Behren Morton throws two touchdown passes as Texas Tech spoils Arizona State’s Big 12 debut 30-22
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Behren Morton passed for two touchdowns and 201 yards and tight end Jalin Conyers scored a 3-yard direct-snap rushing touchdown against his former school as Texas Tech beat Arizona State 30-22 on Saturday in the visiting Sun Devils’ Big 12 Conference debut.
Morton’s TD passes were 5 yards to Johncarlos Miller II and 20 yards to Josh Kelly on Tech’s first two possessions.
Conyers, a Texas native who played for ASU the three previous seasons, scored on the opening drive of the second half.
Tech (3-1, 1-0) got field goals of 39 and 30 yards from Gino Garcia and 40 yards from Reese Burkhardt.
Cam Skattebo ran for two 3-yard touchdowns, the second with 1:39 to play, and Sam Leavitt scored from 1 yard out for Arizona State (3-1, 0-1). Ian Hershey kicked a 34-yard ASU field goal.
Skattebo came in seventh in FBS averaging 124.3 rushing yards and was held to 60 on 18 carries but had 117 yards receiving, 113 after contact, on six catches.
The Red Raiders’ Tahj Brooks ran for 117 yards on 27 carries, moving into fifth place in Tech career rushing with 3,431. Brooks went in averaging 131.0 a game but didn’t qualify for the rushing leaders because he missed one of Tech’s previous three games with an arm injury.
THE TAKEAWAY
Arizona State, under second-year coach Kenny Dillingham, has already matched its win total for each of the previous two seasons. We’ll see how the team that was picked to finish last in the Big 12 will react to its first loss of the year.
The Red Raiders will now seek their first 2-0 conference start since 2013, when Kliff Kingsbury’s first Tech team opened 4-0 in league play but finished 4-5.
UP NEXT
Arizona State will be off next week and play its first Big 12 home game on Oct. 5 against Kansas.
Texas Tech will host Cincinnati on Sept. 28
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