham when leading at halftime.

DON'T CROSS THAT LINE

• ASU forced 20 plays against SDSU that resulted in negative or no yardage (9 incomplete passes, 10 tackles for loss, 1 no gain play) of the 61 total plays in the contest (32.9 percent)
• This season, ASU has forced 48 plays resulting in negative or no yardage of 149 total (32.2 percent).
• Under Graham, ASU has forced 1,706 plays that have not resulted in positive yardage out of 4,793 (35.6 percent).

SERIOUSLY, DON'T CROSS IT

• ASU is currently tops in the nation since 2012 with 3.19 sacks per game. Additionally, ASU is in the Pac-12 and second in the nation (Clemson) with an average of 7.92 TFL per game under Graham (since 2012) and one of three teams in the nation with more than 500 total tackles for loss. 
• Last season, the Sun Devils had at least two players who reached double digits in tackles for loss (Koron Crump, JoJo Wicker and DJ Calhoun) for the 5th time since 2012.. ASU has had 17 such occurences under Graham (2012-p) after having just 17 TOTAL reach the mark in 10 previous seasons (2002-11) with at least two players reaching double digits in the category just six times in that span.

LIGHT 'EM UP

• ASU has scored 50 or more points 16 times since Todd Graham arrived in Tempe for the 2012 season.  
• To put that in perspective, ASU eclipsed 50 points 10 times total in the previous 10 years before the current coaching regime (2001-11). 
• Against Pac-12 opponents, the Sun Devils have scored 50 or more points 10 times under Coach Graham, after only tallying nine in the conference era prior (since 1978).
• ASU went 86 games without scoring 60 from 2005-2011. Under Coach Graham it has scored 60 or more four times ('12-63 NAU, '12-62 Navy, '13-62 USC, '16-68 TTU). 
• The Sun Devils have dropped 50 on Arizona twice in the last three years after doing so just three times in 86 previous contests. 

GOLD RUSH

• The Sun Devils rushed for 27 touchdowns last season after having 19 in the entirety of 2015. The 26 touchdowns were good for 43rd among all FBS teams, despite not playing in a bowl game or a championship game.
• The Sun Devils have reached 25 rushing touchdowns three times under Graham in five seasons. That total is notable as the Devils had just three previous seasons with at least 25 rushing touchdowns from 1980-2011 (1985, 1986 and 1996).
• After having just two five-rushing touchdown games in nine previous seasons, the Sun Devils did it in back-to-back games to open the 2016 season, marking the fifth and sixth times in the Graham era that ASU had gone over five rushing touchdowns in a game. The Devils had three such games TOTAL from 1997-2011.
• Yards after contact have been a been impressive in recent years with the likes of Demario Richard, Kalen Ballage and Nick Ralston. 74 of ASU's total 123 rushing yards this season have come after contact (60.1 percent) with Ballage accounting for 46 of those.

GOLD ZONE

• ASU have continued where they left off from last season, scoring touchdowns on all four trips to the red zone this season.
• The Sun Devils scored on 43-of-47 trips to the red zone in 2016 (91.5 percent), a total that ranked 10th in the nation.
• The Devils scored a touchdown on 33 of those trips (70.2 percent). That percentage was ranked 22nd nationally and notable as ASU found the end zone on just 51.5 percent of its red zone trips in 2015 - a total that ranked 108th in the country.

SUPER DEMARIO

• Demario Richard is currently 12th in Sun Devil history with 2,171 career rushing cards and one of just 19 Devils to reach the 2,000-yard milestone.
• Richard now has nine 100-yard rushing games in his career, three shy of cracking the ASU top-five in the category.
• Of Richard's 1,697 rushing yards as a sophomore and junior, 780 came after first contact (46.0 percent/2.1 yards per touch).
• In 2015, Richard became the fourth Sun Devil in history to have at least seven 100-yard rushing games in a single season, joining Freddy Williams and Art Malone (8) and Woody Green (7, 2 times).

CAME IN LIKE A WRECKING BALLAGE

• Kalen Ballage had 14 rushing touchdowns last season, making him just the fourth Sun Devil since 2000 to reach double digits and moved him into a tie for the seventh most single season rushing touchdowns in ASU history. He finished 26th in the nation in rushing touchdowns (14) and 34th among all position players with 94 total points scored. 
• Ballage has three rushing touchdowns this season, good for 15th nationally and now has 24 in his career, creeping up on ASU's all-time Top-5 in the category (the threshold being 28 rushing TDs).
• He averaged a touchdown once every 11.1 carries last season, a total that ranked fourth nationally. 
• Ballage returns with the highest receiving grade among all returning Power Five running backs in the country with 84.4 according to Pro Football Focus.

