ASU Football: Defense must set the tone to prevent early deficits

(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)

The opponent’s opening drive in the past two games for Arizona State have resulted in the same story. They take control of the ball, drive down the throat of the Sun Devil defense with a mix of downfield throws and power runs, and they punch it in for six. It happened against UCLA. It happened again against USC.

“[It’s a] lack of details and just the little things,” sophomore safety Aashari Crosswell said. “Not lining up on time and they have been killing us. We just got to get ready and line up. I think offenses have been making big-time plays on us because we haven’t been lining up fast enough.”

Conceding an opening drive touchdown is not necessarily the end of the world for any team. However, Arizona State’s offense is not good enough to make up for the early lapses on defense. It scored seven points in three first quarter drives vs UCLA and vs USC. The problem is that UCLA put up 14 points and USC put up 28 points and 315 yards in the first quarter, digging the Devils into a quick hole. It’s unfair for the offense to play catch-up when the defense is letting down.

“We got to help out the offense just like how they have been helping us,” Crosswell said. “They bailed us out sometimes too. We just got to get back to our groove when we were locking down and not giving up a lot of points. Once we get back to that groove, we’re going to start winning some games.”

Arizona State’s offense has indeed picked up the slack when the defense makes stops in the second half, but by then, it’s already too late. The Bruins sealed the deal by putting up 42 points in three quarters before a meaningless 22-point fourth quarter Devils onslaught, and the Trojans already established a firm grasp of the game with 28 first quarter points, making it difficult for ASU to come back from.

Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales knows his defense needs to simply play better right from the first snap. 

“We can’t start slow,” Gonzales said. “We’ve done some things in practice to remedy that. We’ve done some different things in meetings to remedy that. When you make mistakes, that’s stuff killing us right now. We got to coach them better and get them to execute. If they execute, it’s a completely different outcome. But that’s not where we’re at yet.”

Despite holding the Trojans to three points after the first quarter last weekend, redshirt-junior cornerback Chase Lucas knows that number should be less than three.

“Our job is to hold them to zero,” Lucas said. “That’s the biggest thing and coach Danny [Gonzales] says to hold them to one less point. Even if you look at the goods in the three points in three quarters, we got to look at how we didn’t start the way we wanted to, and we still lost because of us.”

Last year’s theme was coming out slow in the third quarter after halftime. The theme from the past couple of games is starting sluggish right from kickoff. While some players like Crosswell think they know why they’re starting slow, other players are still trying to figure it out.

“Honestly, we’ve had great practices,” Lucas said. “We’ve come out swinging. I don’t know what the formula is, but we’re going to figure it out this coming Saturday.”

What the defense is emphasizing come Saturday against Oregon State is that they must set the tone for the team in order to get back to winning ways. The ASU offense, while it has had its flashy moments, is still 10th in the Pac-12 in total offense and points per game. It is not a consistent threat to score on every drive. 

With a defense that is young but has talent, it must return to early season form and keep opponents from lighting up the scoreboard early. It all starts this Saturday in Corvallis.

“I feel like if we start out fast this game, this will be a good win for us on the road and it’s going to be a big game for us,” Crosswell said. “I’m tired of losing. We can’t act like we have been winning because we have lost back-to-back-to-back. We all got to be on the same page, be disciplined, and ready to go for Saturday.”

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