ASU 58, N.C. A&T 6
Notes from ASU’s 58-6 victory over N.C. A&T:
It took some digging through records, courtesy of ASU’s sports-information department, but the Mountaineers’ 105-point margin of victory/defeat swing was the most ever in consecutive games.
The Mountaineers lost by 53 points (66-13) to Virginia Tech last Saturday, and won by 52 (58-6) today.
About the only other game-to-game turnaround that comes close to matching that was a bounce back in the 1928 season, which was ASU’s first year of football. The Mountaineers lost 44-0 to Rutherford but followed with a 52-0 victory over Mountain Park.
Doug Middleton’s 97-yard interception return for a touchdown was the fourth-longest in ASU history. There had been three 100-yard interception returns for a touchdown – the last in 1990 by Rico Mack against James Madison.
Phillip Strickland, a senior tight end and special-teams player, became just the fourth player in ASU history to block two punts in a game. Chuck Hill did it twice in 1987, against Liberty and Western Carolina, and Dino Hackett blocked two punts against East Tennessee State in 1985.
Sam Martin’s 51-yard field goal is the seventh-longest in ASU history. Mark Wright was had been the last ASU player to kick a field goal longer than 50 yards, when he booted a school-record 57-yarder in 2000 against Troy State.
Three ASU players – DeAndre Presley, Brian Quick and Cedric Baker Boney – had more than 100 yards in various offensive categories before the third quarter was over, and Travaris Cadet was close with 90 total yards.
Presley had 197 yards passing in less than three quarters, Quick had 113 receiving yards and Baker Boney had 111 yards rushing.
Brian Quick’s second touchdown reception tied him with Rick Beasley for No. 2 on ASU’s all-time list with 23 touchdown catches. Bob Agle holds the record with 25 touchdown catches from 1965 through 1968.
ASU had a crowd of 26,415 for its home opener, which was down a bit as compared to the home openers of the last four seasons.
The Mountaineers drew 28,708 for last year’s home opener against Jacksonville; 27,914 in 2009 against McNeese State; 30,718 in 2008 against Jacksonville; and 28,802 in 2007 against Lenoir-Rhyne.