Devils broken beyond repair

Photo: Matt York/AP

There was a little optimism in the air surrounding Arizona State Football this week. The Sun Devils had lost 4 straight games after being stomped 28-0 by USC two weeks ago. But there were, believe it or not, bright spots in that loss. They were coming off of a bye week, and head coach Dennis Erickson said all the right things, treating the game vs. Oregon as the beginning to a new six game season for his team.

Well, that season’s over now too, as the Sun Devils bumbled their way to a 54-20 loss to Oregon on Saturday night at Sun Devil Stadium. The final score indicates that there was an actual competition on the field, but we all know that scores can be misleading.

The first sign of trouble was during the pre-game show on radio, when ASU play-by-play broadcaster Tim Healey played sound bites from the week of practice, and played a very interesting one from wide receiver Kerry Taylor, who has all but disappeared from the Sun Devil “offense”. Taylor talked about how he wishes the offense would open up, use more 4 and 5 wide receiver sets, and exploit the Sun Devils’ offensive strength, which is their wide receivers. My first thought was “wow, Kerry Taylor’s smart…I’ve been saying that for a month now.” My second thought was that there is a mini-mutiny on this team. It’s pretty rare when you hear a player publically criticize a system on a football team. Hmm, maybe that’s why Kerry Taylor has 2 catches for 9 yards in the last three games combined. Taylor’s comments smacked almost of jealousy when comparing ASU’s offense to the offenses of other teams in the conference. Kinda like the kid who’s still playing an Atari 2600 when all the other kids in the neighborhood are playing PS3s and XBoxes.

Watching the innovative Oregon offense built by coordinator Chip Kelly was something to behold. As a spectator it’s hard to determine who has the ball, so I can imagine how hard it is to defend. But the Sun Devils had problems even after determining who had the pigskin. The tackling effort was downright atrocious.

In fact, it’s really hard to find one thing the Sun Devils do well right now. Their running game is impotent, although it’s not from a lack of trying. Despite the fact that ASU was down big early, they still stuck to the running game, and ran it 32 times. Their passing game produced one play of over 20 yards. The offensive line continues to struggle. The defense got torched all night long. Their kicker missed an extra point, their punters averaged 34 yards a kick, and nobody seems to be able to hold on to the football. Other than that, everything’s fine.

I had optimism, going into this ball game that a veteran coaching staff, and players from a team that won 10 games a year ago would right the ship and get it done vs. Oregon in a last-ditch effort to salvage any respect this season. That didn’t happen.

The Sun Devils now face a trip to Corvallis to take on an improving Beavers’ team. A six-game losing streak is a very realistic possibility. The last time any ASU team had a 6-game losing streak, according to my research, was a 7-game skid that started in 1936 and stretched into the 1937 season.

There was one bright spot on Saturday night, and it didn’t take place during actual game time. At halftime two huge pieces of arguably ASU’s best team ever, the 1996 Pac-10 Championship squad, were enshrined into the Arizona State University Hall of Fame. Head coach Bruce Snyder, who is battling cancer was there, as were family members of linebacker Pat Tillman, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2002 while defending our country. Both men received loud, extended ovations from the crowd, and both were well deserved. It was rather ironic though, that Tillman, who epitomized effort on the football field, was inducted the same night the Devils failed to show much effort in any phase of the game.

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Tags: Arizona State Football, ASU Football, Bruce Snyder, Dennis Erickson, Kerry Taylor, Pat Tillman