Will be the first to admit, I was surprised by how well we played overall. The D played just good enough (barely) and the offense played amazing. Good to see that there was margin where some huge mistakes could happen (the couple long TD's and the roughing the punter) and still have a two score victory.

A couple guys stood out to me on D. AJ Latu was playing more of a traditional LB or at least appeared to be. He was faster than I thought and made some very good plays in space. Two good games for him so far to start the season. The two picks stand out for Hayes but I thought overall he played a nice game. Had a couple pass defenses and a couple nice tackles. I am sure we need to be patient and he will have some bad plays but after two games he seems a servicable Pac-12 CB. That is good news. Kareem Orr seems to be struggling to me. Maybe it is because he is on an island but he seems to be the shakier of the two. Going into the season I thought he would start at a higher level and we would just be waiting for someone to fill the void at the other CB spot. Hopefully he continues to improve. Thought DJ Calhoun played a nice game. I know it is hard against an Air Raid team but would still like to see better penetration from the DL. Good job defending the run though.

The offensive confidence was really impressive. Great game plan and play calling. Manny looked like a completely different guy from last week. Love that we can pound the ball. This is what CTG has been talking about since he got here. Tonight it really feels like we mean it. Loved getting Kohl open in the first half. Nice to see him make the plays. Don't think Cam Smith is completely in the groove yet but hopefully we can get him some long throws as the season goes on. I was surprised by how big he is. He looks very similar size wise to Jalen Harvey. Great game by the Oline. Do we keep Bailey at tackle when Robertson can go again? McCollum seemed to do fine at center and McCray played well at G. I bet Sparky is sore tomorrow!!!!

Really excited now. Felt like the program really needed this win. I kept thinking to myself, "how did we get here" with all the 5-7 predictions and the way the first 3 quarters of NAU went. Who knows, in two weeks it may feel that way again but I don't think so.

In Q 3 on Ballage's Wildcat TTU stacked 7 on our right side and we still went right back to it with Hill clearing is man out by 5 yards and slowing down another. This time Richard made a nice block too....but this was ALL BALLAGE and desire despite a facemask!!!

Marcus Ball will be the 3rd Spur to be thrown to the wolves with 7:30 minutes left in Q3 He makes a very physical tackle after a 5 yard pickup (and slightly after the whistle when he tossed the WR to the ground

Gump with nice tackle to force a punt on 3 yard pickup

Gammage with a huge penalty of the roughing the punter (White had returned the punt to our 45). Fortunately on 3rd down we sent 6 and Mahomes felt a tiny bit of pressure and overthrew his receiver who was open for the 1st down in front of Robbie Robinson

Harry catching the ball 5 yards behind the LOS and carrying a DEFENSIVE TACKLE 5 yard for a 5 yd pickup.

Nice back shoulder to Cam

Manny keeping his eyes downfield after pumping left and rolling right on the play where he hurdled for a 1st down. This is a good sign for the future (not the hurdle) Goodman/Jones/McCray all over the field trying to make blocks

Ballage drops easy pass (his 2nd this season and White has 2 drops)

On QB sneak with about 3 min left in Q3 McCollum pushed NT #96 Washington 2 full yards back. WoW!!

If only Demario was 6'2" 235. With his attitude/love of running to contact, he would be a VICIOUS MLB

On Ballage's 5th Wildcat TD they had the same formation but Hill (the H-Back) went left from the right side of the backfield and got an elbow on the safety and Richard followed slowly and exploded wiping out the LB and making this an easy one for Ballage. Goodman and Jones destroyed their men crashing right and McCray pulled left and just provided an impenetrable wall.

Madsen easily beats Gump for 15 yards on 1st down and Mahomes throws wide (they gave Crump credit for pressure but Mahomes had made his decision and release far before feeling pressure). Just one of his few bad throws up to this point and then Q3 ended

Rushing only 3 and Smallwood pressures from the left and Wicker from the right as Mahomes curves back into his grasp and forces Mahomes to throw away forcing a punt

Kohl's in-line blocking is drastically improved. He is just asked to do too much on the LBs and DBs from the H-Back position or when he is split out

Manny stares right at Gammage open on a slant with at least a step on his man and up 51-41 with 14:20 left. Coulda been a big play but Manny goes to Gammage on next play for a 6 yard pickup on an out on 3rd and 5.

