ESPN’s Connelly: Arizona State’s blowout win over Wyoming among most surprising Week 1 results

Arizona State’s blowout win over Wyoming was among the most surprising results in college football’s first full week based on ESPN projections.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly called the 48-7 win an impressive statement to begin head coach Kenny Dillingham’s second season leading ASU football.

Against a Wyoming team not built to play well from behind — read: they want to run the ball and play plodding, physical ball — ASU scored a pick-six 41 seconds into the game and kept pouring it on from there.

He also pointed out the massive disparity in total yardage between the Sun Devils (499) and Cowboys (118), who gained 50% of their yards on the final drive in garbage time.

The win helped Arizona State rise in ESPN’s power index 24 spots to No. 39, the biggest jump among Power 4 schools.

And it projects well in the Big 12 landscape. Remember, the Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the expanded 16-team conference.

That was behind ASU’s Week 4 opponent, Texas Tech, which was also among the biggest surprises for a different reason. The Red Raiders needed overtime to beat Abilene Christian, 52-51.

Arizona Wildcats’ fiery duo in Heisman conversation

Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan has already added Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and Associated Press Player of the Week to his ever-growing list of accolades, and his Week 1 performance also landed him fourth in Connelly’s Heisman rankings.

McMillan sits behind Miami quarterback Cam Ward, USC quarterback Miller Moss and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.

“I almost gave the top four all a tie for first. They were difficult to choose among — Jeanty and McMillan both had basically perfect rushing and receiving lines, respectively — but when in doubt, go with the quarterback.”

Quarterback Noah Fifita was an honorable mention for the award’s way-too-early top 10.

Arizona stayed put at No. 24 in the power index with the 61-39 win over New Mexico.

Follow @AZSports