👋 GOOD MORNING 🇺🇸 — Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a nice long weekend. I failed to wish everyone a happy Labor Day in Friday’s edition, so I’m doing it now!

Huge props to the ASU women’s volleyball team, which stunned No. 2 Penn State 3-1 at the State Farm Showcase on Sunday. The Nittany Lions are the defending national champs, but the Sun Devils were fearless while taking three straight sets after dropping the first.

The win is tied for the highest-ranked win in program history (beat No. 2 Texas on Sept. 13, 2013 and No. 2 Cal on Nov. 24, 2010), and it was the first meeting between the two schools.

Check out the ‘Tip of the Hat’ section below for one of the best rallies of the season, to date. Absolutely incredible.

On to the show!

— Patrick Brown, PHNX Sports Daily Editor

The biggest thing to go wrong on Saturday was the ESPN+ feed showing the Sun Devils’ Week 1 matchup against Northern Arizona.

Everything else went quite swimmingly for both Arizona State and Arizona.

Both the Sun Devils and Wildcats kicked off their 2025 schedules with wins: ASU topped Northern Arizona 38-19 and Arizona topped Hawai’i 40-6. Arizona State began its defense of a Big 12 championship with a win, while Arizona erased the memory of a disappointing 2024 in grand fashion.

But, what did we learn?

It’s time for a few overreactions as we look ahead to week two.

Sam Leavitt will be a force to be reckoned with all season.

He finished the game 25-of-39 for 257 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, and also finished with seven rushes for 73 yards, which included a 52-yard scamper in the third quarter to put Arizona State up 24-6.

Anyone watching on TV missed out on that run, though, as ESPN experienced broadcast issues throughout most of the second half, frustrating fans everywhere. Athletic director Graham Rossini admirably took accountability and addressed it on social media during the game, though I don’t see how anyone could blame him for the technical difficulties.

Fans can rest easy, though, that the Sun Devils lived up to expectations in game one, even if they didn’t run away with the game like everyone had imagined. Arizona State rolled up 460 total yards, including 203 on the ground. Kyson Brown, Cam Skattebo’s backup last year, racked up 73 yards on seven carries, an average of 10.4 yards per carry.

Raleek Brown and Kanye Udoh rounded out the rushing attack with 57 combined yards.

Receiver Jordyn Tyson certainly lived up to the hype (12 receptions for 141 yards and two touchdowns), and though the defense left a little to be desired after allowing 331 yards and 19 points to the Lumberjacks, we’ll learn a lot more next week when the group heads to Starkville Miss. to face the 1-0 Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Grade: B-
Biggest Success: Leavitt and Tyson haven’t missed a beat.
Biggest Area of Opportunity: Penalties. ASU was penalized 12 times for 93 yards.

Arizona entered 2025 with new coaches in most phases of the game, and the Wildcats came through for their new leadership group in a big way.

Now it’s a matter of keeping the momentum moving.

Arizona’s 40-6 win over Hawai’i featured timely offense and solid defense, the latter of which forced five turnovers en route to the win. Quarterback Noah Fifita was efficient, completing 13 of 23 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown, while running back Quincy Craig torched the Rainbow Warriors for 125 yards on just seven carries.

Arizona dominated the ground game, in fact, totaling 185 rushing yards and four touchdowns, compared to Hawai’i’s 70 yards.

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Wildcats heading into this season was who would fill the massive void left behind following Tetairoa ‘T-Mac’ McMillan’s departure. Saturday’s game saw Fifita spread the ball out, as eight different receivers recorded at least one catch, totaling 161 yards and a touchdown.

Perhaps most impressive, though, was the defense, which forced five takeaways. Gavin Hunter, Taye Brown and Malachi Bailey each notched an interception, while Chase Kennedy and Julian Savalinaea both recovered fumbles.

The cherry on top? Kicker Michael Salgado-Medina was 2-for-2 on his field goal attempts, including a 52-yarder, and 4-for-4 on extra points.

U of A should have no issue starting 2-0 against Weber State next week before their Big 12 schedule kicks off on Sept. 12 against Kansas State.

Grade: A
Biggest Success: Winning all three elements of the game quite handily.
Biggest Area of Opportunity: Nit-picking here, but the Wildcats went three-and-out three different times. Would be nice to see a first down or two, even on drives that end with a punt.

Bullpen Strikes Again: Rough night for the Snakes yesterday, as a two-run ninth-inning lead evaporated into a 7-5 loss in 10 innings to the Rangers. The game marks Arizona’s second straight loss after having won four in a row.

The D-backs had a solid weekend overall, taking two of three from the NL West-leading Dodgers. Arizona is back in action tonight in the second of three games against the Rangers.

Postseason Bound: The Mercury topped the Liberty 80-63 on Saturday en route to their fourth straight win, led by Kahleah Copper’s 22 points. Phoenix has won six of its last seven games to improve to 25-14, and has officially clinched a spot in the playoffs.

The Mercury host Indiana tomorrow night (7 pm, NBA TV) before hitting the road for two games.

Tough Draw: Rising FC blew a 3-0 lead against El Paso Locomotive on Saturday, finishing with a 3-3 draw. The point still helped Phoenix maintain its standing in the USL postseason playoff picture, but work remains to be done considering there is a difference of just two points between spots five through nine in the Western Conference table. The top eight teams qualify for the postseason.

Phoenix is back in action Friday night against Las Vegas Lights FC (7:30 pm, 3TV).

Solid Weekend: The ASU women’s volleyball team came up just short in its final match of the State Farm Volleyball Showcase, falling 3-0 to No. 9 Pitt. Still, the Sun Devils are 2-1 on the season with wins over Northern Iowa and No. 2 Penn State, and are back in action against Florida Gulf Coast on Friday.

Heck of a showing, and you can bet the PHNX Sports Daily will keep up with the team throughout the season.

This rally was unreal

Trying to start the week after a three-day weekend: