ASU Football: Huge test awaiting Sun Devils as No. 15 Michigan State rolls into town

(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)

Herm Edwards and the Arizona State football team passed their first test of the 2018 season against the UTSA Roadrunners. Ignoring all of the scheme failures and mental mistakes that coaches always look to correct following any game, the Sun Devils came out of week one with a 49-7 victory.

All those who sport the pitchfork know that a much more complete effort will be needed this weekend when the No. 15 Michigan State Spartans roll into Sun Devil Stadium, looking to claim Tempe as their own.

For Edwards, the challenge that Michigan State poses to his team is one that goes beyond the play between the white lines.

“This is a very very good football team. We understand that. They’re very well-coached, and they relish moments like this,” Edwards said. “They’re used to getting national exposure, they’re used to playing in nationally televised games, because they’ve been so good for so many years.”

With a one-game sample size to judge both teams off of ahead of Saturday night’s blackout game in Tempe, the numbers can definitely be deceiving when looking at the final scores and opponents.

In its 38-31 win over Utah State, a member of the Mountain West Conference, Michigan State out-gained the Aggies in total yards 452-344, including 165-25 in total rushing yards. That figure contributed mightily to the near 37 minutes of possession for head coach Mark Dantonio’s squad.

Comparatively, the Sun Devils out-gained the Roadrunners 503-220 but lost the time of possession battle by only holding the ball for 27:39. Despite producing six touchdown drives, none of them lasted more than 3:27.

Edwards highlighted the lack of possession as his biggest emphasis to the offense in the week of preparation.

“We didn’t sustain enough drives, and I say that as you’re playing the seventh-ranked defense in the country, but that’s the truth,” Edwards said. “We had some big plays, but we have to have sustainable drives. And you’re not going to get big chunks against these guys. Every possession is critical, every yard is critical. They don’t give you extra yards.”

Moving over to the defensive side of the ball, defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales finally got to unleash his 3-3-5 system last Saturday night and saw flashes of excellence, as the unit finished the night with 15 tackles for loss to go along with nine sacks and three turnovers.

UTSA was held off the scoreboard until 6:03 remained in the fourth quarter, five of their 13 total drives ended in three-and-outs, and perhaps most impressively, were held to just two total rushing yards compared to ASU’s 225.

For Gonzales, that type of performance against the run is going to be all the more critical against a Michigan State team with an offensive line that averages 6’4″ and 300 lbs.

“Michigan State’s deal is they want to run the ball, they want to shorten the game, they want to pound you and pound you and pound you,” Gonzales said. “So if you want to have any success you can’t let them run the ball. We’re gonna play hard and try to make them throw it, and when they throw it hopefully we can make some plays in coverage.”

“Do I think we’ll have nine sacks? No. Did I think we were going to have nine sacks last Saturday? No. So give the players credit because they did an outstanding job of getting to the quarterback.”

The quarterback Gonzales will be facing this weekend seems primed to pose more problems to his unit than Cordale Grundy last week, in Spartan junior and Phoenix’s own Pinnacle High School graduate, Brian Lewerke.

In his second season as the starter in East Lansing, Lewerke has already made quite the impression on the ASU coaching staff as a whole, particularly Gonzales, as he comes off a sophomore campaign where he threw for 2793 yards and 20 touchdowns. Against Utah State, Lewerke finished 23-33 for 287 yards and two touchdowns.

“I think he’s a really special football player,” Gonzales said. “He’s really good with his feet, he has great pocket presence, he spins out of trouble, it’s almost like he has eyes in the back of his head. He knows where you’re coming from and he spins in the right direction. We’ve got to get to him and keep him in the pocket, and not let him extend plays. He can really hurt you if he does that.”

This will be the biggest non-conference game for Arizona State since the 2014 season, when as the No. 9 team in the country they hosted the No. 10 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a 55-31 thrashing.

For Edwards, this match-up can either springboard his Sun Devils into the national conversation, or provide them with a tough lesson on how far they still have to come.

“In the National Football League, you say it’s the first four games to figure out who you are… college football it’s probably two,” Edwards said. “Second game going into your third game you’re going to have a pretty good idea of maybe what you are… we’ll see.”

NEWS AND NOTES

-Senior linebacker Jay Jay Wilson will be in uniform Saturday after serving a suspension for a violation of team rules that cause him to miss the UTSA game. This week at practice he was seen running with the second-team defense.

-Starting right guard Steve Miller was absent at practice this week due to “personal issues”. Coach Edwards was unclear on as of Wednesday if Miller would be good to go by Saturday, and pegged Cade Cote or Zach Robertson as potential substitutes

Bobby Kraus is a football beat writer for the Walter Cronkite Sports Network. You can follow him on Twitter @bobbykraus22