Sun Devils hold off NAU 38-19 in sluggish home opener

After an offseason overflowing with great anticipation, the day Sun Devil fans circled for months finally arrived. Just a year removed from a three-win season, Arizona State stunned the college football world last season by storming to a Big 12 title — and now the 2024 Sun Devils were set to prove it wasn’t a fluke. 

The buzz was so real that No. 11 ASU sold out its home opener for the first time since 1998. Against NAU, as 28.5-point favorites, the stage was set: Sam Leavitt launching a potential Heisman campaign, Jordyn Tyson eyeing a Biletnikoff run, and head coach Kenny Dillingham chasing back-to-back Big 12 crowns. Everything pointed to a night that could ignite something special.

And at first, it did. ASU blasted out of the gate with two quick scores, a fake punt conversion, and early touchdowns from Raleek Brown and Jordyn Tyson that had Mountain America Stadium shaking. But the fireworks faded just as quickly — penalties piled up, the offense sputtered with punt after punt, and defensive lapses gave NAU life. What was supposed to be a blowout suddenly looked shaky. In the end, sheer talent carried the Sun Devils across the finish line. Leavitt punched in two rushing scores, Tyson hauled in 12 catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns, and ASU (1-0) walked away with a 38–19 win over NAU (0-1). 

While ASU’s win over NAU fell short of the dream scenario, Dillingham viewed Saturday’s home opener as a needed wake-up call, focusing on the positives in what many would see as a rough start.

“I’m just happy we got a W,” Dillingham said. “It’s always good to win ugly. That’s one of the best things about coaching, is when you wake up when you win ugly, and it wakes people up a little bit, and that’s great.” 

While the Sun Devils found a way to win, the game also offered a glimpse into how the backfield would shape up this season. 

One of the big offseason questions for ASU was how to replace Cam Skattebo. Some expected Army transfer Kanye Udoh, fresh off a 1,117-yard season, to take the lead. But as camp unfolded, it became clear the Browns — Kyson, after a limited role last year, and Raleek, back redshirting the 2024 season due to injury — would carry the load. Saturday was their coming-out party.

On three of ASU’s first five plays, Kyson Brown was the focus. After a short run, he hauled in a 22-yard pass from Leavitt that put ASU at the NAU 27, then added a nine-yard catch to move the ball to the 18. His quick impact set up backfield partner Raleek Brown, who capped the drive with a six-yard touchdown run, finishing with 38 rushing yards on the day and powering through the NAU line for ASU’s first score of the season.

On just the second drive, Kyson rushed for 11 of his eventual 72 yards before a few incompletions threatened to stall the series. But ASU delivered exactly what the fans were waiting for: a fake punt, with a direct snap to Kyson, who raced 34 yards to the NAU 19. 

That momentum-shifting play set up Leavitt and Tyson’s first touchdown connection, a 19-yard strike that highlighted Tyson’s standout first half of seven catches for 83 yards.

“We had a good plan. Jack Nudo, our new special teams’ analyst, had a good idea going on the week,” Dillingham noted. He saw a team running last year and we put it in and we said, ‘Hey, if we get into this specific situation, we wanted to run it and we told the team pregame if we got in that situation, we’d run it.’ We got into that situation. So, we ran it and it was effective and it really changed the game. If you look back, it looked like there was a chance that we could really take it and run from there, but we really stalled.”

After ASU’s early, energy-setting drives, the game began to slow for the Sun Devils. While their drives shortened, NAU’s lengthened, with quarterback Ty Pennington finding more of the field and incompletions from Leavitt stalling ASU’s momentum. The Lumberjacks opened the second quarter with a field goal, and ASU, following a five-penalty first quarter with three more in the second, was stuck in three quick, scoreless drives.

 Even on what would eventually become a scoring drive with seven minutes left, mistakes piled up — two penalties, a fumble from Tyson recovered by Jalen Moss, and a 15-yard sack — yet ASU still managed three points to extend the lead to 17-3.

NAU quickly responded with another field goal, using three chunk plays of 14-plus yards to get within scoring range and outscore ASU in the period. Meanwhile, ASU’s ground game, so effective in the first quarter with 59 yards, stalled to just five, leaving the Sun Devils heading into the tunnel with a lead but hardly in control. 

Dillingham pointed to NAU’s ‘exotic’ defensive style as a key factor, turning what was expected to be a straightforward week-one opener into a much tougher test.

“Their offensive schemes, defensive schemes. It’s probably one of the worst teams you could ever play week one with how unique they play the game, right? You got to give them a lot of credit and that team a lot of credit, too. It’s not just what we did wrong, it’s also what they did right.”

At the start of the second half, the message was clear: return to what worked in the first half and minimize mental mistakes. ASU wasted no time. Kyson Brown ripped off a 16-yard gain, Tyson added six more, and Leavitt broke free for a 52-yard touchdown. 

Two drives later, Brown and Tyson combined for 43 receiving yards, setting up a fake handoff to Leavitt for another score. He finished with 73 rushing yards, helping ASU establish the ground game for a cleaner, more complete second half.

“I know that I can run, and the biggest thing was just not taking off too predetermined from last year,” Leavitt said. I felt like that was one thing I extended well while pushing the ball down the field, which is one thing I really wanted to work on. I was proud of myself for that.”

But ASU’s offense often seemed to respond only after setbacks. Following Leavitt’s opening rushing touchdown, NAU countered with two chunk plays of 20-plus yards to set up their first touchdown. 

On the very next drive after Leavitt’s first touchdown run of the half, Raleek Brown broke free for a 75-yard touchdown, only to have it called back, and on the following play, Malik McClain raced 64 yards before a penalty wiped out that gain as well. 

“You saw some explosive plays, one of them got called back, but that’s what we saw in camp. We are looking for a couple of those plays that don’t get called back, and like I said, the dynamic of this game is different, right? That’s the best part about this game. A few things go in a different direction, and it’s a whole different feeling and a whole different game, right?”

The game was a constant back-and-forth for ASU, one step forward and one step back. Still, with Leavitt’s touchdown at the end of the third quarter extending the lead to 31-13, the Sun Devils looked comfortable on the scoreboard, though you could sense the uncertainty lingering after an error-filled game and what it might mean going forward.

By the fourth quarter, the game had slowed into methodical drives from both sides — until three minutes remained, when Leavitt connected with Tyson for a 16-yard touchdown. It was Tyson’s 12th catch and 141st receiving yard of the game, delivering the dagger, and making it look as if ASU had claimed a commanding victory over NAU.

Dillingham was blunt postgame, saying NAU head coach Brian Wright ‘outcoached him.’ Given the talent gap between the teams, there’s a fair argument for that. But Dillingham doesn’t shy away from taking responsibility himself, and his continued trust in his team — along with a plan to improve moving forward — shows that ASU will learn from this game. Nobody learned more than Dillingham.

“Anytime that I don’t think we play up to our performance, it’s on me,” Dillingham said. “At the end of the day, I feel everything that happens in this program falls on me. So, if I feel like we’re not operating at an optimum level, that’s my fault, and I have to find ways to fix that. Regardless of whether it’s a special-teams issue, an effort issue, or they just had a really good plan against us and we didn’t fix it as quickly as I would have liked, whenever we don’t play as well as I want, I put it on myself because I believe that’s where the responsibility should be.”