NO RUSH

• The Sun Devils have held 23 opponents under 100 rushing yards in the Todd Graham era (67 games/34.3 percent), including four of 12 games last year. 
• Last year, ASU held three straight opponents under 100 rushing yards for the third time under Graham (2013, 2015, 2016). The Devils had limited opponents to under 100 rushing yards in three straight games in just five previous seasons dating back to 1986.

TAKING OFFENSE

• ASU is ranked second in the Pac-12 and 13th in the nation at 36.4 points per game in the Graham era.

MAKE 'EM PAY

• Under Todd Graham, ASU has outscored opponents 550-287 in points off takeaways.
• Since 2012, The Sun Devils have scored 70.8 percent of the time following an opponent turnover since 2012 (92 of 130) w/ 71 TDs (54.6 percent).
• Conversely, opponents have scored just 51.6 percent of the time following an ASU turnover since 2012 (49 of 95) w/ 37 TDs (38.9 percent).

A HAND IN THE COOKIE JAR

• The Sun Devils have forced 130 turnovers under Todd Graham, which is the 11th-highest total in the country in that span.
• ASU has 15 interception returns for touchdowns under Graham, compared to posting just four total in the three previous seasons prior to 2012. The total is second in the FBS behind only Ohio State in that time (16). ASU has added four fumble returns as well for 19 defensive touchdowns since the 2012 season, tied for third in the country in that time span behind Ohio State (25) and Alabama (23).

TURNOVER FACTORY

• ASU is ranked seventh in the nation with a .51 average turnover margin per game since Graham took over the helm and is seventh in the nation with a plus-34 total turnover margin since 2012.
• The Devils are third in the Pac-12 and tied for ninth in the nation with 82 total interceptions in that span.

WINNING THE BATTLE FOR FIELD POSITION

• Under Todd Graham, ASU has had an average starting yard line of its own 34.5 in 40 victories compared to a starting yard line of the 25.4 for their opponents in such contests.  
• Conversely, opponents have an average starting field position of their own 32.0 yard line compared to ASU starting at its own 28.5 in ASU's 27 losses under Graham.

SEAL THE DEAL

• ASU has outscored other teams 697-550 in the fourth quarter and overtime under Todd Graham (10.4 points per fourth quarter and OT/+2.2 points per game) and averaged 12.8 points per fourth quarter last season (outscoring opponents 155-125). 
• Excluding FCS NAU, the Sun Devils finished 2016 seventh nationally in averaging 19.6 points per second half against FBS opposition and second in the country with 11.9 points per fourth quarter against FBS teams.
• The 19.6 second-half points per game were more than 13 teams were averaging PER GAME against FBS opposition last season.

ROAD WARRIORS

• The Sun Devils are winners of nine of the last 19 true road contests. ASU has 13 wins in the past 28 road games, including 10 Pac-12 Conference road wins in the past 23. 
• Todd Graham has 10 Pac-12 road victories under his belt already, the second-most among all ASU coaches since 1980 behind only Bruce Snyder's 18 from 1992-2000. Graham is 10-12 in Pac-12 road games at ASU, notable as the Devils were 5-13 in four seasons prior. 
• The Sun Devils are 4-4 in Pac-12 games in the State of California since 2012 after going just 3-23 from 1998-2011.

T.N.T., WE'RE DYNAMITE

• The Sun Devils have a classification of "explosive plays" that equal a run of 12 or more yards or a passing play of 16 or more yards.  ASU had seven such plays against SDSU (10.9 percent) and 15 this season.
• ASU had two 50+ yard scoring passes in the opener, something it had not achieved since the Jael Mary game against USC in 2014. They were the first two 50+ yard scoring passes of Manny Wilkins' career.
• ASU finished 30th nationally in plays over 10 yards in 2015 with 216 and 27th in 30+ yard plays at 35. ASU finished 24th nationally with 20 plays over 40 yards in 2014 after having just 16 total in 2013 and eight the year before.  ASU was 26th nationally in plays of 20 or more yards with 71. The Sun Devils finished 2013 tied for seventh in the nation in plays longer than 20 yards with 86 after having 72 in 2012, which was good for 19th in the country in the category. 

KEEP IT CLEAN

• ASU has averaged just 36.8 penalty yards per game since 2012, good for the second-lowest total in the country. While that is impressive, what raises the eyebrows are the other teams in te top four: Navy (23.9), Army (36.9) and Air Force (37.5).
• Since Todd Graham arrived at Arizona State, the Sun Devils have had just 301 penalties in 67 games (4.49 penalties per game).
• ASU is eighth nationally with 30 penalty yards per game this season.

