Devils looking for mass improvement
The Arizona State football team fell to 1-1 on the new season with a 34-17 loss to No. 11 Oklahoma State Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium.
The Sun Devils led 3-0 after the first quarter but trailed 17-3 at the half and never quite recovered.
“Felt like we gave ourselves a chance, especially in the third quarter. Defensively. We did a pretty nice job of slowing them down some. And the third quarter, I thought the offense came out — we talked about it at halftime to get back in the game. We were able to do that,” head coach Herm Edwards said. “We blew two coverages and let the guys go, gave them some easy scores. That’s tough, I thought offensively, we hit some big plays in the passing game. But we weren’t very good on third down, we were in a lot of third-and-longs, and it was tough to block them. “
Let’s review:
Offense
The Sun Devils registered 354 yards on 61 plays (5.8 ypp), down slightly from the 419 last week but ASU was playing a significantly better foe. Traditionally the recipe for success has been rushing for 200 yards or more and ASU was unable to do that with only 131 yards on 37 tries (3.5 ypc). Xazavian Valladay rushed for more than 100 yards for the second straight week with 118 on 21 carries.That appears solid but then take away 42 yards he had on the first play of the game and the 38 he had on another and that total is less impressive. QB Emory Jones was only 12-for-24 for 223 yards but take away the 62 he had on one play to Giovanni Sanders and that number too takes a hit. It wasn’t entirely his fault, though. He was under pressure the entire game with the offensive line not doing a good job of holding the fort against what is the Cowboys’ strong suit, the defensive line. Jones was sacked three times and under a lot of pressure the balance of the contest. Sanders had three catches for 94 yards while Elijhah Badger had six for 91 yards, marking career highs for both. There was one turnover, a fumble by Valladay, that Oklahoma State turned into a touchdown for a 7-3 lead in the second quarter. The most notable factor in the loss though was a 2-for-13 effort on third down conversions and ASU was 0-for-9 before making one. Combine that with last week’s 4-for-13 and that’s 6-for-26 (23.1%), which is the worst of any Pac-12 team. ASU was 2-for-2 in red zone chances with a touchdown and a field goal. The time of possession was nearly equal, 30:34 for ASU and 29:26 for Oklahoma State.
Grade: D+
Defense
The Sun Devils gave up 465 yards on 84 plays (5.5 ypp) which looks like a notso-great effort but ASU fared admirably for three quarters as it only trailed 20-10 going into the fourth. The Cowboys had a time of possession advantage of 10:33 to 4:27 in the final quarter and racked up 156 yards in that 15 minutes, largely because ASU was unable to move the ball on offense. The Cowboys also run a nohuddle, hurry up offense and the Sun Devils got worn down. They had 30 first downs, twice what ASU managed and went 6-for-15 on third downs and 4for-4 in the red zone with three touchdowns and a field goal. Senior LB Kyle Soelle was the individual standout with 16 tackles, an interception and a quarterback hurry. He had 10 of those tackles in the first half alone. S Chris Edmonds, NT Nesta Jade Silvera and LB Merlin Robertson each had six tackles with Silvera also forcing a fumble. DB Ro Torrence had three pass breakups. Most problematic here were penalties as eight of the 10 called on the Sun Devils came on this side of the ball. For the second week this unit did not manage a sack and did not get enough pressure on opposing QB Spencer Sanders. There were also two blown coverages that resulted very open receivers that resulted in touchdowns. This unit is capable of better but its still the strong suit of this team.
Grade: C
Special teams
Punter Eddie Czaplicki averaged 47.5 yards on eight attempts with three downed inside the 20. That is even more noteworthy given he shanked one that went for only 19 yards. His longest went for 75 yards and came with ASU at its own 25. The ball got a good roll and just barely dribbled over the goal line at the other end for a touchback. He had another that went for 49 yards and was downed at the 4 by George Hart, so other than the one miss, Czaplicki, who also handled kickoff duties, was stellar. Placekicker Carter Brown went 1-for-2 with a field goal from 27 yards that capped off ASU’s opening drive of the game. He later missed from 48 but is 5-for-6 on the season as a true freshman. There wasn’t anything extraordinary in the return game. D.J Taylor had two kickoff returns for 27 yards total as well as four punt returns that totaled only 23 yards. The best return actually came from Chris Edmonds who brought a punt out for 24 yards. It was his first try in that role. Cam Johnson had a punt return for nine yards. The coverage teams were adequate as the Cowboys had 22 yards on three punt returns and two kickoff returns for 27 yards.
Grade:
Personnel
The Sun Devils played without DE Michael Matus (knee), TE Jacob Newell (leg) and OL Joey Ramos (ankle), all of whom are out with season-ending injuries. In addition CB Ed Woods (undisclosed), Gharin Stansbury (hamstring) were unavailable. CB Timarcus Davis (knee), NB Jordan Clark (knee) and offensive lineman Des Holmes, all of whom missed the opener, returned to the lineup with Davis starting. ASU used a total of 56 players in the contest. Torrance and defensive end Joe Moore both left the game with apparent injuries but were able to return. The longest streak of consecutive games started belongs to center Ben Scott at 19 games. Fellow lineman Ladarius Henderson is second at 15 games.
Up Next
ASU returns home for its final nonconference game of the season coming against Eastern Michigan (1-1) at 8 p.m. Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium. This will be the first meeting between the schools.
Eastern Michigan is coming off a 49-21 loss to Louisiana.