ASU Football: Prepping for the Cougars
By Mike Slifer
As the ASU Football team finishes their last-minute preparations for their game against Washington State, hopefully the players and coaches will spend more time “fixing themselves” as opposed to worrying too much about the Cougars.
That may sound strange, but in this case, it’s true. The alignment/assignment errors and poor tackling last week against Oregon State had nothing to do with what the Beavers were doing schematically. It had nothing to do with their personnel. It literally was because the ASU defense was not sharp.
While the team obviously needs to be prepared for what Washington State does; their formation tendencies and down/distance tendencies. etc. They would be wise to simply make sure they have the right call, the right checks, the right assignments and most of all, decide to play hard. If the defensive front settles on getting pushed around again, and the secondary shows more hesitation, the Cougars will slice up the Sun Devil defense.
Washington State is still breaking in a relatively new quarterback. This will be the second start for Luke Falk, who is replacing the injured Connor Halliday. Falk has been sharp since he stepped in, winning his first true start two weeks ago in Corvalis against the Beavers. The Cougars also have a solid group of receivers. Falk has been effective at spreading the ball around.
Washington State doesn’t have much of a running game to speak of, and apparently Falk is not a serious running threat. That should factor into the defensive game plan. The lack of a running game allows for the defense to sell out with less risk. ASU can send a lot on a blitz to get to Falk, or they can rush four and drop 7 into coverage. The idea being that whichever they choose, they probably won’t get hurt by the run. This also might require a smaller, speedier lineup from coach Graham’s defense.
Offensively, this ASU unit needs to just wake up. It starts with quarterback Taylor Kelly. He needs to prove to everybody that he is healthy and can get back to form. The stakes are too high and it is too late in the season to wait any longer. ASU needs their quarterback to be on point from here on out. Whether it’s Kelly or Bercovici, this offensive unit has to get back to their high-octane ways in order to finish strong.
Devils in Detail believes that Kelly will start, but he’ll be on a short leash. If he struggles making throws or makes incorrect reads and the offense struggles, we might see Bercovici enter the game.
In the end, unfortunately, this is a weird game for ASU. It’s an 11:00 game at home for senior day against Washington State. No hype. No national coverage. A bad team. Similar to last week. One would think that last week’s loss will refocus the Sun Devils and bring them back to reality to play with hunger and passion. We’ll see. But many fans are a little nervous about this game, and rightfully so. Because now, doubt is a part of the ASU psyche. Especially in the mind of Taylor Kelly. No matter what has been said to him, publicly or privately, he is feeling the pressure to perform.
It’ll be interesting to see how he responds.
Keys to Victory will be published early tomorrow.