PROTECT THIS HOUSE

• ASU is 26-9 at Sun Devil Stadium since Todd Graham took over in the 2012 season.
• In 35 regular season home games under Todd Graham, the Sun Devils have averaged 39.8 points per game. Against non-conference Power Five teams, ASU is averaging 50.0 points per game at home under Graham. 
• The Sun Devils join Baylor and Oregon as the only schools in the country to be ranked in the Top-40 in home points per game in EACH of the previous five seasons.
• ASU has posted under 20 points in a regular home game just twice in Todd Graham's tenure - a 19-16 overtime victory over Utah in 2014 and a 42-14 loss to #19 USC in 2015.
• The Sun Devils are 283-103-3 (.734) all-time at Sun Devil Stadium since 1958, the 26th-highest active winning percentage in a stadium among all FBS schools.

USE THEM WISELY

• Since the start of the 2012 season, ASU has used 69 timeouts on defense in third down situations, and have not allowed a first down on the ensuing play and/or forced a turnover on 49 of those occasions (71.0 percent).

HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS

• ASU has now gone 10-6 in games decided by a touchdown or less since the 2012 Arizona comeback in Tucson.  ASU had gone 6-16 in such games since the 2007 season up until that moment. The Devils are 1-0 in games decided by a touchdown or less this season.
• In 2016, ASU went 4-4 in games it had been tied or trailed in the second half after going 8-19 in four previous seasons. 
• ASU went 3-1 in 2013 in games decided by less than a touchdown, after going 4-13 in the previous four seasons in such games.. ASU was 3-1 in 2014 in games decided by less than a touchdown.

HOLD ON TO THAT BALL, ALSO

• ASU is now 13-3 under Todd Graham in games where it does not have a turnover after the NMSU victory this season.
• In 2014, the Sun Devils had six games where they did not turn the ball over and went 6-0 in those contests.  That number was notable because in the previous two seasons, ASU had just five combined games where it did not turn the ball over.  
• ASU earned its first victory in a game in turned the ball over three times against UTSA last year after going 0-6 in the Todd Graham era prior. 

TAKING DOWN THE TOP

• The Sun Devils have gone 8-8 in the last 16 games against ranked teams. 
• In four seasons at the helm, Todd Graham is 8-11 against AP-ranked opponents and the team was 4-2 in such teams in 2014. 
• Graham has more than doubled the Top-25 win total of Dennis Erickson (3) and Dirk Koetter (2) during their tenures. 
• In the previous 14 seasons, ASU was 5-40 in games against teams ranked in the AP poll. Other notable victories include the come-from-behind victory over Arizona in 2012, winning a game in the Coliseum last season for the first time since 1999 and defeating USC in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1996-97. ASU also ended a four-game losing streak to Stanford.

DIRTY HARRY

• Possessing deceptive speed and elusiveness, N'Keal Harry had 38 yards after the catch this season on 118 yards (32.2 percent)
• Harry has proved himself as a valuable possession receiver as well and has 11 receptions on 14 targets this season. The 14 targets are 11th-most in the Pac-12 this season while he sits 11th in the conference as well with a wide receiver rating of 125.6.
• The sophomore has started every game at Arizona State, now at 14 straight games - tied with Quinn Bailey for most among all offensive players.
• Harry recorded 659 receiving yards last season – breaking Zach Miller's 2004 school record for a freshman of 552. He had 58 catches on the year, also breaking Miller's freshman record of 56. His five touchdown receptions last season were second in Sun Devil history as far as freshmen go.

THE FIRST OF MANNY

• Despite being pressured on 47 percent of his dropbacks - the highest percentage of the 81 QBs nationally with at least 55 dropbacks - Manny Wilkins is third nationally with a 147.8 QB rating under pressure, second nationally among all quarterbacks with at least 50 dropbacks.
• Wilkins has three touchdown passes over 50 yards this season after not having any in his career previously. Wilkins has a 128.5 quarterback rating on deep passes (passes of more than 20 yards), good for third in the Pac-12 while his five completions are second.
• Since his first quarter interception at Arizona last year, Manny Wilkins is 76-of-108 (70.3) for 932 yards, 7 TDs and 0 INTs with 164.25 QB efficiency rating. Wilkins has thrown for 300 or more yards in thee of his last five games, and had 298 in one of those.
• Wilkins enters the weekend ranked in top 32 in every major passing category nationally including a 175.7 passer rating that is good for 14th nationally. 

