Arizona State Football: 3 takeaways from Sun Bowl win over Florida State

Arizona State football and Florida State met up in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl with the Sun Devils winning a low-scoring affair. What’d we learn?

In a game that was an absolute snooze-fest after the first 30 minutes, there were some fireworks in the second half as Florida State’s comeback attempt was cut short thanks to Arizona State’s defense with a 20-14 Sun Devil victory in the Sun Bowl.

Tony the Tiger would have been proud because this contest went from boring to great — OK, no more lame jokes, I promise.

The Sun Devils turned Florida State over six times which was the difference in this one and James Blackman will want to forget the four interceptions he threw — including two big ones in the second half and one that was returned for a touchdown.

What did we learn from this statement win by Arizona State?

3. No clear replacement for Eno Benjamin

Eno Benjamin didn’t play in this one as he prepares for a future in the NFL and that gave the Sun Devils an opportunity to find his replacement — they couldn’t.

Arizona State gave 11 touches to redshirt freshman Demetrious Flowers who took those for just 31 yards. To be fair, it was his first workload of his collegiate career and there’s really nowhere to go but up, but the three-star back has work to do — and so does Arizona State’s offensive line.

Fellow freshman running back A.J. Carter had four carries for 12 yards, but had the best non-Jayden Daniels run of the day of 15 yards — his other three touches went for negative yardage.

No one seemed to step up in Benjamin’s place and that could open the door for a kid like DeaMonte Trayanum, a four-star from Ohio, to come in with the 2020 class and compete for the starting job.