Replenished Sun Devils Run By New Mexico St. Redmond Leads Pac-10 Champs With 176 Yards On The Ground

J.R. Redmond steadied an untested backfield with a series of spectacular carries, including a 93-yard touchdown, and Arizona State opened the season Saturday night with a 41-10 romp over New Mexico State.

Redmond, a backup to Michael Martin, had 176 yards in 10 carries while playing about a half.

Robert Nycz kicked 42- and 26-yard field goals for the Sun Devils, whose offense was balky despite the score as inexperienced quarterbacks Ryan Kealy and Steve Campbell tried to show they can replace Jake Plummer for the defending Pac-10 champions.

The ground game, however, was solid.

Darrin Ransom scored on an 11-yard run, Martin ran 1 yard for another TD and Redmond made it 24-3 midway through the third quarter with his 93-yard run.

Campbell, Plummer’s understudy the last two years, threw 25 yards to Lenzie Jackson for the fourth TD, and Kealy, who started, found former high school teammate Tariq McDonald for 4 yards and the fifth score.

Redmond’s 93-yard scamper was the fifth-longest in Arizona State history.

Arizona St. 41, New Mex. St. 10

New Mexico St. 0 3 0 7 - 10

Arizona St. 10 7 21 3 - 41

ASU-FG Nycz 42, 10:52.

ASU-Ransom 11 run (Nycz kick), 2:44. NMSU-FG Cecava 29, 12:42.

ASU-Martin 1 run (Nycz kick), 2:35. ASU-Redmond 93 run (Nycz kick), 7:41.

ASU-Jackson 25 pass from Campbell (Nycz kick), 4:56.

ASU-McDonald 4 pass from Kealy (Nycz kick), 3:42. ASU-FG Nycz 26, 9:21.

NMSU-Gregory 33 pass from Houghtaling (Cecava kick), 2:34.

A-58,607.

NMS ASU First downs 11 20 Rushes-yards 35-107 41-275 Passing 91 150 Comp-Att-Int 10-26-2 14-27-0 Return Yards 67 80 Punts-Avg. 9-39.7 7-41.9 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1 Penalties-Yards 4-24 13-75 Time of Possession 29:25 30:35

RUSHING-New Mexico St., Manns 14-58, Dozier 2-13, Jessie 2-11, Houghtaling 5-9, Willson 4-8, Nelson 6-5, Cunningham 2-3. Arizona St., Redmond 10-176, Farlow 7-64, M. Martin 15-64, Ransom 2-14, Spann 1-(minus 12), Campbell 1-(minus 12), Kealy 5-(minus 19).

PASSING-New Mexico St., Houghtaling 10-26-2-91. Arizona St., Kealy 11-19-0-107, Campbell 3-7-0-43, Brown 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-New Mexico St., Gregory 2-38, Shaw 2-17, Patterson 2-10, T. Martin 1-17, Nelson 1-5, Holloway 1-4, Cunningham 1-0. Arizona St., Jackson 6-68, McDonald 3-23, Bates 2-15, Mitchell 1-23, Redmond 1-13, Spann 1-8.