Arizona State Wants Tim White to Be Explosive Part of Offense

With Teryion Gipson back in the lineup alongside Jhurrel Pressley and Lamar Jordan, New Mexico’s backfield has the opportunity to establish their run game. Mike Bercovici found Tim White for a 14-yard touchdown that gave the Sun Devils their 10-0 lead.

Sun Devils coach Todd Graham wasn’t happy with the play of his receivers the first two weeks, noting that his newcomers had issues running the correct routes, getting the proper depth on some routes and even running into each other against A&M.

Compare that to ASU quarterback Mike Bercovici, who is 48 of 76 with four touchdowns and 482 yards through the first two games.

ASU may struggle once again to defend the triple option, but look for the Devils to begin to put things together on offense.

New Mexico (1-1) runs out of a “pistol” set. The Sun Devils also are expected to be without backup RBs De’Chavon Hayes (foot) and Kalen Ballage (illness), which could force converted WR D.J. Foster to be used in the backfield more.2. Still, the Sun Devils got stalled on New Mexico’s 1-yard line and settled for Zane Gonzalez’s 22-yard field goal. Not the kind of numbers the usually high-powered Sun Devils produce. But the Lobos seemed to lose momentum when Apodaca replaced Jordan at quarterback on UNM’s fourth offensive series.

TEMPO, TEMPO: Arizona State likes to run an up-tempo offense, and that could be big trouble for New Mexico.

But the Sun Devils know that things get serious with nine consecutive conference games, beginning with consecutive contests against Pac-12 South rivals USC and UCLA.

Despite that, the Sun Devils couldn’t force a turnover for the seventh straight quarter which allowed the Lobos to command the time of possession much like Cal Poly did against the Sun Devils a week ago.

ASU’s high-octane offense started out slow but gained 449 total yards of offense. In that game, Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans had a field day against UNM’s secondary, throwing for 321 yards and completing 16/30 passes, majority to Joshua Atkinson (3 catches, 119 yards), Keyarris Garrett (7 catches, 102 yards) and Keevan Lucas (4 receptions, 65 yards).

This may be the game where Berco gets to turn up his passing game.

One of the major preseason storylines for ASU was the loss of top receiver Jaelen Strong to the National Football League a year early, and the loss of No. 3 receiver Cameron Smith to season-ending knee surgery.

TOUGH ROAD: New Mexico historically has had very little success in Tempe. The good news: A game against a defense as atrocious as New Mexico’s could be just what the QB needs in order to boost his confidence.