It’s hard to imagine that a spring football scrimmage that ended with a score of 61-37 could be dominated by the defense, but that’s exactly what happened in Arizona State’s spring game Saturday in front of over 6,000 fans at Sun Devil Stadium.

That’s because of a modified scoring system that rewarded defensive performance as well. It was the defense that scored 61.

“I thought our tempo was good. We ran 65 plays in the first half. I thought our execution wasn’t very good,” ASU fourth year head coach Dennis Erickson said. “We dropped too many balls. We threw too many interceptions. [We gave up] too many sacks. You name it, we did it. Obviously we have to clean that stuff up.”

The offense came out aggressive, running a trick play on the first snap. Quarterback Brock Osweiler threw a lateral to running back Jamal Miles, who then threw downfield to wideout Kerry Taylor for a 49-yard gain. The first drive culminated in Osweiler finding junior college transfer George Bell on a 5-yard touchdown pass.

That would be the only offensive touchdown of the scrimmage.

“When you only score one touchdown in a 48 minute scrimmage, you have to be better than that,” Erickson said.

Most in attendance wanted to see what new offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone’s new offense would look like in addition to monitoring the tight battle for the starting quarterback job between Osweiler and Michigan transfer Steven Threet. They couldn’t have been too jazzed about what they saw.

Osweiler finished the day 17 of 33 for 151 yards and an interception to go along with his td pass to Bell. Threet really struggled, completing only 9 of 27 for 117 yards and 3 picks.

Osweiler said after the scrimmage that the defense should be a step ahead at this point. “We have run the same offense since January. Three, four, five times a week against our defense. They know exactly what¹s about to come. There is no excuse for the turnovers we made but it would be nice to get into fall camp and play with them for a couple more weeks and then play a new team,” Osweiler said.

Threet was critical of his performance. “I need to stay on progression. I tried a little too much. I tried to force plays sometimes where I just dropped the ball off. It comes with time and staying with in the system.” Threet said.

The leading ball carrier for the scrimmage was sophomore Jamal Miles. The Peoria High School product ran the ball 12 times for 28 yards. Redshirt sophomore James Morrison amassed 26 yards on 6 carries while projected starter Cameron Marshall had only 5 yards on 7 carries. The running backs, as a whole, struggled catching the football out of the backfield.

J.J. Holliday, a redshirt freshman from Santa Rita High in Tucson, led all receivers with 5 catches, covering 72 yards. Taylor had four catches for 79 yards and Oregon transfer Aaron Pflugrad also had 4 catches for 26 yards.

Redshirt freshman tight end Chris Coyle was a pleasant surprise, nabbing 3 catches for 43 yards. The Sun Devils are certainly looking for more production from their tight ends in 2010. Last season, Sun Devil tight ends only had 13 catches for 90 yards and 1 touchdown. Redshirt freshman Max Smith of Saguaro High School in Scottsdale also had a catch for one yard.

But this day was really all about the defense. That side of the ball produced five turnovers, all on interceptions, including one returned 39 yards for a touchdown by junior safety Clint Floyd. Anthony Jones, Eddie Elder, Ronald Kennedy and Mike Callaghan also had picks for ASU. The Sun Devil ‘D’ also produced five quarterback sacks. Defensive lineman Toa Tuitea, Bo Moos, William Sutton and Lawrence Guy along with linebacker Jamarr Robinson each got to the quarterback.

Erickson singled out the performance of his secondary. “Our corners played well but I thought our safeties played really well. They’ve done that all spring. They’ve emerged. They’re playing the run good. I couldn’t be happier with [the defensive backs].”