By James Romo for DieHardDevil.com

In the first 30 minutes of the game last Saturday in Corvallis, we witnessed the street fight we originally predicted before the game.  But in the end, it proved to be a fight in which the Sun Devils just weren’t adequately armed.  Look no further than the return of Will Sutton to see just how much of an impact player he is, and also to also illustrate just how talent-depleted this ASU team is at several positions.

The Sun Devils couldn't hang with the Beavers in the second half and fall 36-26 in Corvallis.

First Half

The Sun Devils started the fight when Sutton threw the first haymaker on the OSU opening possession, a brutally clean hit on Beaver QB Cody Vaz, causing a fumble at the Beaver one yard line with Junior Onyeali recovering for an ASU touchdown.  The Sun Devil Defense blitzed early and often, and hit Vaz relentlessly on OSU’s opening drives.  The Beavers were able to loosen the ASU defense up on their second possession by unleashing speedy Markus Wheaton on an end-around that he took for 35 yards.  Despite ASU defenders getting a hand on a 41 yard FG attempt, the kick found its way through the uprights for a 7-3 ASU lead.  Offensively, Cam Marshall was finding success on the ground with ASU’s first offensive possessions.  This helped keep linebackers honest and opening up some space for Taylor Kelly to hit Jamal Miles and Chris Coyle for short routes during a methodical drive resulting in a 1 yard Cam Marshall TD run and a 14-3 lead.  ASU seemed in control.

The Beaver’s ensuing possession showed just one of the many differences between a good team, and a VERY good team.  Wheaton beat Osahan Irabor on a deep route when he slipped, and safety Keelan Johnson took a poor angle over the top, allowing Wheaton to walk into the endzone for a 50 yard score.  Having a receiving core that is capable of big vertical plays like that opens up the entire playbook for an offensive coordinator, and creates a coverage nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators.  Conversely, the lack of production from the ASU speedsters on the outside all season has slowly, but surely, allowed teams to single-cover those guys with corners and leave safeties alone in the middle to roam and come up and take away the short to intermediate routes that ASU was so successful with early on in the season.  It’s not a coincidence that Chris Coyle and DJ Foster have seen fewer and fewer targets in the past 3 games.  Those underneath routes just aren’t going to be open if the opposing secondary doesn’t respect your vertical game, which was the case on Saturday.

As the opening quarter went on, the combination of great defense and Josh Hubner punting pinned OSU deep in their own territory and gave ASU several drives with excellent field position, but all the Devils were able to manage was a Kevin Ayers blocked punt for a safety and 16-10 lead.  Again, the lack of a vertical game forced ASU to throw passes to the very short flat and screen passes that the stout and fundamentally sound OSU linebackers were able to sniff out and stop.  Although Kelly missed on some open receivers, having OSU safeties free to roam and cover, with not having the mismatches with Coyle and Foster on linebackers, effectively shut down anything ASU wanted to do in the air.  OSU was also able to get a good amount of pressure on Kelly with just their front 4, and not having to utilize a ton of blitzing.

Jon Mora was able to connect on a 31 yard FG to extend the lead to 19-10, but should have been a greater lead when taking into account field position and a dominant ASU defense.  On the very next possession, OSU was the benefactor of a combination of bad luck and poor positioning again by Keelan Johnson.  RB Terron Ward took an inside hand-off that should have only gone for a few yards at best.  Instead, a referee was positioned between Ward and Johnson, effectively creating a “pick” and the play went for a 53 yard TD, and the end of any momentum that the Devils had built up to that point.  Safeties Johnson (missed tackle) and Alden Darby (shooting the wrong gap) were both playing deep halves coverage on that play and it should have been stopped before Ward ever got into the secondary.  There were a series of assignment break-downs from the ASU front 7 causing a domino effect and surrendering another big play.

ASU continued to fight, but a drive at the end of the half where ASU had stopped the Beavers on third down was extended by a Junior Onyeali roughing the passer penalty.  That drive ended with an OSU field goal and 19-19 score at the half.  This was the second time in 2 weeks that the same penalty has cost ASU a defensive stop and resulted in points for the opposition.  In a half that felt like ASU was the dominant team, the scored was even.

Second Half

The second half started with OSU jumping out to a quick ten point lead and shutting down anything that ASU attempted.  What I thought was a big mistake was abandoning the run on first down, and instead throwing to short routes that were covered.   This left several second and third down and long yardage situations.  Again, without a vertical receiving game and go-to receivers being tightly covered, that left Kelly with few options, several 3-and-out series, and an extremely tired defense in the second half.  The irony of the whole thing is that ASU could have taken a much larger lead in the first half, and OSU should have taken a much larger lead in the second.

The final OSU score came on a busted coverage that Sun Devil Nation had thought was well behind us.  On a 2nd and nine, ASU dialed up a corner blitz with Deveron Carr.  OSU receiver Brandin Cooks was released to safety Darby who never made his way over to pick up the coverage, allowing Vaz to see the broken play and throw to Cooks before any pressure came.  Another big play touchdown that went uncontested.  Maybe Cooks makes the catch and scores anyway, but it would be a ton easier to swallow if our guy had just been athletically beaten man to man instead of witnessing yet another mental error.  ASU scored in garbage time with the game well in hand, so the final score was a lot closer than the actual game itself.

Summary

The depth and talent on this ASU team simply doesn’t allow for mental breakdowns or mistakes.  Good teams will make you pay for those, and UCLA and OSU absolutely did.  To win the games that they are not favored in, the Sun Devils have to play a nearly flawless game and execute their game plan almost to perfection.  Although ASU is ranked best in the Pac-12 in penalties yards against, it seems as though the penalties that ASU does commit are at the most inopportune times.  Roughing the Passer penalties in back to back weeks have resulted in opposing teams extending drives and scoring after the Devils defense had earned a stop on 3rd down.

There are many of us in Sun Devil Nation that got very excited with a 5-1 record (rightfully so) at the midway point in the season.  Expectations rose, but the mistake was not taking into account that the schedule was back loaded with the toughest opponents coming in the second half.  To illustrate what I’m talking about…

• Combined record of ASU’s opponents in the first half of the schedule (Not including NAU): 14-32

• Combined record of ASU’s opponents in the second half of the schedule: 36-17

ASU is going into the LA Coliseum this Saturday and will have to limit mistakes and execute flawlessly against USC to give themselves a chance to win.  Sound familiar?

DieHard Devils are some of the biggest fans of ASU football that exist anywhere.  But being a big fan doesn’t mean following a team with eyes closed and having a “we can do no wrong” attitude.  A true fan can look at his team objectively, understand the relative strengths and weaknesses, and formulate informed opinions and predictions based on reality.  It doesn’t mean that we don’t cheer for and support the program with everything we have despite the win/loss record, because we absolutely do.  It means that we know that there is still some work to be done to bring in layers of talent, coach it up, and have that talent execute on the field to its potential.  I am confident in the ability of this coaching staff to get us back to the top of the conference and compete for a national championship.  I also know that it’s a process, and it will take time.  I am an ASU alumnus, Arizona native, and have bled maroon and gold since birth.  I was at both Rose Bowl games and I have only missed one home game in the past 20 years.  I know we’re not quite there yet, but I’m glad I’m already on board while this new era of Sun Devil Football is just taking off.