Takeaways: Sun Devils stumble on road against Cincinnati

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

In last week’s upset victory over then No. 16 Utah, the scene at Mountain America Stadium was like a movie. Head coach Kenny Dillingham disappeared into a crowd of fans as students flooded the field.

It was as entertaining as a game could be. One week later, instead of a feature film, Arizona State football looked sluggish in a Saturday matinee game that started at 9:00 a.m. MST. Although they prepared for the time change all week, the Sun Devils (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) couldn’t overcome the absence of redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt, falling to Cincinnati (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) 24-14.

Despite the early kickoff, ASU got off to as good of a start as possible. Senior running back Cam Skattebo touched the ball three times in the first six plays, including a touchdown score from two yards out. However, the Sun Devils scored just seven points the rest of the way, as senior quarterback Jeff Sims failed to move the ball efficiently.

“I think our guys were ready to play,” Dillingham said of the early start. “I’m not going to use that as an excuse. We got our butt kicked. It’s gonna happen. It’s football.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Sun Devil offense sputters without Leavitt.

As mentioned above it would have been hard to dream up a better start for Dilligham and the Devils. After a quick three-and-out, Sims moved the offense down the field efficiently, including a scramble to get ASU down to the two-yard line where Skattebo finished the job.

Additionally, sophomore defensive back Keith Abney II picked off Cincinnati sophomore quarterback Brendan Sorsby on the Bearcats’ second drive. Everything was looking up, and ASU had a chance to ride the momentum of the pick to an early two possession lead, but on the first play of the following offensive drive, the normally sure handed Skattebo had the ball punched out. Cincinnati fell on it.

It was Skattebo’s first lost fumble of the year and it set up the Bearcats in prime field position to tie the game. Two plays later Sorsby scrambled into the end zone for a 14-yard score.

7-7, and a whole new ballgame.

From that point on, it was all Cincinnati, especially in the first half. For the remainder of the first half, the ASU defense allowed 24 unanswered points, and the ASU offense’s best drive gained just 24 yards. ASU didn’t convert a single third down and even failed on two fourth downs.

Despite ASU offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo claiming that he ‘didn’t have to change any of the offense, which is great,’ its appeared there was a little bit of distrust in the Nebraska transfer. On two separate thirds and 10s, Sims ran what looked to be a designed QB run instead of airing it out downfield. But Dillingham took the blame off of his quarterback.

“You have to be aggressive on shots (against Cincinnati), and we weren’t extending enough drives to be aggressive,” Dillingham said. “When you don’t convert a third down or you don’t convert the fourth downs, you get stalled out, and when we got stalled out, then you can’t be aggressive.”

With ASU down multiple possessions for all of the second half, Sims completed just seven of his 14 passes for 99 yards over the final 30 minutes

“He didn’t turn the football over,” Dillingham said of Sims’ game. “We got to play better around him. We gotta play better as a football team. We got to coach better. All around, we didn’t play great as a football team today.”

Dillingham said earlier this week that there was some optimism that Leavitt could be back after the bye, and Saturday’s game shows that is crucial for the success of the Sun Devils.

Late Down Struggles

The Sun Devils weren’t a spectacular third-down team by any means heading into Cincinnati. Through the first half of the season, ASU went 36-for-83 (43.4%) in such scenarios, good for the eight-highest success rate in the Big 12. Its 61.5% clip on fourth downs were also middle-of-the-pack in the conference.

All of those stats went out the window on Saturday.

ASU was just 4-for-12 (33.3%) on third downs against the Bearcats — tied for its worst conversion rate in a game this season. Dillingham only went for it on fourth down twice, but his team fell short both times.

Being aggressive on offense was by design. Cincinnati possessed the ball for nearly 10 more minutes than the Sun Devils and has been a strong possession team for the entire season. But on Saturday, those gambles simply didn’t pay off.

“(On) the first fourth-and-3 we’re around midfield,” Dillingham said. “Fourth-and-4 was technically a go from the book, I don’t usually use the book. We wanted to be aggressive there knowing they were good on offense, look at their time of possession… Too many drives stalled around that 40 (yard line) to 40 (yard line) range for us.”

Right off the bat, this wasn’t an issue. ASU didn’t even face a third down on its first two drives, which ended in a touchdown and fumble from Skattebo respectively. But once the late-down scenarios began emerging for the Sun Devils, it quickly became clear that they were in for a long day.

In the first two situations, Dillingham’s squad needed at least eight yards to move the chains. An eight-yard scamper from Sims wasn’t enough to convert the first time, and although he connected with junior tight end Chamon Metayer on third-and-3 on the next drive, the gain was called back due to an illegal shift. One play later, Sims was sacked for nine yards.

Early on, the Sims keepers on third down just weren’t working. He rushed the ball twice on third down during the second quarter, coming up short each time. He connected with redshirt sophomore Jordyn Tyson when facing third-and-6, but the five-yard pass wasn’t enough to move the sticks. At the end of the first half, ASU was 0-for-5 on third downs and 0-for-7 on late downs.

Things did get better in the second half as ASU managed to convert on three occasions, two of which came via Sims passes. But what makes the lack of success on third down for the offense was the job the Sun Devils’ defense did in its own third down scenarios, holding the Bearcats to three conversions in 12 attempts.

Special teams aren’t off the hook, either. Although the punting was solid with freshman Kanyon Floyd averaging 42.5 yards on four boots, redshirt sophomore Ian Hershey struggled, missing both of his field goal attempts — each coming from at least 41 yards. He shanked both tries, prompting Dillingham to look elsewhere for a kicker.

“Our kicking game’s atrocious,” Dillingham said. “If you can kick and are at Arizona State, email me. We’re going to have kicking tryouts on Monday. Bring it on, kicking tryouts Monday, and let’s go.”

Rushing Woes On Both Sides Of The Ball

Cincinnati had a great day on the ground, accruing 191 yards on 38 carries and scoring all three of its touchdowns on rushes Saturday. It was par for the course, as the Bearcats and ASU are averaging an identical 4.9 yards per carry, tied for the sixth-most in the Big 12.

ASU has faced several talented backs over its first six games, including Texas State’s Ismail Mahdi, Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks and Kansas’ Devin Neal. However, in the Queen City, the Sun Devil defense had their worst day of the season against the rush, allowing a season-high 191 yards on the ground with senior running back Corey Kiner recording 99 alone.

Kiner always seemed to find a hole in ASU’s defense and had two rushes of over 18 yards. He finished the day without a touchdown, but that’s where Sorsby and redshirt junior Evan Pryor came in.

The sophomore quarterback only had 26 yards on seven carries, but punched in two scores for the Bearcats. Pryor recorded 67 yards, largely thanks to a 55-yard house call early in the second quarter.

On the flip side, ASU largely struggled to run the ball despite two touchdowns from senior running back Cam Skattebo. A birds-eye view indicates the Sun Devils’ rushing attack was strong, as it logged 191 yards to match Cincinnati’s total. However, it only mustered 56 yards on the ground in the first half, and aside from 63 rushing yards in the third quarter, the run was largely ineffective against the Bearcats.

Dillingham attributed these struggles to a variety of factors, including physicality, but ultimately took the blame for the lackluster performance on the ground.

“We’ve got to put our guys in the best position to be successful,” Dillingham said. “They had a few movement games in which we ended up four-man pushing some runs into some things, which is my fault. We’ve got to get that cleaned up… They did a good job… It all starts with myself, it all starts with the staff, and we’ve got to do a better job of getting our guys ready to play.”