Arizona State defense shows promise
No. 20 USC, with its version of an Air Raid offense under offensive coordinator and former Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell, put up 556 yards Saturday against Arizona State.
But it still required a pair of late touchdowns, both on fourth down plays, with a recovered onside kick in between for the Trojans to overcome what total yardage aside was a mostly promising first outing under ASU co-defensive coordinators Marvin Lewis and Antonio Pierce.
Lewis and Pierce are replacing Danny Gonzales, now head coach at New Mexico. Lewis, at ASU last season as an analyst, has extensive NFL experience including 16 years as a head coach in Cincinnati. Pierce, who played in the NFL for nine seasons, is going into his third year at ASU.
Their defense, a system with four down lineman and four in the secondary compared to Gonzales’ 3-3-5, came up with four takeaways (three fumble recoveries, one interception), three quarterback sacks, seven tackles for loss and six pass breakups.
But in the final five minutes, up 24-17, the Sun Devils couldn’t either get to USC quarterback Kedon Slovis of Scottsdale or prevent him from completing touchdown passes on fourth-and-13 (with 2:52 remaining) and fourth-and-9 (1:20).
“We got off the field and were able to pressure the quarterback some,” ASU coach Herm Edwards said. “We got one tipped ball in the end zone and they catch it. The last touchdown we were in pretty good coverage, and we don’t make the play. The drive to set that up, one of our guys fell down and they hit a big pass play on us. There were multiple opportunities to close the game out defensively, and we just fell a little short.”
Safety Evan Fields made a career high 17 tackles (10 solo) and stripped the ball from USC running back Markese Stepp
after what would have been a fourthand-1 conversion with six minutes left. Linebacker Merlin Robertson recovered, but ASU could not add to its 13-point lead.
Fields also forced another fumble as did cornerback Chase Lucas.
“We executed our game plan for the most part, but we’ve got to finish,” Fields said.
Robertson had 10 tackles and senior safety DeAndre Pierce, a transfer from Boise State playing in his first ASU game, added nine as did linebacker Kyle Soelle.
Pierce played ahead of Aashari Cross
well, a two-year starter.
Cornerback Jack Jones missed some time in the second half due to cramps, giving redshirt freshman Jordan Clark more playing time.
Defensive tackle Jermayne Lole, named to the All Pac-12 preseason first team, was a force up front and in pressuring Slovis, also a preseason firstteamer. Lole had 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss and two pass breakups.
USC was 7-of-19 on third down and 5of-8 on fourth.
In addition to Robertson, Pierce and Tyler Johnson, who also had some physical issues during the game, recovered
fumbles.
ASU punter Michael Turk averaged 51.6 yards on five kicks, pinning the Trojans inside their 20-yard line three times.
USC, an 11-point favorite at home in the season opener for both teams, led 7-3 in the first quarter and 14-10 in the second then not again only 80 seconds remained. The Trojans ran 95 plays, 34 more than ASU, and had a nine-minute edge in time of possession.
“I don’t think we ran out of gas,” Fields said. “We’ve just got to do a better job of mental toughness. That’s what it all comes down to.”