13:09 left in game and Manny checks down to his 2nd read (and you could feel him almost tuck) and hits Richard across the middle for 7 yards to make it 3rd and 3. Good sign

Haack--HUGE NIGHT!! WIth a little luck on one(long roll) with 12:22 left in game for his 3rd inside the 7

Ami Latu with his 1st tackle to make it 2nd and 9....then Crump's huge sack for 3rd and 12....then ASU bring 6 into the endzone and Ball has size and pressure and Mahones throws the ball way behind his intended receiver who is well covered by Robinson, but Gump (allowing ample cushion to his man) steps in between the 2 receivers for the near pic-6

The last man that Ballage trucked on his 7th Wildcat TD was 6'1" 235 lb true frosh stud MLB Jordyn Brooks who ASU offered. On this one everyone did their job EXCEPT Richard who whiffed on Brooks

AJ Latu dropping in coverage split out wide!!!! and #13 Batson just slants to the middle of the field for a 12 yard pickup that would've been for 30 if he didn't have to dive

Love the way our D buckled down in Q4.......NOT

Goodman with a mauling block, Kohl checking the OLB and Jones going 2nd level to own the MLB Brooks to clear the way for Ballage's 75 yd TD scamper (also Cam tied up his man or it woulda been a 25 not 75 yard run)

8:25 left and 4th and 3......#13 WR Batson (and Mahomes) see Calhoun blitizing (along with 5 others) from the right side of the defense leaving Gump to cover 2 WRs. Blown coverage I HOPE. (Even if Calhoun did not blitz there is no way he could cover Batson just as Whiley/Moeakiola/Ball/Mendoza/ cannot......not sure about Crump). Gump had the angle on him and got blown away for the 66 yard TD.

Nice pass deflection by Wicker

Gammage (on a crossing pattern) taking those receptions that Kyle Williams would've had with a nice rollout by Manny

Richard delivering the final blow to Brooks (10 tackles) to send him to the bench with 6:05 left

Ballage tripped on the Wildcat that brought it to 4th and 1 or he would have easily made a 1st down(which we got on 4th and 1)

I cannot believe it. Somebody in NYC is going to wake up tomorrow and read the stats and think Gump played well. He did not. 2nd INT or a TUUURRRIBLY overthrown (or underthrown....tough to say for sure) ball . (looked like Orr's INTs from last season but worse)

Is McCollum our most vicious OL?!?!?! Mean streak and FINISHES

So glad Demario got his 100 (109)

What's it gonna take for Ballage to get 20 touches??!?!?!? (Only 15 tonight and half of them were specialty plays....wildcat?!?!?!?!?! and 12 last week......vs 33 and 21 for Richard......that's 27 vs 54 !!?!?!?!?!?!?!) It should be very close to 40-40

3rd offensive play of the game, 2 back set, fakes to both and Harry wide open and Wilkins looks and tucks and runs

4th play Cam Smith has his man beaten down the sideline by a step and Wilkins overthrows him at the 12 yard line

5th play on 3rd and 4 Manny stares a a perfectly covered White and still attempts to force it to him on the sideline..no chance

On the sack by Calhoun at their 3, Smallwood and Crump woulda had him if Calhoun whiffed

HUGE tackle by Perry at their 13 on 3rd and 11 to force a punt!

Missed offsides call on Pipkins when he got Richard for 1 yard gain

Terrible/risky pass on bubble pass to Gammage and GREAT catch and battle for 1st down

Missed PI call on LB jacking Gammage on Harry's TD catch

Is Slocum/CTG taking orders from Mike Norvell on the on-side kick in Q1??? DESPERATION FOOTBALL up 7-0 in Q1 at HOME.

Orr with GREAT anticipation staring at 2 WRs directly in front of him and jumping the screen for a TFL

Quinn said that on the long pass from their 45 to our 23 in q1 that Whiley should have covered the WR up the seam. If he is right, we are in a world of hurt vs Cal/Wazzu/AU/Oregon. No way ANY of our spurs can cover WR on these teams.