DO THE HUMPTY CRUMP

• Koron Crump was second on the Sun Devils with 10.5 tackles for loss last season and 9.0 sacks. He averaged a tackle for loss just once every three times he made a tackle and a sack for every four tackles. He also had a team-leading three fumbles forced last season. Crump added two sacks in the opener against NMSU.
• Crump leads all Pac-12 players with 15 pressures this season, notable as no other player - regardless of position - has more than 11 hurries thus far this season. Crump led all returning Pac-12 defensive players with 46 total QB pressures (sacks/hits/hurries) last season according to Pro Football Focus.
• Of all Pac-12 outside linebackers with at least 35 passing snaps, Crump easily leads the league with a 17.5 pass rushing productivity rating - over three points higher than the next closest player.

BRINGING THE WOOD

• Tashon Smallwood logged a career best 4.0 tackles for loss with two sacks  against NMSU, becoming the first Sun Devil to have 4.0+ tackles for loss since Antonio Longino against Arizona in 2015. 
• Four times in the Todd Graham era has a defensive player had at least 10 sacks in a season. ASU had just two players reach the milestone from 2003-2011.
• For the fifth consecutive season under Todd Graham, the Sun Devils had at least two players that reached double digits in tackles for loss (Koron Crump, JoJo Wicker and DJ Calhoun). ASU has had 17 such occurences under Graham (2012-present) after having just 17 TOTAL players reach the mark in 10 previous seasons (2002-11) with at least two players reaching double digits in the same season just six times in that span.
• JoJo Wicker entered the season ranked fifth in the conference among returning pressures in QB pressures (36).
• A troublesome area in recent years for the Sun Devils, Chad Adams is one of just 11 safeties in the Pac-12 without a missed tackle this season and leads those 11 players with 144 snaps played   thus far. Dasmond Tautalatasi has been efficent on the other end of the field, missing just one tackle this year on 144 snaps.

IN THE RIGHT HANDS...OR FEET

• The Sun Devils came into the season as one of just three teams in the country that started the year with no kickers OR punters with D-I experience on the roster, along with Virginia and UAB. 
• The team is replacing unanimous All-American and 2017 Lou Groza Award winner Zane Gonzalez at the placekicking position in addition to two-time Ray Guy Award watchlist punter Matt Haack but first impressions of the newcomers were positive against New Mexico State. 
• Brandon Ruiz set an ASU record with his 52-yard field goal in the opener, his first career field goal to make him the first Sun Devil to have their first career field goal go for 50 or more yards. 
• Michael Sleep-Dalton didn't blow anyone's mind with his yards per punt, but the redshirt sophomore downed four of his six punts inside the 20 in the opener while also adding a 51-yard punt to his tally despite kicking with his non-dominant foot.

AIR IT OUT

• With his two catches for 68 yards in the opener, Jalen Harvey continued a trend that he has maintained his whole career as the redshirt junior has a knack for the big plays. 
• 23 of his 30 career catches (76.7) have gone for a first down while he has averaged 16.9 yards per catch average in career and 47 yards per catch on two career touchdown receptions.
• Harvey is tied for the top rated wide receiver in the Pac-12 this season with a 158.3 rating with five catches on his six targets. 
• Kyle Williams leads the Devils with 2.02 yards per route run this season, tied for fourth in the Pac-12 among slot receivers. 
• John Humphrey introduced himself to the Sun Devil nation in a big way in the opener, catching seven passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. The debut is the second best for a first collegiate game in Sun Devil history, trailing only Calvin Demery's 1969 school record of 201 yards in his first game.

KOBE...BRYANT

• Junior college transfers Kobe Williams and Joey Bryant wasted no time leaving their mark on the Sun Devils, each picking up their first career starts AND interceptions in the season opener against NMSU - Williams' interception resulting in a pick-six.
• The cornerback duo tallied four total pass defenses on the evening as well.
• Joey Bryant has been efficient in helping out the run defense for the Sun Devils despite playing corner, leading Pac-12 corners with six tackles on running plays this season. 

GO D.J., THAT'S MY D.J.

• D.J. Calhoun has been among the top inside linebackers in the league this season, ranked fifth at the position with a stop on 12.1 percent of the run snaps he has seen this year. 
• He is one of just four Pac-12 players with double-digit stops on running plays and has not missed a tackle to date.
• He is one of just 16 inside linebackers in the league not to miss a tackle so far, notable as he leads all inside linebackers with 144 play snaps this season.