ASU Football: Sun Devils’ gashed run defense plays culprit in embarrassing loss to Eastern Michigan

(Photo via Bec Striffler/WCSN)

On Saturday night, Arizona State Football suffered a surprising 30-21 loss to the Mid-American Conference’s Eastern Michigan. While ASU’s home field was marked with the Pac-12 Conference emblem, the opposing squad appeared to play more like the Power-five football team.

The Sun Devils struggled all night long, but their most glaring woes came from the defensive front. Despite its highly touted defensive line, ASU could not stop the run at any costs Saturday night.

“…They made some big yards on run plays,” head coach Herm Edwards said. “It wasn’t passing, it was the run game, and you’ve got to give them credit, they stuck to it, and the runner[s] did a good job, and that’s the ball game at the end of the day. That’s what it boiled down to.”

Through their first two games, the Eagles totaled a paltry 165 yards on the ground. They nearly matched that number in the first half Saturday, accumulating 154 rushing yards en route to a game total of 305 yards.

Senior running back Samson Evans carried the lion’s share for the Eagles. On 36 attempts, Evans torched ASU for 258 yards, smashing his previous career highs of 15 attempts and 89 yards. This was the first time in his collegiate career that the senior rushed for more than 100 yards in a game. With just over a minute left in the first half, Evans even added a rushing touchdown to his night to remember.

“He found the crease in the defense,” Edwards said. “…[Evans] did a good job of being patient, and the big lineman did a nice job with him, and he just kind of found little seams and just kept going. And he’s a big back. He didn’t go down easy. You had to hit him low. He bounced off some tackles. He did a good job running the football.”

In addition to career-high marks, Evans’ performance also carried him into the Eastern Michigan record books. His 258 yards are now third all-time in a single game for the Eagles. Evans was just 33 yards short of eclipsing the all-time single-game EMU record of 291 rushing yards.

It wasn’t just Evans who had his way with the Sun Devils’ front seven. Sophomore quarterback Austin Smith took over early in the second quarter after senior Taylor Powell suffered an undisclosed injury and immediately commanded the offense, picking up 55 yards with his legs.

Smith’s wheels presented more opportunities to take advantage of an already struggling ASU defensive line. The Eagles frequently utilized run-pass option plays, with the Sun Devil defenders often getting fooled on whether the ball was in Evans or Smith’s hands.

The speedy dual-threat quarterback exploded for several long rushes that were chock-full of missed tackles in all three levels of ASU’s defense.

“He can run,” Edwards said. “He’s a good runner, and he made a couple plays, one on the draw, third-and-long, he ran right up the middle on us, and then when he RPO’d it, sometimes he kept it, sometimes he didn’t, but he’s a good runner. He has speed too. He got on the edge a couple of times and hurt us with running. You’ve got to give him credit. [The] kid came in and did a really good job for them.”

Prior to the night, Smith had appeared in just two career games for the Eagles, compiling 16 yards passing and four yards rushing on one attempt each. On Saturday night, Smith took every opportunity to exploit ASU’s subpar defensive showing, adding 60 yards through the air and a passing touchdown on a perfectly lofted ball to senior receiver Hassan Beydoun in the back of the end zone.

The defensive performance by ASU was a stark contrast to the one spectators witnessed last time the Sun Devils played at home in week one. In what could be described as a tune-up contest against NAU, the Sun Devils held tight for an impressive 23 yards allowed on the ground.

ASU’s poor presentation Saturday was more of an embodiment of last week’s 34-17 loss to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys’ offensive line manhandled ASU’s front seven, clearing the way for Spencer Sanders and company to earn 197 rushing yards in addition to two rushing touchdowns.

EMU’s offensive line treated the Sun Devil front in much of the same way. The Eagles’ big bodies tossed the Sun Devils aside with little to no struggle. Evans and Smith routinely broke through the first two levels of the defense without being touched, putting pressure on the secondary to make a tackle in the open field.

When the test presented itself, EMU consistently won the battle.

“It’s about gap responsibility, and when we don’t play in the gap,” Edwards said. “There’s some seams. [Evans] did a nice job at times cutting it all the way back, winding it back and then [putting] it on the safety in the box. But the runner did a good job, and their offensive line did a good job.”

Despite the talent differential between Oklahoma State and Eastern Michigan, the result was still the same. Following both games, the Sun Devils walked away with more questions than answers about who this team really is.

With a matchup against conference foe No. 14 Utah on the horizon, the recent lapses by ASU’s defense – especially up front – are cause for concern for a team looking to prove doubters wrong.

“They played hard, and they played better than us,” Edwards said. “They deserved to win, bottom line. That’s it. That’s football. You’ve got to give them credit. They did a good job … They were going to run the football until we stopped them, and we didn’t stop them.”