5 takeaways from ASU’s loss at Oklahoma State
The Arizona State Sun Devils battled for three quarters but ran out of gas against No. 11 Oklahoma State in a loss 34-17 Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium in front of 54,949 spectators.
The Sun Devils (1-1) were in striking distance, down by just three points at 20-17 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. But the Cowboys (2-0) stretched the lead to double digits less than a minute later to put the visitors in the rear view mirror.
Our takeaways from the contest:
1. Third down conversions are an
issue
The Sun Devils converted only two of 13 tries and they failed on their first nine tries on Saturday. They converted for the first time in the contest with 2:29 left in the third quarter on a 10yard completion from Emory Jones to Giovanni Sanders.
Last week, ASU was just 4-for-13 in that department and that was against Northern Arizona. Offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas was asked about that earlier in the week and he explained that you have to really breakdown that number before reading too much into it because in the case of the opening game, ASU had a big lead and was just trying to run clock which didn’t always lend itself to working for the first down.
That’s fine but it was clearly an issue against a quality opponent and there are many of those coming up on the schedule, most notably the first two Pac-12 foes - Utah and USC. They have to do better to beat middle tier teams, much less the upper echelon ones.
2. Penalties still an issue, sort of
Much was made of ASU’s lack of discipline last season, one in which only two teams in all of FBS were called for fouls more often. Last week the Sun Devils had just four for 35 so that looked like a step in the right direction and this was their first try on the road which is where many of those issues surfaced last year.
This time the tally was 10 for 95 yards. But it was unusual in the fact that nine of the penalties came on defense. The lone offensive penalty was a delay of game and that didn’t come until the fourth quarter. The majority of the penalties were on competitive variety, pass interference, defensive holding. And yes there were some roughing the passer calls.
But those are a little easier to swallow than the procedural, pre-snap penalties that became all too common last season.
Edwards didn’t like the number of penalties but acknowledged the different nature of the ones that were the issue this time.
3. Defensive line needs to up the pressure
Last season the Sun Devils were second in the Pac-12 in sacks behind only Utah. Coaches on the defensive side of the ball haven’t always focused on the “number” of sacks because just getting pressure can be as important as getting the sacks.
Well thus far, they haven’t gotten enough of either. ASU has not managed a sack in two games thus far. The defense credited with four “quarterback hurries” against the Cowboys, two of those by Omarr Norman-Lott. Oklahoma State had 10.
4. Badger could emerge as top target
Sophomore Elijah Badger is one of those players that always seemed to have “potential” but through two games it is looking like he is on the verge of a breakthrough with 10 catches for 129 yards. He had a career high six on nine targets for 91 yards in the loss.
Messiah Swinson and Giovanni Sanders are tied for second with four catches each.
There is reason to believe this can continue with Badger still getting used to Jones as the new starting quarterback. Hopefully the two an build on the connection that seems to be developing.
Team showed some character
Last season the Sun Devils did not respond well to adversity and much of that was chalked up to team leadership.
The Sun Devils had a chance to show if they had matured last night when they went into the locker room at the half trailing 17-3. They had been up 3-0 after one quarter but surrendered 17 unanswered points in the second so momentum was not in their favor.
Down 14-3, a shanked punt gave the home team field position at the ASU 37 with 2:45 left in the half. ASU ended up holding the Cowboys to a field goal, a victory of sorts. But the momentum was clearly on the other side.
ASU was able to go into the locker room, regroup a bit, then came out and scored on their first possession of the half, going 75 yards in four plays, capped off by a 1-yard by Xazavian Valladay that cut the deficit to 20-10.
They scored again early in the fourth to get in striking distance at 20-17, only to falter down the stretch but the ability to battle back and make to a game was worth noting.