Six Points: Ouch! Oregon slams ASU

The Arizona State Sun Devils went to Eugene to take on the Ducks, and unfortunately for ASU, things went pretty much how they were expected to.

Oregon rolled to a 31-7 halftime lead and cruised to a 44-21 victory at Autzen Stadium.

With the loss, ASU falls to 4-6 on the season, and now finds themselves in need of two wins in their remaining two games to even become bowl-eligible.

Oregon bounced back nicely from a loss to Stanford, and regained the inside track to a Pac-10 championship. The Ducks are 8-2 overall and 6-1 in conference play.

Here’s six points that stood out from Saturday’s game in Oregon…

1

Osweiler’s big night doesn’t last very long. True freshman Brock Osweiler got his first collegiate start against the Ducks, but had his evening cut short by a left arm injury. The final numbers for Osweiler won’t jump out at you–5 of 10 for 14 yards and an interception, but I don’t pin that totally on Osweiler. The offense got even more vanilla (if that’s possible) with the freshman at the controls. Look at the first drive–the Sun Devils came out throwing. Osweiler actually completed passes on the first two ASU plays from scrimmage–for zero yards. Later in the 2nd quarter, Osweiler threw a pick to Oregon’s Talmadge Jackson on a 3rd down and 8, but after watching the replays, it appeared that receiver Kerry Taylor stopped running on the route.
We knew this would be a tough first start for Osweiler, and it was. He did some nice things, and did some not so nice things. But this was a necessary move made by Dennis Erickson.

2

A diamond in the rough? Osweiler’s injury opened the door for Samson Szakacsy to finally get some extended playing time for the Sun Devils, and if there was a bright spot of the evening, it was Szakacsy’s performance. The redshirt sophomore went 13 of 22 for 113 yards and a touchdown. He used his speed to get outside of the pocket, and made plays on the run. His touchdown pass to Kyle Williams in the 3rd quarter was exceptional, and showed why Szakacsy was so highly recruited coming out of Camarillo, California. I would have liked to have seen Samson use his legs a little more and run the football, but I think that will come with time.

3

Where’s the speed? Szakacsy’s speed was on display Saturday night, and as we’ve heard all season long, he’s probably the fastest player on the ASU roster. Think about that. In the Pac-10, if your fastest player is your third-string quarterback, your offense is in big trouble.
There’s very little speed at the running back position–Dimitri Nance is as steady as they come, but isn’t fast enough to be the feature back in this offense. Cameron Marshall, the freshman tailback, has more speed than Nance, but only got 3 carries against the Ducks.
On numerous occasions in the last few weeks, coach Erickson has made a point to say that the Sun Devils need to find a way to get the ball into the hands of freshman Jamal Miles more. In the offense, Miles got one touch for zero yards. Wouldn’t it make more sense to use Miles as a change-of-pace running back? He was recruited out of Peoria High School as a tailback and then moved to receiver in fall camp. That would certainly afford you the opportunity to get the ball in his hands more.
For the most part, the ASU offense floundered once again. Their longest play from scrimmage all night was an 18-yard pass from Szakacsy to Chris McGaha. Oregon had 7 plays longer than 18-yards on the night, and it wasn’t exactly their best offensive performance of the season.

4

If your defense is hurting, schedule a game against ASU. The Sun Devil offense is not good–we’ve known that for a while. Even against struggling, mediocre defenses, the Devils struggle to move the football.
A week ago, the Devils managed just 9 points against a USC defense that got lit up by Stanford. This week, Oregon’s defense shined after being gashed by Stanford’s offense for 51 points and over 500 yards. This week against Oregon, ASU had 211 yards, their 2nd-lowest yardage output of the year (204 yards against Georgia).
Unfortunately, the Devils’ offense has become the Pac-10’s version of a “slumpbuster”.

5

Still no improvement with the penalty problem. Outside of the constant bickering by ASU fans (not saying they were wrong), the most talked about underlying theme of this season for the Sun Devils has been the amount of penalties accrued by Arizona State. Holding penalties, pass interference penalties, unsportsmanlike conducts and personal fouls have crippled this team all year long. Let’s face it, the Sun Devils have drawn more flags than you’d see outside the United Nations building.
The frustrating part is that it’s been a point of emphasis all year, and no improvement has been shown in this area. The Sun Devils committed 9 penalties for 82 yards on Saturday, and still rank last in the nation, averaging 87.1 penalty yards per game in this area.
One penalty stood out. In the third quarter, after the Devils had scored two quick touchdowns to pull to within 10, Oregon faced a 2nd down and 9 at the ASU 36-yard line. The Ducks ran a reverse to receiver Jamere Holland, that defensive end James Brooks diagnosed nicely and stopped for no gain, which would have brought up a 3rd and long, outside of field goal range. But, as Brooks was engaged by a blocker, he grabbed his facemask, and got flagged for a 15-yard personal foul penalty, giving the Ducks a first down at the 21-yard line. On the next play, Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli found Jeff Maehl wide open in the end zone to stretch the lead back to 17 points, and effectively kill any chance the Sun Devils had to get back in the game.

6

We know he’s back already! Oregon head coach Chip Kelly and the Pac-10 office reinstated Ducks’ running back LeGarrette Blount after an 8-game suspension for punching a helmet-less Boise State opponent in the season opener. He didn’t get on the field, but that didn’t stop ABC camera men from basically running a “Blount Cam”. LaMichael James is a budding superstar, as evidenced by his 150-yard, 3-touchdown night. He’s obviously got a firm hold on the tailback position. But it kind of makes you wonder, why reinstate the kid if you’re not going to play him? In a game that was a blowout from early on, Kelly had numerous opportunities to give Blount a few token carries and appease the Autzen crowd, that was chanting Blount’s name for much of the second half.

Highlights from FoxSports.com/ESPN

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