(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)
The Sun Devils find themselves trying to bounce back yet again following their loss to Utah, and the bye week could prove to be a turning point for them. With 11 days off it gives the players and coaches plenty of time to rest physically and mentally, as they face yet another challenge when Oregon comes to Tempe on October 29.
At Wednesday’s practice, the coordinators spoke for the first time since the loss and are looking forward to the challenge Oregon brings.
Sputtering offense
The offensive unit for ASU didn’t score a point in the loss to Utah, and offensive coordinator Mike Norvell said a lot of it is because of they didn’t capitalize on certain chances.
“We missed some opportunities,” Norvell said. “We’re playing a good defense and you can’t go out there and leave points out on the board.”
While missed opportunities can come from plenty of things, Norvell said a lot of it could have been fixed with better execution.
“You look at a couple key plays in the game we had two drops in the end zone, we have a 30 to 35 yard explosive play right there before half called back because of illegal formation, and we had a couple procedure penalties,” Norvell said. “Those are things that if you’re playing in a championship level game if you don’t go out there and execute and make the plays and if you’re doing things to hurt yourself it’s going to put yourself in a very hard position to win against a very good football team.”
Playing in one of the loudest stadiums the Sun Devils will likely play in all year, Utah’s rabid fan base made it harder on the offense to communicate like it usually does. In a game with such high stakes, as well as pouring rain, communication is all the more important.
“I thought we need to do a better job with some of our communication,” Norvell said. “Playing in a hostile environment we had some things that we weren’t all on the same page out on the field with some of the checks that we made.”
Undone in the fourth quarter
The defense is a whole different story, as they had another dominant performance for most of the game until the fourth quarter came around and it was too late.
Leading into this game, the Sun Devil defense held its last three opponents to under 100 rushing yards. It looked like it would be a similar story in the Utah game until senior running back Devontae Booker broke loose at the end.
Defensive coordinator Keith Patterson is not only pleased with the run defense, but has also expected it.
“I’ve said it since game one, I felt like since (Texas) A&M we have dominated the line of scrimmage,” Patterson said. ”It doesn’t surprise me. I’ve said it and we put a major emphasis on it last spring…Our kids have great confidence in stopping the run.”
The one major thing we haven’t seen as much from this defense compared to last season is the production of turnovers. ASU has forced nine turnovers this year which is last in the Pac-12.
“The only thing you can do in practice I think is you have to put an emphasis on it,” Patterson said. ”We sometimes say we’re putting an emphasis on it but I mean really holding players accountable to attacking the ball, holding kids accountable too if you drop an interception in practice, there’s got to be a consequence.”
While there may be a sense of urgency on both sides of the ball in trying to win more games, it could be a whole lot worse, and Patterson recognizes that.
“That’s why you play 12 games, there’s still five games left to play. Trust me, we’ve been in worse predicaments than what we’re in right now and what we’re trying to get them to understand is let’s be diligent, let’s make sure that we pay attention to the detail of the little things, and that’s going to be the difference in some of these games.”
