ASU Football: Herm Edwards critical of UTSA performance

Despite a 49-7 win over UTSA to begin his college coaching career, ASU football coach Herm Edwards knows his team is far from a finished product.

Arizona State opened the 2018 season by dominating the Roadrunners on both sides of the ball, recording nine sacks and three takeaways while generating more than twice as many total yards.

The effort was arguably the Sun Devils’ most complete to start a season in four years. But to Edwards, his team has plenty of room for improvement.

“We were pretty vanilla, to say the least,” Edwards said. “I didn’t like what I was watching a lot of times.”

If there’s one major takeaway from the opener, it’s that players will be held to exponentially higher standards than in the past. What was once acceptable is no longer tolerated as the brand of Sun Devil Football continues to be modified.

After jolting ahead to a quick 14-0 lead, there was an offensive lull for much of the first half that Edwards attributed to an inconsistent ability to sustain drives. At times, ASU was over reliant on big plays to move the chains. UTSA ultimately finished with 17 more plays run.

But the most glaring error from opening night was ASU being called for 11 penalties. Under former coach Todd Graham, the Sun Devils were catagorized with the military academies as one of the most well-disciplined teams in the NCAA.

Against UTSA, two personal fouls, including a targeting call to safety Jalen Harvey, stood out as well as a number of flags against the special teams unit.

“If you’re going to be a good football team, you can’t have 11 penalties,” Edwards said. “That’s what I call ‘bad ball.'”

With his first win under his belt, Edwards now looks to prepare ASU for a tough non-conference showdown with No. 11 Michigan State.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.