Arizona State played a hard-fought game against a tough Cal team, but missed opportunities in the red zone as well as injuries continuing to pile up had Arizona State fall to Cal today by a final score of 24-21.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!It was a slow start for Arizona State’s offense as the passing game was non-existent to start off. Quarterback Trenton Bourguet had a lot of miscommunications as well as drops occur in his first few drives on offense.
Trenton Bourguet with miscommunication on that 3rd and 14 throw. Forcing ASU to punt.#ForksUp
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) September 30, 2023
Jalin Conyers with a huge 3rd down drop. ASU is forced to punt and Cal will be taking the ball at their own 32 yard line.#ForksUp
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) September 30, 2023
Afterwards Cal’s high-power running game started to get rolling midway through the first quarter as running back Jadyn Ott and Isaiah Ifanse gashed the ASU offense on their way to their first score of the game.
Cal’s offense really starting to move as Sam Jackson connects with wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter for a huge 31 yard gain.
Ball is now at ASU’s 32 yard line#ForksUp
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) September 30, 2023
Isaiah Ifanse runs it in for 1 yard touchdown. ASU defense got gashed in the run game last week against USC and Cal is starting to get momentum on it now.
7-0 with 6:16 left in the first quarter.#ForksUp— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) September 30, 2023
The Arizona State offense started to get the ball moving on offense thanks to Trenton Bourguet connecting with a couple of throws to give them a two-yard touchdown run by Cameron Skattebo.
Arizona State marching the ball down the field after a couple of linkups from Bourguet to Melquan Stovall and Giovanni Sanders.
ASU is now first and goal inside the 10.#ForksUp
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) September 30, 2023
Skattebo runs in for a 2 yard tocuhdown to give ASU their first points of the game. Dario Longhetto makes the extra point.
7-7 with 0:15 left in the first quarter.#ForksUp
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) September 30, 2023
In the second quarter, it was a game that was all about field position from the punter. Lachlan Wilson for Cal put Arizona State in tough field positions which in return put Cal’s defense in good spots to give their offense good field positions.
Unfortunately, Cal’s offense was only able to generate three points as Arizona State continued to play good aspiring football to only have them come around with 3 points to make it 10-7.
In the third quarter, Kenny Dillingham elected to have his offense go for it on 4th and short in their own territory which ended up coming short and gave Cal a good field position to score a touchdown to give them a 10-point lead.
Cal is reading the screen game really well. The quick game is stalling ASU’s offense to begin the second half.
ASU goes for it on 4th and short and gets stoned at the line of scrimmage. Cal takes over at the 31 yard line.#ForksUp
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) September 30, 2023
Sam Jackson V with a great back shoulder touchdown to Jeremiah Hunter.
Cal now leads 17-7 with 9:11 left in the game.#ForksUp
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) September 30, 2023
Shortly afterward, ASU’s offense started to spearhead some yards on offense. The problem was, that ASU failed to score touchdowns on those drives as they settled for two field goals due to penalties and drops to give Cal a 17-13 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Cal went on to put a scoring drive together to give them a 24-13 lead after Bourguet threw an interception that gave them good field position in the red zone.
Arizona State after that got a good return from Elijah Badger who set them up at midfield. Bourguet bounced back from his interception to lead a huge touchdown drive and two-point conversion to give them a 24-21 deficit.
Cal then went on an 18-play drive before Arizona State’s defense came clutch and stuffed them at the one-yard line with less than three minutes to go in the game.
Unfortunately, it all came crashing down when Arizona State failed to put a game-tying drive together when Bourguet threw an incomplete pass intended for Elijah Badger and that was all she wrote.
Jadyn Ott was the player of the game as he had 165 yards rushing and 1 touchdown. It’s been back-to-back weeks where ASU’s defense has been gashed in the run game and they got to figure out a way to slow it down as they have a tough matchup against Colorado next week at home.
