If you’re a fan of offense, Texas Tech-Arizona State was your thing. If you’re a fan of significant records being challenged? Yeah, you doubled up on your pleasure with Week 2’s version of #Pac12AfterDark.
In a game that didn’t even hint at any type of respect whatsoever for the defensive side of the ball, the Sun Devils kept its foot on the gas pedal a little bit harder, a little bit longer than the Red Raiders in racing to a basketball score-like 68-55 win. The 123 points in regulation was just a touchdown and two field goals away from tying the FBS record of Navy-North Texas set in 2007.
The individual story of the game, though, was Kalen Ballage.
The junior running back touched the ball a total of 15 times in the Sun Devils’ win. On more than half of those touches, Ballage found the end zone.
The eight touchdowns (seven rushing, one receiving) for Ballage broke the single-game school and Pac-12 record for total touchdowns. It also tied the FBS record set by Illinois’ Howard Griffith in 1990.
Further perspective: entering last night’s game that bled into the Eastern Time morning, Ballage had eight career touchdowns the past two seasons.What a night from Kalen Ballage and @FootballASU! #BackThePac #Pac12FB pic.twitter.com/AuOLEdj4Oy
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 11, 2016
In the loss, Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes passed for 540 yards and five touchdowns. The junior has now thrown for 1,023 yards and nine touchdowns the first two games of the year.