Kalen Ballage vs. Texas Tech: Stats, Highlights and Reaction

Arizona Sun Devils running back Kalen Ballage announced his presence with authority in the desert on Saturday night during his team's 68-55 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Sun Devil Stadium. 

Although he wasn't deployed as Arizona State's bell-cow back, Ballage erupted and tied the FBS record with eight total touchdowns, including seven on the ground, while serving as a game-breaking weapon as a rusher and receiver in the Sun Devils' second win of the season. 

Here's a look at the junior's complete stat line from Saturday's signature performance: 

Rushes	Rush Yds	Rush TD	Receptions	Rec. Yds	Rec. TD
13	137	7	2	48	1

Ballage's day started in fairly mundane fashion when he gave Arizona State a 16-14 lead early in the second quarter with a one-yard touchdown plunge, but things started to heat up as the frame progressed. 

Less than two minutes later, quarterback Manny Wilkins found Ballage streaking wide open down the right sideline to cap off a reverse flea-flicker with a 39-yard pitch-and-catch that served as the electric back's second score of the night, as the program's official Twitter account documented: 

Ballage added short-yardage scores of one and four yards before halftime to push his individual touchdown total to four, and 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard came away quite impressed with the youngster's toughness between the tackles: 

Ballage added a fifth touchdown on a two-yard run with eight minutes, 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter, and he set a new school record when he took a Wildcat snap and crashed into the end zone for his sixth tally of the evening: 

As College Football Talk noted, Ballage's touch-to-touchdown ratio was off the charts at the time of his record-setting score: 

Considering Ballage had eight career touchdowns in 23 games entering Saturday night, per Yahoo Sports' Dr. Saturday, those numbers were simply mind-numbing. 

They became even more incomprehensible when he bolted 75 yards for a share of two FBS records with his seventh rushing touchdown and eighth score overall, as shown by Fox College Football on Twitter:

That long-distance scamper brought out one absurd statistical nugget from USA Today's Paul Myerberg: 

Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman joined Myerberg with an outrageous comparison of his own: 

With a matchup against the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners on deck Friday, Ballage should be in position to add to his rapidly rising touchdown total before the Sun Devils' schedule takes a turn for tougher waters.

Once next week's showdown against the Roadrunners is a wrap, Arizona State will begin Pac-12 play against the California Golden Bears on Sept. 24, USC Trojans on Oct. 1 and UCLA Bruins on Oct. 8. 

And considering that three-game stretch could make or break the Sun Devils' hopes of competing for a Pac-12 South title, head coach Todd Graham should continue to lean on Ballage to do plenty of heavy lifting for his offense.