PLAYERS TO WATCH
–RB Eno Benjamin has eclipsed 100 rushing yards five times this season and reached the mark with 125 yards and two touchdowns in the first half against USC last week. Benjamin finished with 185 yards, the second-most by a Sun Devil running back against the Trojans, behind only J.R. Redmond’s 214 yards in 1998.
–WR N’Keal Harry, a junior, was named the Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week. Harry, who was also named to the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll for Week 9, returned a punt 92 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter at USC. It was the third-longest return in Sun Devil history and the longest since Morris Owens’ school record 95-yard return in 1972. Harry accounted for 203 all-purpose yards in the game. He also caught four passes for 95 yards — including a spectacular one-handed catch as he was falling down amid an interference penalty on USC — and carried the ball twice for 5 yards.
–QB Manny Wilkins’ 44-yard touchdown pass to Harry in the first half at USC moved him into a tie for ninth in program history in career touchdown passes (44). His 45-yard touchdown run to seal the game was the longest rush of his career. He has 16 rushing touchdowns in his career, second among all ASU quarterbacks behind only Mark Malone (21).
–LB Darien Butler, a true freshman, led the Sun Devils with eight tackles against USC, including one for loss. He also recovered a fumble.
SERIES HISTORY: ASU leads its series with Utah 21-8. The Utes won consecutive games in 2015 and 2016 before the Sun Devils prevailed 30-10 last season at Salt Lake City. Utah’s 49-26 win at ASU two years ago snapped an eight-game losing streak at Tempe.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “This is quite an accomplishment for our team. I’m really happy for our players and coaches. We’ve been on the wrong side of a lot of these games. It was fun to see them come in the locker room after beating a talented team. They had to beat a team that had won 19 in a row (at home). I told them at the end they made it hard on me. I thought about maybe going back to television.” — ASU coach Herm Edwards, after the win over USC at the L.A. Coliseum last week.
