Daniels' career night in rushing, tough second-half defense lead ASU past UNLV

Arizona State couldn't completely put away a stubborn UNLV team until early in the fourth quarter Saturday night at home, but Jayden Daniels had a big night running the ball and the Sun Devils limited the underdog Rebels to 155 yards of offense in a 37-10 win . 

Daniels was the difference for ASU (2-0), which despite being heavy favorites trailed twice in the game before pouring it on with 23 unanswered points in the second half. The junior quarterback rushed for a career high 122 yards and passed for 175 with a pair of touchdowns. 

"The game plan is never for me to rush around, it's to run the ball, play action pass, get the receivers going, get the running backs going," Daniels said. "If they’re going to give me those opportunities I’m going to take them. As long as we can stay on the field, as long as I can help the team win I’m going to do whatever it takes.” 

Rachaad White ran for a pair of touchdowns, the two in the second half that essentially sealed ASU's win. And the Sun Devils defense cranked up the pressure in the second half as the offense got rolling. 

"The first half was kind of slow, methodical football," ASU head coach Herm Edwards said. "We cleaned some things up a little bit. We've still got to get our passing game in sync."

The Sun Devils' opening drive was promising, with chunk yardage plays getting the ball from the ASU 43 to the UNLV 11. But it stalled there when Daniels was intercepted in the end zone with 12:20 to go in the first quarter.

UNLV turned that into a 16-play, 70-yard drive for a field goal and the lead. It didn't last long, however, as Daniels led ASU down the field with 38 rushing yards to set up his touchdown pass to Johnny Wilson with 13:42 to go in the second quarter. 

A defensive stop might have caused the Rebels to fold. Instead, they marched 75 yards and re-took the lead 10-7 when quarterback Doug Brumfield did a front flip into the end zone, reminiscent of when Arizona's Ortege Jenkins did the same in 1998 on a play now known as the "Leap by the Lake" that beat Washington in Seattle.

The Sun Devils took a 14-10 lead on Danyiel Ngata's 13-yard touchdown run that was so well blocked, he had other lanes to pick on his way to the end zone. But ASU's chance to add to their lead fizzled out when Daniels was sacked with 24 seconds left in the first half. 

A subpar performance in the first 30 minutes gave way to a big second half of offense for the home team. The Sun Devils now have a four-game winning streak dating back to two wins to end last season. 

"I told them in the third quarter, that's when we were going to have to go," Edwards said. 

White finished with 22 carries for 90 yards. Cristian Zendejas made a short field goal and four of his five extra point tries in his first game of the season as the placekicker. Ngata came back from a third-quarter injury, and his 21-yard fourth-quarter run preceded Daniels' 33-yard touchdown pass to LV Bunkley-Shelton with 8:45 to play. 

For a time, ASU was using only White on offense at running back, with Ngata out and Chip Trayanum not suited up. Trayanum is expected back next week at BYU, Edwards said. 

"They played us really well the first half, especially down the field. That’s why we had a lot of stuff underneath and everything gets soft when they key on Rachaad," Daniels said. "They didn’t have any one to account for me so that’s why I used my legs to hurt them.”  

ASU was 8 of 14 on third downs but committed seven penalties for 63 yards. Linebacker Darien Butler had two of the Sun Devils' five sacks. 

"What you see guys doing is understanding their mistakes and not doing them again," ASU defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce said. "They had a lot of repeat plays, we were expecting that, and it just comes down to execution."

Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.