JoJo Wicker had Stockton easily for a TFL and instead he spun out and got down to the 1 and they scored

Wilkins forcing to a perfectly covered Kohl in middle of field but missed PI call

Jalen Harvey with a blown block on 3rd and 7 WR screen to White forcing punt

Missed off-sides on Lea on the safety in Q1

Ralston with terrible effort on a block on KOR and his man gets White at the 35. (after the short kick)

Manny with screen pass to White 2 yards behind the line and White with his 2nd drop of the season

Ballage shoulda been nailed for no gain and runs over 2 solo tackle attempts for 9 yards and 1st down

Kohl and Harry both whiff on their blocks on pitch to Ballage resulting in loss of 8 yards.

Bailey with an excellent effort getting block on a SAFETY to open it up for Richard's 15 yard reception in Q1

Wiilkins once again stares at one man (Tim WHite wide open down middle of the field) and he throws over the top to Ballage down the sideline when Ballage is 2 step IN FRONT of the defender, not behind him.. Incomplete

Orr's cushion getting smaller

AJ Latu covering a WR across the middle for easy completion

Gump sighting trying to block Mahomes (doesn't even extend arms) as he moves forward 2 more yards

Next play, Wrenn offsides, free play, we have our Spur (Whiley) covering a WR and likley result....58 yard TD

Mahomes 9-9, 130 yards 1 TD in Q1

Harry lucked out and got the PI called on the DB when he was totally manhandling him down the sideline to end Q1

Poorly thrown ball by Manny (curl in) and Harvey flips his hips/shoulders to make great catch but gets stripped and loses it......but roughing the passer call saves the day

Kohl with another whiff on a block of a LB on Manny's run down to the 1

On the 75 yard TD in Q2 Stockton showed the difference in speed vs Orr who had the angle and a head of steam....no competition

Epps sighting.....15 yard unnecessary roughness on KOR so instead of being on the 30, start on 15

Kohl WIDE open left ALL ALONE for 31 yard pickup

Kohl with nice block on SAFETY on QB run to spring Manny

Trick play double reverse pass to Ballage is fun but this is TEXAS TECH's defense. I'll take it!

Ami Latu????

Great coverage by Perry on #13 when Mohmes was out of the pocket

Defensive timeout on 3rd and 13 with 10:36 to go in half and winning 23-21 at home. No reason not to call that one especially since it was the 1st one called in the half. RESULT----GUMP GIVES HUGE CUSHION FOR EASY 1ST DOWN AND MAHOMES MISSES HIM (ALTHOUGH QUINN BLAMES THE RECEIVER'S ROUTE). WOULD HAVE BEEN AN 18 YARD COMEBACK FOR A 1ST DOWN. (10:30 LEFT IN HALF

Sam Jones pulls right and HUGE block to spring Ballage on 37 yard run with 10 min left in half (Bailey and McCray did their jobs as well)

On 3rd and 1 from their 4 McCollum with a nice push on 330 lb Pipkins. He didn't stick with the block but the push guaranteed the 1st down. McCray stuck with his block and pushed him back 2 yards. Great blocking and I think Pipkins is a pretty good player

On the Wildcat to Ballage Hill blew his redshirt and was playing H-Back and blew his man up (safety in the box). Kohl with a nice block on the LB and McCollum/McCray/Bailey (all 3 crashing left and just getting in the way of their man basically) did their jobs and Jones pulled again to help

I don't know if TTU's KOR is any good, nor does anyone else watching this game due to Gonzalez

Moeak sighting with 8:24 in the half allows hug cushion and easy 13 yard completion at the sideline. 2 plays later they go right back at him for easy 15 yard completion in the seam

Wicker with a nice pressure and got Mahomes' ankles for no gain

Orr guesses wrong on fake WR screen and man get 3 steps beind him for easy TD but goes off receivers fingers at our 15 (although we sent 6, Mahomes was not pressured). LUCK

