Devils in Detail
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ASU Football: Missed Tackles Plaguing the ASU Defense

By Jordan Kaye

Oct 15, 2016; Boulder, CO, USA; the Colorado Buffaloes line up against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the first half at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2016; Boulder, CO, USA; the Colorado Buffaloes line up against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the first half at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /
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The first thing kids learn when they start playing Pop Warner football is tackling, but for some reason that is giving Arizona State the most trouble.

Sun Devil defenders are taking poor angles, using bad technique in the open field, and let a decent running back in Phillip Lindsay look like Eric Dickerson.

Coming into their game against Colorado, ASU was 5th in the Nation in run defense; they are now 21st after letting Lindsay run over them for 219 yards. It was beginning to look comical as Lindsay and quarterback Sefo Liufau were slipping away and running through the ASU defenders.

Fans were trying to answer the question of how many Sun Devil defenders does it take to tackle someone, and at many points in that game that number was more then two.

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This is not the first time this season that ASU has not been able to tackle, the USC game was seemingly the same problem, but with receivers. Many blamed that performance on the great athletes that USC has, but Colorado doesn’t have those five-star athletes; so unless the Buffs had coated themselves with butter, Todd Graham and the Sun Devils have no excuses.

In their game against UCLA, the Sun Devil defense was fantastic against Josh Rosen. They were the epitome of the bend don’t-break defense. They made the Bruins kick 4 field goals, to which they missed two. The ASU defense also forced UCLA into three interceptions and a fumble.

The good thing for the Sun Devils going into their homecoming game is that ASU has played great at home. They have eight turnovers at home versus just two on the road.

Todd Graham also is fantastic when coming off a bad loss, just as they did after the USC loss, ASU will look to bounce back this week at home against a 4-2 Washington State.

Another bit of good news is that the Sun Devils are still in the hunt for the Pac-12 South, but they’re going to need some help from USC and Colorado.

Next: ASU Football: There's No Place Like Home

The ASU defense isn’t going to worry too much about the stopping the run against the pass happy Mike Leach and WSU. Instead, just like against Texas Tech and Cal, they are going to have to slow down an air-raid quarterback in Luke Faulk and prevent the big plays downfield.

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