TEMPE, Ariz. -- There's a new kid in the high-powered Arizona State offense.
Freshman Keegan Herring rushed for 134 yards on 12 carries in the most prolific debut by a running back in school history and the 20th-ranked Sun Devils beat Temple 63-16 in Thursday night's opener.
Sam Keller threw four touchdown passes, two to Derek Hagan, then sat out the final quarter while Arizona State finished off the Owls' 22nd consecutive loss to a ranked team and ninth straight defeat on the road.
The 18-year-old Herring had runs of 33 and 28 yards, along with a 4-yard touchdown run, en route to the school record for most yards in the first game of a career. The old mark of 117 yards, on 21 carries, was set by Woody Green against Houston in 1971.
"When I turn around and watch him after I hand the ball off to him, he's impressive," Keller said. "He's out of the gate."
Herring, a state high school sprint champion as a sophomore in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria, said he was a bit nervous playing, but far more nervous facing all the reporters afterward.
Like any good running back, he praised his line for getting him the record.
"The linemen just created some big holes," Herring said, "and I ran through them the best I can."
Keller, successor to the Sun Devils' record-breaking passer Andrew Walter, completed 14 of 24 passes for 208 yards. He was intercepted twice.
"For the expectations that we have for Sam and that Sam has for himself, he can play a lot better than that," coach Dirk Koetter said.
Keller agreed.
"I played OK," he said. "I did good enough to make some good throws to score a lot of touchdowns because our guys are so explosive ... but there were some little things, throws that I normally make every day were just a little bit off."
Hagan's scoring catches of 18 and 31 yards give him 21 TD receptions for his career, four shy of Keith Poole's school record. Hagan caught three passes to boost his career total to 184, four fewer than John Jefferson's ASU record.
The Sun Devils amassed 559 yards, 300 on the ground. Arizona State's reserves scored three times in the final quarter, the last with 36 seconds to go.
"We probably ran the ball a lot better than people thought we would," Koetter said, "but we need to be a lot crisper in the passing game when we play in the Pac-10."
Mike McGann completed 18 of 37 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown for Temple. He was intercepted twice.
Coach Bobby Watson wasn't thrilled that this game was on the Owls' schedule in the first place, and he felt his team could have put up a better fight.
"We did some good things out there, but it was not consistent enough," he said. "I think we gave them too many points, and that's my fault. We had some fumbles. We didn't kick the ball out of bounds, and we had some substitution problems."
It didn't help, he said, that he had problems with his headset that fouled up communications with his coaches in the press box.
The Owls, who moved from the Big East to the Mid-American Conference this season, got a safety in the second quarter, when Keller, under pressure from Antwon Burton, fumbled in the end zone and the Sun Devils' Zach Krula recovered.
The Sun Devils scored on touchdown drives of 81 and 85 yards to go up 14-0 in the first quarter.
Mike Davis Jr. stepped in front of the intended receiver and picked off McGann's pass to give Arizona State the ball at the Temple 36, setting up the Devils' third score. Keller tossed a 4-yard scoring pass to tight end Zach Miller to put ASU ahead 21-2 with 7:20 remaining in the first half.
Herring's 33-yard dash to the Temple 6 on Arizona State's first possession of the second half set up his first college touchdown, a 4-yard run up the middle that put Arizona State up 35-2 with 10:33 remaining in the third quarter.
Two of Arizona State's touchdowns were reviewed under the Pac-10's new instant replay rule. Hagan barely got one foot down inbounds on his first TD catch, and the replay official determined that Herring's knee did not touch the turf before he crossed the goal line.
