ASU Football: Oregon State Rewind

ASU Football fans are probably very disappointed with their team’s loss in Corvalis on Saturday night.  But no one is more disappointed than the players.  They’ve lost two things besides the game; they are out of the national playoff conversation and they lost control of their destiny to repeat as PAC-12 South Champions.

This loss was entirely on the ASU team, and the players and coaches know it.  Coach Graham openly admitted that he did not have his players prepared.  Safety Damarious Randall accurately stated that Oregon State “seemed to want it more”.  On the sideline and in the locker room, the players and coaches could tell that something was missing.

Anyone who was watching the game could see it, too.  Something was missing.  The fire, the drive, the desire to dominate and win was not evident.  At least not to the degree that we are accustomed to seeing.  Coach Todd Graham spent the whole week fighting off questions about this being a trap game.  After the loss, he told reporters that this wasn’t a case of ASU beating themselves, but rather that coach Riley and the Oregon State Beavers just flat-out beat ASU.

Devils in Detail doesn’t quite see it that weay.  Yes, Oregon State head coach Mike Riley had his team prepared to play.  He always does (despite losing 4 in a row and being in last place).   But the truth is Oregon State didn’t do anything special.  They just played hard.  They had the reckless abandon that ASU had last week in the first half against Notre Dame.

This is the “down side” of being a team with national status, as ASU had coming into this game.  When you are ranked #6 in the new college playoff polls, you are going to get a great effort from your opponents.  Simply put, college kids play differently in different situations.  ASU does not have a whole lot of experience being the “hunted” versus being the “hunter”.  It’s a different mentality.  Expectations produce pressure, (individually and collectively as a team.)  Handling that pressure in a mature manner is what truly defines champions in team sports.

So, whether ASU focused all week knowing this was a potential trap game or not, they played like it was a trap game.  Missed tackles, missed assignments, penalties (including a roughing the kicker) really hurt the defense.  In the first half, the ASU front seven, who has been brilliant in the last 6 weeks, lost gap integrity and gave up two long TD runs.  No excuse for that.  Those were routine zone runs that should never go to the house.

Some will argue that coach Graham blitzed too much, making the defense vulnerable for big plays.  That’s partly true.  But not entirely.  A blitzing defense still has gap assignments for the run and coverage assignments against the pass.  The blitzing wreaked havoc on Notre Dame and Utah.  It should have been no different against Oregon State.  The truth is the players just didn’t get it done.

Same goes for the offense.  They just didn’t get it done.  The offensive line looked lethargic and slow.  No dominance established by them.  Quarterback Taylor Kelly was off.  Really off.  He looked rusty and out of sync like he did when he returned from his injury.  His performance has actually prompted a lot of Sun Devil faithful to beg for backup Mike Bercovici.

That’s a little reactionary and probably isn’t going to happen.  (unless Kelly looks bad against Washington State).

The reality is that ASU didn’t play with the hunger that they typically do.  That hunger is what led to them winning these close games in the last month.  (Washington, Utah, Notre Dame).  They could have easily lost all three of those games, but stayed hungry and found a way to win.  It appears that for this game, on the road, in the bitter cold with high expectations against an inferior team, the Sun Devils took the field and assumed that the magic would just continue.

There is no magic.  Not in the PAC-12.  Every victory has to be earned.  ASU did not play well enough to deserve to win.  Oregon State did.  And that’s the story.