Moeak lets his man go and he goes directly to Perry & gives him a shot in the middle of the field and RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REF and no call and the receiver turns the other way for a 23 yard pickup (sent 6 and Mahomes stepped up to buy time)

Gump whiffs on tackle with 6:55 left in half and receiver picks up 1st down at our 13. Next play Mendoza comes up nicely to tackle RB for no gain

Moeak repeatedly getting blocked out of the play with chances for tackles

Adams sighting on the TD pass to the middle of the field

Patterson pleading his case to call defensive plays and CTG shaking his head, no

We send Kohl out wide and a CB/S covers him easily. They send a 5th WR out wide and we try to cover him with a Spur (LB/SS). Same as Cal, same as Wazzu. (and probably AU/Oregon)

Harry does NOT have alligator arms across the middle. Can't believe he is a frosh

Kohl left WIDE OPEN again on the 35 yard pickup. Great play calling by Lindsey. (No fake just the H-Back takes 5 steps into the flat and NOBODY there).

Hill with another difficult and productive block on a safety on Ballage's Wildcat TD with 2:40 left in half (Kohl/Bailey/McCray did their jobs and Jones pulled and found a CB to block (that's tough for a guard)

So when we decide to take the spur out, instead of replacing him with a DB we have Mendoz (along side Calhoun and Crump) covering WRs. Easy completions with 8 in coverage

Then we bring 4 and Gump give 10 yard cushion for easy 15 yard pickup

Gump with a nice tackle after big cushion and 10 yard pickup

Mahomes hits his 3rd read at our 30 with ZERO pressure and Gump whiffs on tackle and receiver goes out of bounds after 17 yard pickup down to our 13

Giles basically strolls behind Mendoza and into the middle of the field right in front of Perry and then Adams for the easy 13 yard TD

Ami Latu sighting with the hands to the face 15 yard penalty moving the down to our 19

Gump with a great tackle to limit Lauderdale to 4 yard pickup

Mahomes just threw it up for Lauderdale who was perfectly covered by Orr but physical mismatch down to the 1

Moeakiola with the best seat in the house watching #4 giving 2nd and 3rd effort to get into the end zone. Moeak standing over Mendoze who had an ankle

White is just uncanny. On a 12 yard seam route he picks up 30 with 3 defenders converging on him 12 yards earlier

Sande Charles and I review ASU's 68-55 win, with some video highlights

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Cared only about the game being in the win column.

Story by Justin

Thanks to Bruce and Paul

Gallery

The biggest improvement in a team takes place between week one and week two, and on Saturday night ASU was living proof of that.

Story by Eric.

A column by Fabian

We have to win Saturday. Agree or disagree?

Much has been said and written about the explosive Texas Tech offense, but can we expect from the Red Raiders’ defense and what opportunities does it present ASU?

Here is Eric Smith's analysis

No turnovers by either team.
WIU 28 1st downs to NAU's 18
Cookus was awesome again going 23-33 for 263 yrds (Not as many yards as against ASU but still strong performance)
Marks 4-90-1
Butler 4-78-1

The Sun Devils are favored by 5 points in Las Vegas which I find hard to believe after our struggle against NAU for three quarters...

Is the line due to our "double inferno" rather than our Sun Devils..??

Sure, we won by 31 pts but 24 of those points came in the 4th quarter when the poor Jacks were worn out...

Case Cookus had a 173.6 QB rating while Manny Wilkins had a 122.7 rating...

The Jacks had 369 passing yards and 425 total yards while we had 456 total yards...

We also didn't create any turnovers while the Jacks got two...

It's got to be the "double inferno" and not our team that has Vegas confused, right..??

Surely Las Vegas knows that Tech QB - Patrick Mahomes - completed 30-43 passes for 483 yds and 4 TDs, for a 194.8 QB rating, before leaving the game the Red Raiders won 69-17, right..??

Mahomes was also the leading rusher, like Manny against the Jacks, for the Red Raiders in the game against SFA...

I'm not sure that Tech would've beaten the Jacks in Lubbock 69-17 but I'm pretty sure they would've had the game won by half-time, unlike our Sun Devils...

