Senior fullback Darrell Stewart Jr. (25) dives for a pass from Lewerke in the second quarter. The Spartans fell to the Sun Devils 10-7 at Spartan Stadium on Sept. 14, 2019.
Arizona State leads No. 18 Michigan State 3-0 at the end of the first half in East Lansing.
The Spartans had their chances to score. MSU moved the ball into Sun Devil territory on each of its five possessions in the half, only to come up empty because of penalties, turnovers and missed field goals.
Here are some quick thoughts from Halftime at Spartan Stadium
Offense regresses
The Spartans rarely hurt themselves against Western Michigan last week. The same couldn't be said to the start of their game against ASU.
MSU managed to cross midfield on each of its first four drives of the game, only to be set back by turnovers and penalties. Brian Lewerke extended the Spartans' first drive with an 11-yard pass to Matt Dotson on third down. But, the drive stalled five plays later and MSU was forced to punt. The Spartans moved the ball inside of the Sun Devil's 40-yard line on its next possession, only for Lewerke to fumble on a read-option.
Lewerke found Dotson again on an 8-yard reception to move the ball into ASU territory again, but a holding penalty by Matt Allen on the next play set the Spartans back to a point where they couldn't recover. The Spartans moved the ball inside the ASU 30-yard line on their fourth possession, but the drive stalled and Matt Coghlin missed a field goal to keep MSU off of the scoreboard.
On their final drive of the half, the Spartans moved the ball inside of the ASU 10-yard line, only for the drive to stall again, and result in another Coghlin missed field goal.
As the defense held firm against Sun Devil's quarterback Jayden Daniels, the offense couldn't find the scoreboard.
Defensive dominance
It was tough-sledding for most of the first half for true freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels in the first half against MSU's defense.
The Sun Devils gained just 104 yards in the first two quarters, 48 of which came on their lone scoring drive.
ASU moved the ball into Spartan territory just once during the first half and it capitalized on it with a 41-yard field goal by Cristian Zendejas with under five minutes left in the second quarter.
Daniels finished the half 10-for-14 for 84 yards, while junior running back Eno Benjamin carried the ball twice for 18 yards.
Running back rotations
It took a drive for Elijah Collins to get going, but he found space and took advantage of it when a hole opened up at the line of scrimmage. On the other hand, Connor Heyward struggled when his opportunities came.
Collins finished the first half with 51 yards on 11 carries, including a 16-yard carry where he used impressive vision to find a cut-back lane and gain an extra 10-plus yards. Heyward ran the ball twice for only six yards, and dropped a screen pass that looked like it was set up by MSU's offensive line for a big gain.
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