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Fette's First Start Was Ugly, Then It Wasn't
A weekly, unique recap show for each college football team that played a game. This unique look at what occured has a forward-looking approach and gets you what you need to know. For hardcore fans, casual onlookers and the gambler looking for an edge. Check out the Depth Dossier!
This is the Depth Dossier: the Arizona State Sun Devils, Week 9.
Arizona State's first start for quarterback Jake Fette was a tale of two halves, and it ended in a 27 to 20 loss at number eight BYU.
For thirty minutes, the Sun Devils' offense basically didn't show up. Ninety-three total yards, a fumble on the third snap, and Fette getting sacked six times before the break. Then halftime hit, the coaches simplified the game plan, and Arizona State turned into a different team. Fette threw touchdowns to wide receivers Omarion Miller and Anthony Miller Jr. to tie the game at seventeen, and running back Cardae Mack racked up 170 yards from scrimmage. BYU tightened up late and hung on, but Arizona State actually won time of possession and the overall play count. They just didn't win the scoreboard.
That first-half number is almost hard to believe given how close the final score was. Ninety-three total yards before halftime usually means a blowout, not a one-score game. Both head coach Kenny Dillingham and Fette pointed to that slow start as the real difference-maker, and the numbers back them up. Arizona State ran 76 plays to BYU's 60, and held the ball for over 31 minutes. They were the better team for most of the afternoon and still came up short because of the hole they dug early.
The defense deserves its own credit here. BYU's running game, which is usually a strength, managed just 47 yards on the ground. Defensive back Adrian Wilson forced a fumble at the BYU 39-yard line that set up a touchdown drive, about as close to a game-changing defensive play as either side had.
The strangest storyline was wide receiver Reed Harris. He's been averaging over 114 yards a game and leading the Big 12, and BYU held him to one catch for four yards. That's a huge reason the first half was so stuck. Arizona State's best explosive weapon just wasn't in the game plan, and they had no real answer until the second-half adjustments opened things up underneath.
A couple of numbers worth remembering: Arizona State went from 93 yards in the first half to 274 after the break, and they were six for seventeen on third downs, which explains why all those plays didn't turn into more points. Kicker Carson Smith made both his field goal attempts, including a 44-yarder late, which kept them within range in the fourth quarter.
Now to the depth chart. No injuries were reported, and that matters most for the quarterback room. Fette's first career start, after serving as a late-game fill-in the week before, settles a competition that was still technically open just seven days ago. He's the guy now, rough start included. That halftime adjustment that got him going is something to watch going forward, not just a one-week fix.
Mack's workload keeps growing no matter who's throwing him the ball. Twenty-three carries and 170 total yards against a top-ten defense looks like a floor for his role, not a ceiling. Harris is the name to watch on the other side. A one-catch, four-yard day for a receiver who'd been leading the conference is the kind of outlier that either disappears next week or turns into something more concerning.
Up front, the defensive line's snap counts matched how well they played. Jalen Thompson and C.J. Fite both played around four-fifths of the defensive snaps, while Blazen Lono-Wong and Roman Pitre moved up to roughly two-thirds. Linebacker Owen Long is now a full-time player, while Prayer Young-Blackgoat has dropped into a part-time role. In the secondary, Kyan McDonald climbed to about two-thirds of the snaps, with Rodney Bimage Jr. and Jessiah McGrew both sliding down.
Next week brings Colorado, and the big question is whether the offense that finally showed up in the second half at BYU can show up from the opening snap.
This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.