The Arizona State Sun Devils started Saturday behind the ball with Freshman Quarterback Jayden Daniels out with an undisclosed leg injury.  Another true-Freshman, 6’3” 210-pound Quarterback Joey Yellen started his first game as a Sun Devil under-center against the USC Trojans.  

USC Safety Pola-Mao Isaiah with the interception

Yellen had seconds to settle into the Salute to Service Game as USC came out on fire exploiting every weakness and angle Danny Gonzalez’s gang presented.  For the first game after a bye-week, it again looked as if ASU’s Defense had not done their math homework.

If CEO Herm Edwards wants his young Sun Devils to practice football in December, something has to change during the workweek, and I’m not talking about the players. ASU is getting out-coached right now.

Unfortunately, the early story for Arizona State was a Scottsdale product, yet another true-Freshman Quarterback in 6’2” 200-pound Kedon Slovis. Behind Slovis, the Trojan’s picked apart the Sun Devil secondary. After 15-minutes of play, Kedon Slovis had more touchdowns than incompletions, throwing for 297 yards and four scores, on 15-of-17 passing.  

ASU Junior RB Eno Benjamin was limited to 52 YDS on the day. Photo- Kevin Camp, DieHardDevil

But Mission Viejo HS Diablo product, Joey Yellen managed to make the most of his debut.  “Double the Devil” Yellen was throwing strikes in ASU’s effort to climb out of the 1st Quarter deficit. Yellen was poised distributing the rock to seven Sun Devil receivers on 28 of 44 passing for 292 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions.  

“We’ve played in two games now that all of a sudden the first half we kinda stumbled around and fumbled around and all of a sudden we’re playing from a deficit,” ASU head coach Herm Edwards said after the game. “Defensively that’s happened the last two times we’ve played. Lot of big plays from USC, we knew they were a very potent offense. They got on top of us early…”

Sorry Coach, “all of a sudden” getting behind is a tired excuse after three straight losses, the last two being very manageable games. We can also toss in surrendering 14-points against Colorado in a 34-31 upset loss for Arizona State.

Sun Devil Sophomore Defensive Lineman No. 98 D.J. DAVIDSON pursues USC QB Kedon Slovis. Photo- Kevin Camp, DieHardDevil

Herm continued:  “Can’t say enough about Joey. For a kid that has never played to go in against a really talented defense and score four touchdowns says a lot about his mindset and how he’s prepared himself to play with not playing all season and had to be pressed into play so kudos to him.”

“We didn’t come out ready at all,” Junior Defensive Back Evan Fields said after the tough loss. “That’s like the second week that’s happened too, we came out flat. We came out letting them take the fight to us. That’s just something we can’t do. We have to go out there and be the aggressor with the defense.” 

Fields needs to sell that to Danny Gonzalez who may just want to rush defensive backs from line positions to deal with Oregon State next week. ASU’s pass-rush is anemic at best while hanging the defensive backs out to dry. With that being said, the secondary needs to know their roles from the first snap, not after four touchdown passes by the same Trojan offense ASU studied on film.

WR Kyle Williams following his TD reception. Photo- Kevin Camp, DieHardDevil

Brandon Aiyuk changed the tone of the first quarter with a 97-yard kick-off return to the USC 3-yard line. Yellen connected with Kyle Williams for a 5-yard touchdown pass with 5:13 minutes remaining in the first quarter. This brought the game to 14-7. NFL scouts have to be salivating at this point with Aiyuk’s play-making abilities.  

Kedon Slovis answered right back, firing off a 58-yard touchdown before another three-and-out from Yellen. Then things turned sour for ASU to close out the quarter. Slovis connected with Sophomore WR Amon-Ra St. Brown on a 95-yard touchdown pass that caught ASU’s defensive backfield out of position. 28-7, USC.

Remarkably Arizona State finished the first quarter without a 1st down while surrendering four touchdown passes.  

Yellen completed five passes to start the second quarter helping to march the Sun Devils downfield to the Trojan 34 yard line. Then the true-Freshman made a mistake, forgetting to look off USC Safety Isaiah Pola-Mao who picked Arizona State at the 1-yard line.  

The offense stepped up as Yellen manufactured a three-play, 71-yard drive, capped off by a 62-yard touchdown strike to redshirt Junior WR Frank Darby. Then Evan Fields made-up for a 1st-quarter miscue by picking off Slovis.  

WR Frank Darby finds paydirt. Photo- Kevin Camp, DieHardDevil

Even with some success in the second quarter, the Sun Devils found themselves trailing 28-13 at halftime after a missed extra-point by Christian Zendejas. 

To open the 3rd Quarter Yellen lead a seven-play, 57-yard drive. He distributed the ball well to move the chains culminating with a two-yard TD strike to senior WR Brandon Aiyuk. With the 28-20 lead, USC was able to kick a field goal, but Danny Gonzalez’s Defense was now playing stout.  

QB Joey Yellen TD strike to WR Brandon Aiyuk. Photo sequence- Kevin Camp, DieHardDevil

In the 4th-quarter, it was anyone’s game. Using a six-play, 40-yard drive, Yellen connected with Darby on a 15-yard TD. The two-point try was unsuccessful, giving USC a five-point lead with 8:54 left to play.  Like the previous two quarters, ASU’s defense did their part, forcing a USC punt and giving the offense one last shot at completing a seemingly impossible comeback.  

Starting at their own 10-yard line with 3:39 minutes left, Yellen went to work. He was finding the open man and moving the chains with confidence and a nice rhythm. A Sun Devil go-ahead score looked likely when Yellen delivered the ball to a slanting TE Tommy Hudson who had nothing but pay-dirt in front of him. Hudson proceeded to drop the pass. Regardless, ASU was still in the game, with Yellen completing his next pass to Kyle Williams for the first down on USC’s 32-yard line.

USC Defensive Lineman Christian Rector tipped and intercepted Joey Yellen’s pass to end a Sun Devil comeback

Then, with 47 seconds remaining, Southern California’s  6’4” 270-pound Defensive Lineman Christian Rector got his mitts up to bat and then catch a Yellen pass on the USC 37-yard line halting Arizona State’s comeback attempt. It also secured the Trojans’ bowl eligibility providing embattled coach Clay Helton a respite for at least one more week.

USC 31 ASU 26

Coming next: About Joey Yellen

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