ASU Football: With rival Arizona looming, Sun Devils’ issues still abound

(Photo: Dom Contini/WCSN)

Even as self-imposed struggles continue to haunt Arizona State Football (7-4, 5-3 Pac-12 Conference) while Arizona (1-10, 1-7 Pac-12) has had another poor season, ASU head coach Herm Edwards said that records don’t matter this week. After all, this is not his first Territorial Cup.

“Obviously I’ve been involved in this [for] four years,” Edwards said. “It’s one that the more you get involved in it, the more you understand the passion of the fans and the players.

“You understand how important it is.”

In his weekly media availability on Monday, Edwards also said he plans on showing his players the history of the Cup and will bring in former players, as he has done for his whole tenure at ASU.

Even though Arizona has one win in the past two seasons, it could arguably be the Sun Devils that have been more disappointing. Despite holding a winning record, they’ve seemingly fell short of expectations, and with each win – and even within some wins – the Sun Devils have somehow taken a step back in the following weeks.

One main ingredient that has described this has been the Sun Devils’ continual issue with false starts. In its 24-10 loss against Oregon State, ASU had seven false start penalties. Edwards was seemingly frustrated on Monday, saying he and the coaching staff have done all they can.

“We got to do a better job of just concentrating,” Edwards said. “That’s all you can do. I can’t do anymore. I can’t coach it. You practice it, and that’s what you do. You practice, ‘Don’t false start. There’s a snap count.’”

Edwards also said that jumping the count has been a problem not just with his team, but with all of college football as well. Through conversations with other coaches, he said it’s “the big thing on the ticket right now” and that the NCAA will have to look at what defenders can say as they move along the line of scrimmage.

While it is known that the Sun Devils have had consistent troubles with the passing game, Edwards also provided a new reason for why junior quarterback Jayden Daniels continues to struggle.

“I told Jayden when he first became a starter his freshman year, [he] had a pretty good receiver,” Edwards said. “His name was Brandon Aiyuk – first round pick. And that can bail you out. We don’t have that guy yet. We have some good players, but they’re young. A lot of them with not a lot of experience. These guys have been in and out of the lineup, I mean … I’m not making excuses, but that’s the reality of it.”

In addition to losing redshirt junior wide receiver Geordon Porter to the transfer portal earlier this season, the Sun Devils were without redshirt freshman Johnny Wilson and redshirt sophomore Andre Johnson for the game against Oregon State. Also out were the Sun Devils’ top two tight ends – senior Curtis Hodges and redshirt freshman Jalin Conyers – who were involved in a car accident near the practice facility last Thursday.

Similar to records, all side conversations can seemingly melt away for the Territorial Cup.

“You understand the impact of it all when you’re out there playing,” Edwards said. “You can feel the electricity whether we go down there (Tucson) or they come up here (Tempe). You can just feel it – it’s a different feeling because of the history of it all and how many people are involved in this.”

At the same time, Edwards also recognized Arizona’s play and the job that first-time head coach Jedd Fisch has done with the program. Fisch, coming from being the quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots, has overtaken a young squad that has played several Pac-12 teams tough this year – most notably No. 16 ranked Utah and No. 11 Oregon.

“They run a little bit of the New England offense,” Edwards said. “Which is multidimensional in what they do, with players [and] how they attack different defenses. He’s kind of building a program there – you can see it. They play very hard in all three phases of football, they really do. And they’re very competitive. … It’s a hard task, but [Fisch] has done a really good job.”

Even with the ongoing issues, Edwards noted that ASU can still get to eight wins and have a chance to sit near the top of the Pac-12. If the Sun Devils can do that, it will ease a bumpy season filled with several emotions, and Edwards described them quite well.

“There’s been some highs, there’s been some – I wouldn’t say lows – [but] there’s been some ‘Wow,’” Edwards said. “And that’s football. I think if you look at our conference, every coach would say that, whether [it be] the [Pac-12] South or the [Pac-12] North, they would all say, ‘Oh, there’s been some ‘Wow[s]!’ and there’s been some ‘Really[s]?””