Kennedy zeroes in for ASU
JONESBORO — Arkansas State returned home for the first time in a month Saturday night, having endured two road losses and a bye week since last playing, and winning, at Liberty Bank Stadium.
The Red Wolves (3-3) celebrated their return on homecoming weekend with a 48-24 victory over Idaho in a game in which ASU built a 24-point lead but had to endure a few nervous moments before putting Coach Paul Petrino’s Vandals away for good.
Quarterback Adam Kennedy guided the Red Wolves to an early lead, then J.D. McKissic’s 98-yard kickoff return early in the fourth quarter helped quell an Idaho rally in front of an announced crowd of 26,781.
It was ASU’s first victory since it beat Troy on Sept. 12 and ASU wanted to cast aside the negative vibes caused by recent losses to Memphis (31-7) and Missouri (41-19) as quick as possible.
“A month sounds like a long time,” ASU Coach Bryan Harsin said. “Not toward Idaho, but to ourselves.”
Harsin, fresh from two weeks of film study and an eagerness to start quickly, brainstormed a play Friday night that ended up being ASU’s first offensive play.
Both Harsin and quarterback Adam Kennedy said they noticed Idaho’s opponents running mainly out-routes against its young defense. So Harsin designed a play that had Julian Jones run an out route toward the ASU sideline, before breaking deep down the sideline.
The result: Kennedy found Jones alone down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.
“Coaches said ‘Trust Julian to win,’ ” Kennedy said.
“Sure enough, I looked back to my right and he was running wide open. It could not obviously have worked out any better.”
That got Kennedy started on his best night as a college passer. He competed his first nine throws, and finished with a career-high 375 yards on 22 of 32 passing and threw 4 touchdowns to three different receivers.
Jones caught 4 passes for 135 yards, tight end Darion Griswold caught 5 passes for 89 yards and 2 touchdowns and McKissic had 9 catches for 80 yards and a score.
ASU rolled up 565 yards of offense against Petrino’s Vandals (1-6), but it committed 14 penalties with one turnover, an interception thrown by Kennedy that almost wiped all the positive stats off the board.
ASU led 31-7 early in the third quarter after a 1-yard touchdown pass from Kennedy to Griswold.
But Taylor Davis, a senior who hadn’t thrown a pass all year before he relieved Chad Chalich after the second series, guided a 60-yard drive that ended with a 28-yard field goal by Austin Rehkow to make it 31-10.
Idaho capitalized on Kennedy’s one big mistake, a thirddown pass intended for McKissic that was intercepted by Trey Williams, who returned it 66 yards for an apparent touchdown. But a blocking-in-the-back penalty brought the ball back to the ASU 39.
Davis and running back James Baker, who had 23 carries for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns, remain undeterred.
Baker’s 23-yard run and Davis’ 15-yard touchdown pass to Dezmon Epps on the edge of the end zone pulled Idaho to within 31-17. Then, after ASU went three-and-out, Davis drove Idaho 75 yards in eight plays and Baker’s 1-yard run pulled the Vandals to within 31-24.
Suddenly, ASU was no longer coasting toward an easy victory.
“You feel a sense of urgency,” Harsin said. “Enough is enough.”
Harsin and special teams coach Kent Riddle broke out a return package installed specifically for Saturday’s game. Harsin declined to describe specifics, other than to say the personnel was different than a usual kickoff return. McKissic fielded the kick at the 2, bounced to the left sideline and broke away from tacklers around midfield to make it 38-24.
It was ASU’s first kick return for a touchdown since 2001 and it tied the school record for longest return ever.
“I just saw them crashing down,” said McKissic, who also had 9 catches for 80 yards and 1 touchdowns. “It was meant for me to hit it up in the middle, but I seen the outside was open and I just told Frankie [Jackson] ‘Let’s go.’”
Idaho Coach Paul Petrino did not address media after the game, but he did talk about McKissic’s return in a statement posted on the University of Idaho website.
“That kick return killed us,” Petrino said.
An Idaho offense that gained 210 of its 386 yards in the second half was out of answers. The Vandals gained 34 yards and their three remaining drives after the kick return ended with two punts and a Rocky Hayes interception.
“If they go down there and work their way down there and earn it, then go ahead, that’s hard to do on offense,” Harsin said. “But we can’t give them those big chunks. Proud of the defense, and the coaches.”
ASU added a 21-yard field goal by Brian Davis — who is 9 for 9 on the season— and a 3-yard touchdown run by David Oku, scores that finished a night in which ASU scored on all six of its red-zone opportunities.
ASU consistently settled for field goals instead of touchdowns in losses to SEC opponents Auburn and Missouri, but the Red Wolves scored four touchdowns from inside the 20 Saturday, an improvement Kennedy said was needed before heading into a string of six consecutive Sun Belt Conference games.
In other Sun Belt games, Centarius Donald rushed for a 10-yard touchdown with 18 seconds remaining as Louisiana(3-4, 1-1) defeated host Texas State (3-3, 0-2) 21-14. Isaiah Newsome had interception returns of 71 and 75 yards to give Louisiana-Monroe a 14-0 lead as it broke a three-game losing streak. … Corey Robinson threw three touchdown passes and finished with 350 yards passing, including a 54yard touchdown late in the game, to lead
Troy (4-3, 1-1) to a 35-28 victory over host Georgia State (0-6, 0-4).