Arizona State football's season opener against Southern Utah Thursday at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe was delayed due to bad weather.

The game was delayed for two hours and 36 minutes before play returned to start the third quarter after 11:16 p.m. PT. The Sun Devils were leading at halftime, 21-7, before the game was delayed.

Fans were instructed to leave Mountain America Stadium. There needed to be no lightning for 30 straight minutes within eight miles of the stadium for the game to resume, Sun Devil Source’s Chris Karpman said.

After two hours of updates, Arizona State returned to the field with an eight-minute warmup before the second half began.

Arizona State had 224 yards of offense and scored 14 straight points to end the half against Southern Utah. The Sun Devils started a true freshman at quarterback, Jaden Rashada, for just the second time in school history. He completed 12-of-16 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns.

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Rashada’s best play of the half was a 47-yard touchdown to wide receiver Xavier Guillory on fourth-and-8. Guillory is Arizona State’s leading receiver in the game with four receptions for 68 yards.

According to Arizona State’s media relations, Rashada has the third-most passing yards by a Sun Devil quarterback in their first game. When the game resumes, Rashada has a chance to pass Joey Yellen’s 292 yards from 2019.

Arizona State football is in its first season under coach Kenny Dillingham, who is the first alumni to be a head coach of the program. Dillingham was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Oregon this past season.

The Sun Devils are in the midst of a one-year self-imposed postseason ban. They did this amid an NCAA investigation into the program’s recruiting practices under former coach Herm Edwards.