ASU Football: What We Learned

In taking a second look at the ASU victory in Boulder against Colorado, here are some observations about this football team:

1)  There are Holes in the Defense

Colorado put up 545 yards of offense on the Sun Devils.  Many of those yards came on big runs between the tackles.  It is clear that some assignment issues were present for that young ASU defense.  It appears that some of the linebackers are stalking the wrong gaps.  The fact that Laiu Moeakiola went down with an arm injury early in this game probably had something to do with the defense getting gashed the way it did.  Laiu is the captain of that front seven.  His leadership was clearly missed.

As far as the secondary is concerned, they were a little more solid defending the pass.  They did give up two touchdown passes to the Buffaloes, but both of those were actually defended pretty well.  They were just perfect throws from Colorado QB Sefo Liufau. Again, it didn’t help that Liufau had lots of time to throw the ball.

2)  The Offensive Line is Tough

The Sun Devils once again ran the ball very well.  Offensive coordinator Mike Norvelle incorporated some old school pulling guards to break DJ Foster free.  The running game is in good shape right now.  And the Pass protection was solid as well.  Until he was injured, QB Taylor Kelly was not pressured very much when dropping back to pass.

3)  The Passing Game Still Needs Work

Taylor Kelly’s injury is problematic.  Obviously, you never want to lose your starting quarterback.  The fact that this has occurred just as ASU is heading into the toughest and most important part of the season (UCLA/USC) makes it that much more tenuous.  However, even though ASU is 3-0, it still doesn’t seem that the passing game has quite yet developed.  It’s not terrible, but the smoothness of the passing game, the stats and the “automatic” chemistry with Taylor and Strong doesn’t seem to be there yet.

It would have been ideal to have Kelly practice during this bye week to fine tune that passing game.  With him going down, back up QB Mike Bercovici now has to scramble to develop that chemistry and timing with the first group of receivers.  Who knows how everybody will respond, but it goes without saying that this is a tough situation to polish the passing game.

4)  There Is a Let Down After a Fast Start

This is two games in a row where ASU starts the game by jumping all over their opponent.  It’s also the second game in a row where ASU seemingly starts to relax and let the opposition creep back into the game.  You can probably blame most of that on youth.  But this team has to learn how to keep their foot on the pedal.  Every team needs to learn that.  They need to learn how to have that “killer” mentality and put teams away for good and not relax until the game is over.

So the saga continues for this ASU football team.  Every week is a season.  The game planning and tweaking for Colorado is over with a 38-24 victory.  It’s back to the drawing board for this upcoming UCLA game.  With the exception of Kelly, this team is healthy.  The focus for next Thursday’s game will be shoring up that defensive front and getting Mike Bercovici ready to roll with that starting offense.