We Know What We Already Knew About ASU

Photo credit: azcentral.com

If anyone truly was surprised by what took place last night in Palo Alto, please raise your hand.

Anyone?

And if so, how could you be?

There has been almost nothing this season that would indicate the Sun Devils are bowl material. Hanging with Georgia looked more impressive before it became clear how mediocre the Bulldogs are this season - if anything the loss is more galling.

Beating Washington was to be expected; even if I bought into the Sarkisian hype and the victory over USC and questioned how ASU could be favored to win the game. It turns out Vegas was right, as it usually turns out to be.

If there were any surprises on Saturday they were on the defensive end, where the Sun Devils allowed the Cardinal and Toby Gerhart to run virtually at will. For all his talent, Vontaze Burfict has shown next to no ability to contain his emotions - it will just keep getting worse as referees start viewing everything he does through the filter of his reputation.

Danny Sullivan was terrible against the Cardinal - why anyone would have expected anything different, again, I don’t know - and the running game was back struggling once again.

It’s a lost season, Sun Devil fans. All that’s left to do is take the remaining beatings, including the inevitable loss to the Wildcats, and try to figure out how the pieces can be put back together for next season.

I’m not quite prepared to say the game has passed Dennis Erickson by but the evidence seems to be mounting. This is a roster not built to compete in the Pac-10 Conference, one of the easier conferences this side of the Big East (Cincinnati aside.)

Something needs to change in terms of the system, in terms of discipline and in terms of accountability. Will it happen? We’ll know next fall.