Aug. 31, 2000
By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer
SAN DIEGO- As troubling as their offseason was, the last thing the Arizona State Sun Devils wanted to do was overlook San Diego State.
Mike Barth, who missed his first two field-goal attempts, kicked a 21-yarder with 14:53 left, giving Arizona State a lackluster 10-7 victory over the Aztecs on Thursday night.
San Diego State moved to the Arizona State 29 with 8 seconds left, but Nate Tandberg shanked a 47-yard field-goal attempt into the line. The drive started on the Aztecs' 3 with 3:07 left.
"We didn't put up the numbers that I thought we would, but in terms of just momentum, it was good for us," redshirt freshman quarterback Jeff Krohn said. "People said that we're going to lose one like that every year, like New Mexico State last year, that we'll overlook them and flop, or whatever. So I thought it was good for our team confidence to get this rolling."
The Sun Devils were embarrassed 35-7 at home by New Mexico State in the second game last season.
The teams combined for 23 punts. Arizona State's Nick Murphy set an individual school record with 11 punts. The overall school record is 14, by two players. San Diego State's Justin Sisco and Brian Simnjanovski combined for 12, tying the school record.
Krohn, starting in place of suspended quarterback Ryan Kealy, threw a touchdown pass as the Sun Devils began to shake off preseason distractions and injuries.
Kealy was suspended for at least the first two games after being arrested on a charge of driving under the influence of drugs on July 23. Starting tailback Delvon Flowers is out for the season with a knee injury, and coach Bruce Snyder is under pressure after 6-6 and 5-6 seasons.
The winning drive went 61 yards on 11 plays, the longest drive of the game.
Davaren Hightower, who took Flowers' starting spot, gained 13 yards on third-and-1 from the San Diego State 44, and Krohn threw an 11-yard pass to tight end Todd Heap to the Aztecs' 16. A pass-interference call against Donte Gamble gave the Sun Devils first-and-goal from the 5. Krohn's third-down pass to Heap in the end zone was broken up by Will Demps and the Sun Devils settled for Barth's kick.
Krohn completed 18 of 42 passes for 160 yards, with one interception. San Diego State's Jack Hawley was 24-of-57 for 219 yards and one touchdown, with one interception. Both teams were plagued by dropped passes.
"There were things that we were capable of doing that we didn't do," San Diego State coach Ted Tollner said. "That's the disappointing part. We played well enough on defense to win the game, but we didn't make the plays on offense."
Barth missed field-goal attempts of 41 and 40 yards in the first half, and Tandberg missed from 37 yards. Each team had seven punts in the first half.
Arizona State's Shaun McDonald had 120 yards on punt and kickoff returns in the first half, which was just 7 yards less than the Sun Devils had in total offense.
His 40-yard punt gave the Sun Devils the ball on the San Diego State 38 to set up their second possession, and Krohn needed just four plays to get Arizona State into the end zone, with Donnie O'Neal making a 14-yard, over-the-shoulder catch for a 7-0 lead 2:53 into the game.
San Diego State got a 34-yard punt return by Sean Pierce to set up Hawley's 11-yard TD pass to tight end Raleigh Fletcher for a 7-7 tie with 3:24 left in the quarter. It was the first career catch for the redshirt freshman.
San Diego State played without its top rusher, Larry Ned, who had arthroscopic knee surgery Aug. 20. The Aztecs are coming off a 5-6 season.
The teams met for the first time since 1957, and the Sun Devils improved to 7-0-1 in the series.