By Juan Roque for DieHardDevil.com

This one hurt to the core of Sun Devil Nation.  In a matter of two weeks, the perspective has changed dramatically for the future of Dennis Erickson and the ASU football program.  Before the 2011 season began, Arizona State was picked by many experts to be the favorite team in the new Pac-12 South Division.  They were supposed to finally dominate on defense, produce on offense and cruise into the Pac-12 Championship Game.  For the first eight games of the season, even though there were two losses at Illinois and Oregon, the Sun Devils looked poised to realize those predictions.  Later in the season coming off a bye week, they destroyed a Colorado team at home and headed to UCLA needing to only win two out of four to win the south title.  UCLA spoiled those plans at the Rose Bowl beating ASU 29-28.  While the let down was heartbreaking and unexpected, all was not lost for the Sun Devils.  They were still in position to achieve their goal by running the table and hoping for a UCLA loss.  Saturday afternoon, the Utah Utes gave the Sun Devils a gift when they dominated the Bruins in Salt Lake City 31-6.  ASU was again in position to run the table and clinch the South.  All they had to do was beat a 3-6 Washington State team that had lost five straight and was 1-6 in Pac-12 play.

With the temperature in the 30’s and with snow flurries falling onto the Martin Stadium turf, 27,213 were watching as the Cougars lined up for the kickoff.  The Sun Devils, clad in the “classic” road look of gold/white/gold, lined up to receive.  The kick went right into the hands of Jamal Miles who sliced through the Cougars’ coverage and darted 95 yards for the touchdown.  ASU looked poised for the rout leading 7-0 with barely 13 seconds ticking off the clock.  After trading punts for two series and neither offense moving the ball, Washington State coach Paul Wulff made an unexpected change at quarterback.  Marshall Loebbestael was benched and seldom used redshirt freshman Connor Halliday took over the offense.  At the time, there was no rhyme or reason for the change.   But as the game wore on, it turned out to be the pivotal moment of the night and quite possibly Wulff’s career as the Washington State head coach.

That decision alone started the nightmare and unexpectedly doomed ASU.

Halliday broke out against an underperforming ASU secondary that was coming off its worse game last week and torched the Sun Devils.  On his very first pass, and with some help from a broken coverage in the ASU secondary, he hit a wide open Marquees Wilson deep for a surprising 85 yard touchdown.  Halliday was a one man wrecking crew and made huge plays throughout the game.  He was protected well, given ample time to pick apart what looked to be an overmatched and unprepared ASU secondary.  The Sun Devils had no answer for the Cougars’ passing attack.  Halliday threw the ball at will and his receivers helped him by hauling in every pass that was in their vicinity.  On the night, Halliday dominated ASU completing 27 of 36 passes for a staggering 75% completion rate, 494 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.  It looks like Wazzu has found the next Drew Bledsoe.

Despite the horrific defensive effort, ASU was still in a position to win the game.  They led at halftime 20-16 and went into the fourth quarter leading 27-23 with a chance to pull ahead by two scores.  At that pivotal point in the game, ASU was in the red zone with four downs to score and take control of the game.  ASU went for it on fourth down and the determined Cougars stopped the Sun Devils in their tracks.  Halliday then led his offense down the field with ease in a 9 play 89 yard touchdown drive that put the Cougars up 30-27.  Brock Osweiler responded leading the Sun Devils down the field to the Cougar five yard line.  Again the Cougar defense held, and in Shakespearean fashion, ASU lined up for a field goal from the four yard line which Alex Garoutte missed wide left.  The Cougars would not allow the Sun Devils another chance by scoring on their next drive pulling ahead 37-37 and then forcing a Jamal Miles fumble on the ensuing kickoff.

ASU left the frozen Palouse dazed and confused, with an overall record of 6-4.

Grading the Game

Quarterback

Brock Osweiler was slow out of the gate and started the game out of synch.  One of the key matchups for this game was his ability to run the offense in the elements he was playing in.  This was the case during the early parts of the game.  At first Osweiler looked uncomfortable, was erratic with his throws and looked to be a bit antsy in the pocket.  At first glance, it appeared the weather was bothering him.  As the game wore on, he finally settled down and completed 28 of 44 passes for 351 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.  His receivers did not help him on many of those incomplete passes due to catchable balls that were dropped.  None more important than the George Bell touchdown drop on the Sun Devils final drive.  The failed quarterback sneak attempt in the fourth quarter was due to a predictable play call and poor blocking.  Overall, Brock did his job and enough to win the game.

Grade: B-

Receivers

Dropped passes plagued this unit especially Mike Willie, Aaron Pflugrad and George Bell.  The cold weather had an impact as the ball feels different and receivers have to make athletic plays, like Wazzu did.  The bright spot was Gerell Robinson, who dominated the Cougar secondary when he was targeted by Osweiler.  Robinson caught eight passes for 158 yards and touchdown.  Despite a couple of drops, Aaron Pflugrad chipped in after being quiet the week before by hauling in four passes for 53 yards.  Mike Willie also redeemed some early drops and caught four passes for 52 yards.  Kevin Ozier is starting to be more involved and caught two passes for 42 yards.  George Bell dropped a crucial potential score at the end of the game and caught one pass on the night.

