Defensive Dominance Should Surprise Noone

One first down on their first six possessions.

I’m not quite sure whether to chalk that up to Arizona State’s defense being all it’s hyped up to be or to be even more concerned with the state of this team’s offensive attack.

Either way you look at it, there’s one thing to take from yesterday’s scrimmage at Sun Devil Stadium: this team is going to have to win games based on defense and nearly defense alone in 2009.

Sure, there were the offensive highlights. Kyle Williams broke off a stunning 79-yard punt return. Gerrell Robinson, who has been highly praised by everyone in the program for making so much progress between this time last year and now, caught a touchdown pass from Danny Sullivan and gained 116 yards.

However, beyond that, you could hear crickets chirping from the Devils’ offense.

As I harped on earlier this week, this team simply has no running game. Dimitri Nance turned a corner early in the session for a nice 20-yard dash, but then averaged 1/3 of a yard on each of his subsequent three carries. Cameron Marshall led all rushers with 23 yards, but six ASU running backs combined for just 92 yards of total rushing. That doesn’t include Brock Osweiler’s 22 yards and touchdown on the ground, however.

The defense, as expected, shined. The guy who really emerged, almost unsurprisingly, was Vontaze Burfict.

The standout freshman, who still is awaiting official eligibility from the NCAA clearinghouse, was credited with a sack and then a forced fumble near the end of the scrimmage. If he clears, there’s no doubt in my mind that Burfict, even with such depth and experience at the linebacker position, will make an immediate, major impact on this team. He’s too skilled and game ready NOT to at this point.

One point of pride (and concern, on the other end) was the volume of fumbles forced by the defense. In 2008, the Sun Devils fumbled 22 times, losing 7 of them and averaging just under 2 drops per game. It’s not the most staggeringly bad stat in the world; conference champion USC actually lost three more fumbles than the Sun Devils did last season.

However, it’s something that needs to be addressed because it’s a number that you don’t want to see go up. Two of the fumbles came from the relatively inexperienced Robinson and Marshall, leading one to believe that it’s just a case of getting used to game speed. I expect it more from Marshall than Gerell at this point, though.

Head coach Dennis Erickson did confirm that Danny Sullivan will get the start on September 5 against Idaho State, but right now, there’s an interesting little battle going on for the #2 job…something that Valley football fans should be used to by now.

Samson Szakacsy sat out yesterday’s workout with the nagging tendonitis that has hampered him throughout the fall, allowing for Brock Osweiler to get all the snaps with the 2nd team. Brock is showing his mobility and arm strength, but there’s one aspect of his game that still needs much development.

One of the major cracks on Rudy Carpenter over the year’s was his absolute inability to recognize when to throw the ball away. For a fleeting moment yesterday, Osweiler had the same yips. Midway through the scrimmage, Brock got flushed from the pocket and couldn’t find an open receiver. Rather than toss the ball out of bounds, Osweiler got sacked by freshman William Sutton because he hung onto the ball too long.

Proactively, Erickson yanked Osweiler, presumably to point out the freshman mistake. Trust me, we’ve seen enough of that over the past four years. I’m glad DE is taking time out early in Brock’s career to knock that habit quickly.

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