So, what to make of all this, especially since the Red Raiders sliced and diced us in a bowl game under Graham three years ago, where the Devils were favored but lost 37-23, after Tech threw for over 400 yds...

I know it's a different year and all that but our secondary looked pretty suspect against the Jacks and our DL didn't put much pressure on Cookus in that game, either, and we all know that the Red Raiders are in a Power Conference and have much better players than the Jacks, right..??

Therefore, it's got to be the "double inferno" angle, correct..??

Go Devils!!!

After their big win last week, AP #2 Clemson tied 10 - 10 with the mighty Troy Trojans about half way through the 2nd quarter.

even if you're not a Shaq fan or an NBA fan, this speech was hilarious.

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Well....Week 2 and Round 2. Here we go again!

Patrick Mohomes Derek Jeter w/ Man-Perm

Quan Shorts Stoned Wiz Khalifa

DJ Polite-Bray Random Pissed off Millennial

Breiden Fehoko Guy who Caused Superdome Power Outage

Justin Stockton Senator Ted Cruz

Tony Brown Me During During Class

@Hod Rabino, any word on what attendance will look like for tonight? We need the House of Heat rocking to get that 12th man advantage.

After watching NAU have their way with ASU's pass defense in the follow up game to the embarrassing loss to West Virginia (and their average passing offense that threw for 532 yards with a previous high of 359 and 3rd best at 294...........which was a follow up to the embarrassing loss to Cal and their 542 passing yards) I decided to look at a few stats on CTG's previous defenses

Last season and previously (and now it appears the same for 2016) there was focus directed at our statistically strong rush defense and our high rate of TFLs and sacks. (2012's poor rush defense was an outlier)

Since our exceptionally strong pass defense in 2012 (when we very fortunately faced FIVE backup QBs) we have taken an annual drop in pass defense statistically and plummeted to below the bottom of FBS in 2015. (128th out of 128 and 20 yards per game more than #127 and only Cal and Louisiana Tech have had this bad of a pass defense in at least the last 10 years).

In 2010 Tulsa was DEAD LAST in FBS pass defense. 120th out of 120 FBS teams. In 2007 they came close (115th out of 119 FBS teams......16 yards more than #114, his previous stop, Rice)

Pass defense/total defense /total yards
ASU 2015-128th/113th/464 128 FBS teams
ASU 2014-106th/83rd/417 128 FBS teams
ASU 2013- 72nd/43rd/372 125 FBS teams
ASU 2012- 3rd/27th/351 124 FBS team
Pitt 2011-72nd / 35th /351 120 FBS teams
Tulsa-2010 120th/87th /415 120 FBS teams
Tulsa-2009 102nd/84th /397 120 FBS teams
Tulsa-2008 98th/75th /379 120 FBS teams
Tulsa-2007 115th/101st/452 119 FBS teams
(Tulsa had the #1 scoring offense in FBS in 2007)

Obviously being a member of the Pac 12 puts a pass defense at a severe disadvantage vs the American Athletic Conference (Tulsa) or the Big East (Pitt). A Pac 12 pass defense could probably rank in the middle of the FBS (64th) or even a bit lower and still win the conference.

The fact is that CTG has been successful as a head coach with high scoring offenses Tulsa-#1 in FBS in 2007, #2 in 2008, #43 in 2009 (when he went 5-7), #6 in 2010, Pitt-83rd in 2011 (when he went 6-6), ASU 14th in 2012, ASU 10th in 2013, ASU 16th in 2014, ASU 32nd in 2015 (when he went 6-7)

I am thrilled with the hiring of Coach Rushing. I think coach Seumalo can be very successful. I think coach Slocum has benefitted from Zane Gonzalez' kickoffs and and signing Tim White but I do see improvement on special teams and with our linebackers.

Joe Healey examines Saturday's ASU opponent

Texas Tech Preview

Enjoy!

http://jediasu.com/limesurvey/index.php/175632/lang-en

Week One Results to be posted on Sunday or Monday.

#GoDevils

Anyone seen him? Seems quiet lately

Any gauge yet on who officially/unofficially might be coming in for the TT Game?