This is power football.
The Sun Devils unleashed running back Kalen Ballage in their 68-55 win over Texas Tech by deploying the junior as the focal point of the now-dubbed “Sparky” formation near the goal line.
Ballage scored on six of his attempts as a recipient of the snap out the formation.
Not one of them involved any option action in the backfield, play action fake, or even the threat of jet sweep action. But why was he so effective?
There’s multiple answers: basic arithmetic, winning the line of scrimmage, and the fact Ballage is an absolute beast are all right in one way or another.