ASU offense held without touchdown in Camp T scrimmage despite multiple red zone trips

PAYSON — Arizona State’s offense was held without a touchdown in Saturday’s Camp Tontozona scrimmage as red zone issues from a season ago reemerged.

The offensive units moved the ball well in the middle of the field, but ASU was 0-for-4 on red zone trips, and a fifth empty trip was a few yards away from counting in the category.

“I feel like on my drives, we definitely could’ve gotten the ball in the end zone a few times,” junior quarterback Cutter Boley said. “But you can’t shoot yourself in the foot, you got to step up, go ahead and make the next play. Even when something doesn’t go your way, you got to stay ahead of the sticks.

“I feel like we did that a lot in the open field, but you get in the red zone, and turnovers like that are super critical.”

One of Boley’s better drives stalled in the red zone as the result of a bad snap from Makua Pule while he was working with more expected backups than starters. Shortly before, he had a would-be touchdown broken up by the defense.

ASU nearly had a touchdown earlier in the day when standout freshman running back Cardae Mack took a carry from sixth-year quarterback Mikey Keene and pushed through contact to find the end zone, but it was called back for a holding penalty on the backup offensive line.

Two plays later, Keene was picked off in the end zone by standout freshman DaQuwan Dunn, who had just broken up another would-be touchdown before the Mack play.

“He’s been awesome. He’s been one of the better freshmen,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “He’s had an unbelievable camp. He had a great spring ball as well, so he’s one of those guys that we’re going to have to count on at a young age.”

The defense certainly deserves some credit for the offense’s red zone struggles, but to come away empty across roughly 120 snaps with so many opportunities left a sour taste.

Field goal kickers were 5-for-6 on their tries for the only 15 points of the day, the lone miss coming from expected starter Carson Smith, whose miss had plenty of leg from about 45 yards out but was just wide left.

Which ASU quarterback performed best at Camp T?

Boley and Keene, who split the majority of drives going back and forth between expected starters and backups around them, each have things they can hold over the other for bragging rights, whether it be Boley going without an interception or Keene hitting the only deep ball of the day.

6-foot-5 wide receiver Reed Harris caught the deep look, coming off an earlier deep miss between him and Keene.

“I just got to go attack it. On the first one, that ball was hanging up in the air; I just got to go up and get it. I can’t wait for it to come down to me,” Harris told Arizona Sports. “That’s the adjustment that I made on the second one. I went up and got it, took it off of the DB’s head, and that’s what I got to do every time.”

The offense felt distinctly different when Boley was running it versus Keene, as the former operated more of a dink-and-dunk look. He also has more of an ability to throw on the run or off platform. Keene appeared to handle pressure better, as a veteran with the fifth-most snaps among active college quarterbacks should.

Dillingham keyed in on two quarterback traits he got a better look at in more of a live scrimmage setting after about a week and a half of camp: extending plays and ball security.

From that standpoint, Boley had the better day, as he was without the interception and scrambled for three first downs when his receiving options were covered. Keene had just one notable scramble.

Dillingham wouldn’t say whether one had separated from the other, citing his need to go back and look at the film after watching from a more general perspective in real time.

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