Graham: Latest victory best so far
After watching film from Saturday’s 53-24 win over No. 20 Washington, Arizona State coach Todd Graham agreed with his postgame assessment: That may have been the Sun Devils’ most complete effort in his 20 games as head coach.
“I think the USC game (a 62-41 win) was a pretty good performance, too, but we dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides against Washington,” Graham said. “It’s probably the most dominating performance we’ve had. The USC game and this game showed our potential. We just have to keep getting better, and I think we are.”
Entering an off week, ASU (5-2
and 3-1 in the Pac-12) has a half-game lead over UCLA in the Pac-12 South. With 10 days before they travel to Washington State on Halloween night, they have time to clean up some issues, including:
» Getting healthy: ASU is in decent shape here, but a week off will help, particularly Jaelen Strong.
The sophomore receiver — ASU’s top big-play threat — left Saturday’s win with an ankle injury. Late in the first half he tried to join his teammates on offense, but ASU’s coaches pulled him back. Graham said Strong’s injury wasn’t serious, and he could’ve played had the Sun Devils needed him.
Others in need of time: Sophomore wide receiver Rick Smith, who sat out Saturday’s contest after getting “dinged” last week in practice, and sophomore nose tackle Mo Latu, who has missed time for personal reasons.
» Evaluating the Spur position: Through seven games, ASU hasn’t gotten much production from its Spur linebacker. Last year, Chris Young played the hybrid linebacker/ defensive back position and posted 14 tackles for loss. This season, the Sun Devils haven’t been as strong.
With Young moving to weak-side linebacker, senior Anthony Jones has started five times at Spur. But the Sun Devils have explored different options, trying several players — including red shirt-freshman Carlos Mendoza, sophomore Antonio Longino and redshirt-freshman Viliami Moeakiola — at spur in practice.
Another possibility: Marcus Ball, who has missed all season with an upper-body injury suffered during the Camp Tontozona scrimmage. Before his injury, Ball practiced with the first team at free safety. But with junior Damarious Randall playing well there, Graham — who considers Ball one of his best 11 on defense — said he’d like to try Ball at Spur once he’s cleared medically to return.
» Clean up special teams: Credit special-teams coordinator Joe Lorig. After a poor start, ASU has improved. But there’s still work to do, starting with punting.
Through seven games, ASU has used four players (junior Dom Vizzare, freshman Matt Haack, senior Alex Garoutte and junior quarterback Taylor Kelly) to punt the football. Not surprisingly, the Sun Devils rank last among FBS teams in net punting at 30.4 yards.
No coincidence: ASU has won all four games in which it has won the field-position battle. Also, they need more production on punt returns.
Graham knows the road won’t get easier.
“Every week will be a challenge,” he said. “We can’t look past anybody. We control our own destiny. We got to go win this next one, and then you look to the next one. We talk about being undefeated at home as a minimum expectation to win the league, and then you have to go win on the road.”
Extra points
Senior running back Marion Grice has scored a nation-high 18 touchdowns, the same number that Florida, California and Virginia have scored as a team. Grice’s total is two more than North Carolina State has scored all season.
» ASU’s rush defense ranked 76th nationally entering the Washington game. After limiting the Huskies to minus-5 rushing yards, the Sun Devils now rank 44th.