The buzz around Mountain America Stadium was electric a couple of hours before Arizona State’s football team kicked off its season on Saturday night, Sept. 5. Everywhere you looked, there was another wave of maroon and gold as fans flooded the streets before eventually making their way over to their seats to watch a football game against Morgan State University.
The vast majority of them left at halftime.
And who could blame them?
By that point, Sun Devils fans had already seen enough to walk away feeling content. ASU scored seven of its 10 touchdowns during a commanding first-half performance in which it built a 49-7 lead on its way to an even bigger 70-7 lopsided blowout.
It was such a one-sided beatdown that it was difficult not to feel sorry
for the Bears. Even when Arizona State began going to its bench early in the third quarter and then started using third-, fourth- and fifth-stringers, it wasn’t getting any better for poor Morgan State.
I kept waiting for a white flag or a mythical mercy rule.
A version of the latter finally came before the start of the fourth quarter, when game officials announced five minutes would be run off the clock. The process was initiated by Morgan State coach Damon Wilson, who had referees bring it up with Dillingham.
“Coach (Wilson) asked the referees to bring it over to me, and he asked me if I wouldn’t mind cutting it down, and I said, ‘Yeah, whatever you want. Just tell me what we’re cutting it down to. I don’t care. I’m for it,’” Dillingham said after the game.
“I appreciate them coming out here. I think coach (Wilson) does a really good job there. He’s a really good dude.”
Both sides — and the sparse crowd that remained — were thankful.
This Week 1 game of the 2026 college football season was over before it really got started as the Sun Devils cruised to a 14-0 lead less than three minutes in. Of course, it helped ASU that Dillingham called for an onside kick after the first score; the Sun Devils recovered the ball, and then they quickly scored again.
C’mon, Kenny. Did you really need to start wiping it in Morgan State’s face that early in the contest?
But hey, I get it.
Dillingham and the Devils wanted to send a message that they are in contention once again for the Big 12 championship and another shot in the College Football Playoff. We’ll see soon enough just how good Dillingham’s rebuilt roster — featuring 30 new transfers and 18 freshmen — is next week when the Devils travel to College Station, Texas and pick on somebody their own size by facing 8th-ranked Texas A&M.
On Saturday, Sept. 5, the Aggies blasted Missouri State, 50-0, totaling 505 yards on offense against another team known as the Bears. In Tempe, Arizona State scored 20 more points and added 176 more yards against the Bears from Morgan State of Maryland.
Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley passed for 387 yards and six touchdowns in his quarterback debut for the Sun Devils, who had eight different players score touchdowns. ASU gained 681 yards overall, including 249 on the ground. Four different players each rushed for a score.
It’s still unclear how well Boley and the offense will measure up when the competition gets a little stiffer, but Dillingham liked what he saw.
“The guys just did an unbelievable job blocking on the perimeter, and Cutter did a good job taking what the defense gave him,” Dillingham said. “All credit to the guys. They played really well tonight.
“But there’s a lot we’ve got to get better at as a football team.”
If Dillingham had kept his best players in the game and five minutes hadn’t been run off the clock to open the fourth quarter, ASU might have broken the school record for most points (79) and yardage gained (742) in a single game.
In the end, it didn’t matter. The fans jammed in Mountain America Stadium saw what they wanted to see before they decided to leave early.
Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic .Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on Roc and Manuch with Jimmy B on ESPN 620 (KTAR-AM) and every Thursday on the Doug Franz Unplugged podcast via Apple or Spotify.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU fans saw more than enough in rout over Morgan State
