(Photo via Bec Striffler/WCSN)
TEMPE — Coming into the season, Arizona State Football’s defense gave fans every reason to believe they could be an effective unit during Kenny Dillingham’s first year at the helm in Tempe.
Throughout fall camp and the practices leading up to the 2023 campaign, defensive coordinator Brian Ward’s group routinely outplayed its counterparts, wreaking havoc in the trenches and making things difficult for the skill players on offense. While its stats weren’t eye-popping during the season opener against Southern Utah, the Sun Devils’ defense showed promise in the 24-21 win, keeping the Thunderbirds’ attack at bay as it attempted to pull off a late-game comeback.
While ASU (1-1) fell in a 27-15 defeat to Oklahoma State (2-0) on Saturday at Mountain America Stadium, its defense frequently made big plays and stalled Cowboys’ drives to keep the game competitive heading into the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
But even with the strong performance on the night, there was still something left to be desired, as the Sun Devils were unable to secure their second win of 2023.
“We obviously got to be better,” graduate linebacker Tre Brown said. “You see the points on the board, and we lost, so there’s always something to improve from as far as defense. But we played hard, we played with effort, we played with a good respect.”
And the defense didn’t require much time to make an impact. After being held to 10 plays and no points across their first two drives, the Cowboys began to find their groove on their third go-around on offense, moving into Sun Devil territory from their own 33-yard line.
However, on third-and-10, junior defensive lineman B.J. Green exploded off the line of scrimmage and flattened OSU’s redshirt senior quarterback Alan Bowman for a seven-yard sack, abruptly thwarting a Pokes’ drive and preventing them from responding to an ASU touchdown scored on the prior series. That wouldn’t nearly be the last OSU’s offense saw of Green, as the 6-foot-1, 270-pound lineman finished the night with two sacks, three tackles for loss and three quarterback hurries.
“[Green]’s been a phenomenal player for us all fall camp, all spring,” Dillingham said. “He’s a great worker. He’s got great energy, I’m glad I have him on our team, and I’m glad to coach him.”
But it wasn’t just Green creating chaos behind the line of scrimmage. ASU’s entire defense terrorized the Cowboys’ running backs during the first 30 minutes, holding OSU to zero net rushing yards on twelve attempts. All three of the Sun Devils’ sacks on the night came in the first half, as redshirt junior Prince Dorbah and Brown combined to bring down redshirt sophomore quarterback Gunnar Gundy midway through the second quarter.
In addition to the three sacks, the ASU defense logged six tackles for loss and six quarterback hurries. Things wouldn’t go as well during the second half, with the Pokes accumulating 113 yards on the ground during the final two quarters. However, it didn’t help that the Sun Devil offense struggled to sustain drives, limiting the breaks ASU’s defense had between trips out on the field.
“Defensive line did a really nice job getting to the backfield,” Dillingham said. “First half, we did a phenomenal job stopping the run. Second half, they leaned on us a little bit, which is unfortunate, and part of that is we couldn’t keep our defense off the field. … They started leaning on us and it showed, so we got to do a better job on offense keeping the defense off the field and then defensively, getting off the field.”
Even with short periods of rest throughout the second half, the Sun Devils’ defense kept the game within reach for as long as it could.
With OSU leading 17-15 in the third quarter, freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada threw an ill-advised pass that resulted in an interception, and the Cowboys regained control of the football in ASU’s half of the field. While the Pokes managed to advance to the 32-yard line, the defense ultimately stood tall and forced OSU to try a 49-yard field goal — an attempt that would prove unsuccessful and keep the Sun Devils within two points.
ASU’s defense delivered similarly during the fourth. After the Cowboys moved from their own 43-yard line to the Sun Devils’ six-yard line — elapsing five minutes and 28 seconds in the process and moving the game clock under eight minutes — ASU put together three straight stops to hold the opposition to three points and remain within a score with time winding down.
While the Sun Devils ultimately couldn’t stymie Oklahoma State’s attack, Green acknowledged his defense’s success on the night, highlighting the importance of never deviating from the game plan.
“We just had to stay consistent, stick to the script we had,” Green said. “It’s not a loss, but it’s a lesson. Just sharing the importance of that and just being consistently good, not occasionally great. There’s great moments in there, but we have to be consistent in everything we do.”