Grade: B-

Running Backs

The pass happy play calling and poor line play in the run game cost this group not only yards and production, but a better grade.  Cameron Marshall carried 16 times for 45 yards with a 2.3 yard per carry average.  Not a solid performance, but in his defense, he didn’t have many carries in the first half and left the game in the third quarter due to injury.  He did return later in the game, but short yardage plays affected his average.  Kyle Middlebrooks filled in admirably for Marshall when called upon, rushing five times for 17 yards, but like Marshall he was a victim of short yardage blunders by the line.  Jamal Miles is a marked man and is not able to get the yards he did at one time catching seven passes for 29 yards.  Several times he was hit behind the line on the typical swing pass route.

Grade: C-

Offensive Line

If all ASU did was throw the football this group would get an “A.”  Wazzu had some decent pass rushers and they only managed one sack of Osweiler.  For the most part, he had plenty of time to throw the ball.  However, run blocking was another story on Saturday.  Short yardage plays failed miserably, and when ASU was inside the 5 yard line when it’s all about having an attitude and knocking someone on their backs they were the ones being knocked around.  This unit not only blocked poorly but was a major reason why ASU failed to score twice in the Red Zone.  ASU, subtracting Osweiler’s runs, averaged 2.85 yards per carry against a defense that was allowing almost double that.  It is a mystery why Aderious Simmons isn’t playing.

Grade: D+

Defensive Line

This was supposed to be a game where this group took over and dominated.  The Cougars only have two linemen that are quality with the rest being mediocre at best.  It did not turn out as expected, but there were some mentionable efforts in the game.  Bo Moos and Will Sutton had four tackles each.  Sutton had the team’s only sack.  The key matchup this week was Junior Onyeali, Jamar Jarrett and Davon Coleman against the Wazzu tackles.  Jarrett had a good outing with six tackles but Onyeali and Coleman each had only one stop.  While Wazzu only managed 2.7 yards per carry when they ran the ball, the pass rush was ineffective as Halliday was given too much time which allowed him to torch the secondary.

Grade: C-

Linebackers

The ASU linebackers played an average game but there were no glaring breakdowns.  Vontaze Burfict was frequently blocked by linemen and had trouble shedding blocks.  He was also provoked several times by them after the play, which is nothing new.  They would push him, gouge him and on one play it looked like a Wazzu lineman kicked him.  Give Burfict credit for keeping his cool and not retaliating.  He led the linebackers in tackles with five and recovered a fumble.  Aaron Oliver played extensively for the first time in a while and had four tackles.  Shelly Lyons and Colin Parker each had three tackles.  While their stats are not impressive they were instrumental in limiting the Cougars to a 2.7 yards per carry average.

Grade: C

Secondary

A complete failure mentally and their on the field execution.  When an inexperienced redshirt freshman quarterback passes for 494 yards and averages over 13 yards per completion, it falls directly on this group.  After several weeks where they were almost super human, the defensive backs have been relegated to mortal status the past two weeks.  They look unprepared, are blowing coverages and are being dominated on the perimeter.  On top of that, the middle of the field was not being properly protected and tackling was atrocious.  Saturday had to be the worst performance of the season for a group that seemed to be emerging as a strength.  The good news is there is nowhere to go but up from this abysmal performance.  Stats are irrelevant here this week.

Grade: F

Spacial Teams

Jamal Miles’ opening kickoff return for a touchdown was beautiful and a great way to start the game.  Jamal Miles’ fumble at the end of the game was ugly.  Vontaze Burfict jumped offsides on the PAT.  Josh Hubner again was steady averaging 40.5 yards per punt.  Shaky and inconsistent kicker Alex Garoutte was 2 for 3, but missed the most important field goal of the game…again.

Grade: C- (only because of the TD otherwise…..well you know)

Coaching

Players play the game on the field and the coaches coach.  Typically, I stay away from this because I never feel that it’s my place to criticize or comment on this area.  However, after what happened Saturday it’s only fair to discuss this part of the team.  It was clear that ASU was flat, unprepared and not ready to play.  At the end of the day, this falls on the head coach.  That’s his job is to make sure his team is focused and ready to roll.  Defensive Coordinator Craig Bray’s job is to make adjustments to his defense that allows his players to make plays.  Both coaches did not get it done Saturday.  What makes it worse is that it seemed as if the team was uninspired and  just going through the motions.  That is a failure on the part of the coaching staff.

Grade: F

Many critical questions need to be answered after this very disappointing loss.  These questions include everything from how the players are preparing for games along with how the coaches are leading and motivating the team.  But despite this miserable failure in Pullman, the Sun Devils are still alive in the hunt for the Pac-12 South.  Due to UCLA’s loss at Utah and USC not being eligible, the Sun Devils will need to win out and hope for UCLA to lose a game.  The last two weeks of the season are now critical and desperation needs to be bleed into this team.  They need to regroup, have a great week of practice and get ready for the all important Duel in the Desert.  While 6-4 is extremely disappointing at this stage of the season, the only way to redeem what is now considered one of the biggest let downs in school history is to finish the season with two wins.  All of the sudden, everything is at stake and it has to start this week.