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Losing streaks are never fun. Never. Arizona State had lost two straight games, but the good doctor ordered up a prescription of Oregon State. This prescription made the whole Sun Devil team feel good in a 52-24 drubbing of the Beavers.
After losing to San Diego State and Washington in back to back games the Sun Devils needed something positive to happen.
That positive thing was Arizona State running back, Eno Benjamin.
Benjamin made the usual porous Oregon State defense look like they were not even on the field.
How porous you ask?
Eno Benjamin ran for a school record 312 yards on 30 attempts. Benjamin averaged 10.4 yards a carry.
After opening the game up with a 15 play drive that only produced three points the Sun Devils went to their young running back.
Eno Benjamin went 44 yards for the touchdown on the second possession of the game for ASU. The Sun Devils sprinted out to a quick 10-0 lead.
On the other side of the field, the Beavers were just struggling on defense. Watching the Beavers play defense was a tough watch. Every time Benjamin touched the ball there was a ton of open space to run through.
To put it into perspective for Benjamin. He had 194 yards mid way through the third quarter.
The Beavers rush defense is among the worst in the nation and Benjamin took full advantage of that fact. Benjamin showed off his speed, spin moves, and his ability to make the Beaver defenders miss.
Oregon State is in a massive rebuild of its football program and it showed on Saturday night.
However, the offensive rebuild of the Beavers is ahead of the defense.
The offense of the Beavers has the ability to score.
True freshman, Jermar Jefferson, who’s ability to run the ball was also on display. He showed the Beaver faithful that there are brighter days ahead. Jefferson ran through the Sun Devil defense for 254 yards, on 31 attempts, and a 8.2 average.
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Once the Beavers got the score within 24-17 in the second quarter, the Sun Devils took just 48 seconds to score right before halftime to make the halftime lead 31-17 for Arizona State.
During the second half, it was all Arizona State. The Sun Devils outscored Oregon State 21-7 in the second half to put the game away.
On this night, the shine was all on Eno Benjamin.
Benjamin tried to turn the conversation to how his team had practiced in the week leading up to this record breaking night.
“If you saw the way we practiced this week, you would have known it was going to happen. That’s a testament to our offensive line.” Benjamin said. (azcentral.com)
Sun Devil head coach, Herm Edwards, was certainly happy with his teams effort on the ground.
“Football is about knocking a person off their spot. When you say I’m going to run it right there and you’re not going to stop me and you do it for 314 yards, that’s a pretty good night.” Edwards mentioned.
It’s a great night.
With their first Pac-12 victory under their belt, the Sun Devils have the opportunity to hopefully get control of the Pac-12 South division. The whole South Division is up for grabs right now.
The Sun Devils travel to Colorado next week. Colorado is in first, so a win in Boulder would be a huge boost for the team. After that, things get even tougher with a home game against Stanford and a road game against the USC Trojans.
We will know what the Sun Devils are after this upcoming stretch of games.