ASU Football: Where do the Sun Devils stand after five games?
With ASU football coming off a bye week, the Sun Devils are about to enter a difficult and potentially season-defining stretch.
With Arizona State on a bye this week I thought it’d be a good time to look at how the Sun Devils have fared so far this season.
At 2-3 you’d look at that record and think that they haven’t done to badly. For the most part, I think you’d be correct.
The defense has a lot of issues, but we knew that coming into the season. Manny Wilkins has been serviceable and the team’s struggles on offense have very little to do with the quarterback play.
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N’Keal Harry has been nothing short of amazing! He is averaging 95.2 yards per game receiving. The running game, well, has been a struggle.
The problems with the running game have nothing to do with the running backs. Ballage is only averaging 57 yards per game on the ground. Demario Richard has been nicked up and has had a hard time getting going.
All of this brings us to the biggest issue on the 2017 Sun Devils football team, the offensive line. The offensive line has been nothing short of awful.
They cannot run block and they cannot protect the quarterback. They have shuffled players around and the results have remained the same.
The problem with this is, the Sun Devils only have played one top defensive front in Stanford. What happens when ASU plays Washington, Utah, and Southern Cal? It could get ugly in Tempe if they don’t get the offensive line figured out.
Next: ASU Football: 2017 Pac-12 Week Six Power Rankings
With the next 3 games against ranked teams, UCLA and Colorado as toss up games, and Arizona at home, it looks as though the Sun Devils can go 6-6. Will that get to a bowl game and give Todd Graham another year? Who knows, it could, depending on the wins and if there is improvement shown.