Detailing the performances of ASU's first-year players in the loss to Cincinnati, a contest where another true freshman has now avoided a redshirt year

"We’re upset, and that’s how it should be. Unfortunately, we lost both of our games before the bye weeks." While ASU finds itself in a very familiar place going into its second bye week of the year, it also hopes to duplicate the rate of success that followed earlier in the season

Good morning from Queen City. Perfect Fall weather for today's game. Forecasted 61 degrees at kickoff

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Tough conversations happening in Salt Lake City. Utah OC resigns after 3 straight losses.

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = What's Next ?

Now that our first team QB is sidelined for an indefinite period of time due to a significant rib injury he suffered against Utah..

After yesterday's game against Cincy, our shortcomings along the offensive line, failure to put pressure on opposing QBs with our DL, and a weak special teams kicking game, etc, once again, came into a pronounced view but, this time, without a starting QB, who helped offset those shortcomings up this point in the season...

So, for me, the outcome was predictable, as we lost to the Bearcats yesterday in a could'a, would'a, should'a game...

A fumble here, missed passes there, poor blocking and tackling all game long, some questionable coaching decisions, and a couple of missed field goals added up to defeat...

Now that Dilly and his staff will have a BYE week to address these issues, particularly as they apply to a second string QB whose processing abilities aren't a strong point of his, can they get him and the team in a better position to win games moving forward in the brutal second half of the season..??

We've seen what has happened to the Utes who lost their starting QB in their second game of the season and it hasn't been pretty...

So, the big Sun Devil question for this fine Sunday morning in the desert is this...can Dilly and Arroyo scheme their way out of a handicapped offense now that it's lost its starting QB..??

Jeff Sims didn't lose the game yesterday but he didn't do much to overcome the loss of Sam Leavitt, either, did he..??

Are there any real answers for our team as we face Oklahoma St on the road, return to face UCF at home, then travel to K-State, before retuning home to face BYU, and then finishing the season on the road at AU...

Those games would've been very difficult to win even if we still had Leavitt and now we find ourselves without our starting QB and with the same issues mentioned above on offense, defense and special teams...

So, once again, how do you scheme your way out of these matters when the talent may be lacking to do so..??

On another note, it looks like the BYU Cougars may be a team of destiny as they somehow found a way to beat the Cowboys on Friday night to remain unbeaten...

They will be traveling to Florida next weekend to face UCF that almost upset Iowa St in Iowa yesterday and then travel to play at Utah that has seen their title hopes evaporate without Cam Rising running the show on offense...

They then get Kansas at home before traveling to Tempe to face our Sun Devils before finishing the season at home against Houston...

I guess we might have Sam Leavitt back by then but how rusty will he be if he is even available by then..??

All I know is that we need another win to become bowl eligible that would still be a nice accomplishment if we can pull it off given all the handicaps we face moving forward...

So, what's next..??

The Scottish used to say "how now brown cow" and ordered up another pint or two, when confronted with that question...

And, that's what I intend to do as we move forward with the rest of our season...

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

starting 7 transfers on D

Starting 7 transfers on 0

similar weakish schedule thru 7 games to ASU

out of Dilly's 97 signees (compared to Indiana's 87) in his first 18 months................

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Was told JayQ, Alston Mason and Shawn Phillips stood out. Hope to get some more details later.

"The kicking game is atrocious. We've missed five kicks in the last three games. We've gotta find someone who can kick the ball." The field goal woes were just one of several deficiencies that revealed themselves in a loss to Cincinnati

He sucks! I felt it during the interview a few days ago when he said they didn't need to change the playbook for Sims. Then I had people on the boards try and gaslight into saying that it was just coach speak. NOPE! The guy is a FRAUD! He needs to go at the end of the season. Sims has different strengths and weaknesses to Leavitt, and yet our FRAUD of an OC can't even figure out how to call plays to help the kid out.

Add onto that with Ragel. How in the hell do we not have a semi-capable FG Kicker on the team when we're carrying 3 of them!? That guy is a straight LOSER as a coach and KD is an idiot if he continues to employ him after the season.

Finaly, please ask Ward why he continues to play a zone defense that gets picked apart by average QBs?? ONCE AGAIN, our WRs are BLANKETED by the opposing defense, while their WRs are running WIDE OPEN on evey play.

KD has done some good things, but he has major, yet easily fixable, holes with his staff. 5-1 in the front half of the season. Now 5-2. Looking at what's left I am back down at us maybe being 6-6 at the end of the season, and that's on KD for assemblying a poor staff and allowing the poor OC playcalling.

I was a Defender of Herm......for way too long and now humbly/embarassingly Apologzie to everyone........but I am and will be a defender of Kenny D for what i think will be a short time, meaning i expect us to turn the corner much quicker and will not need to be in full go DEF mode

We have discussed the Pro Style system run by Herm and the accompanying issues/infractions/black clouds and state of the program that he left us in @ nauseum, but i think it is time for a Refresher course in what Herm left us talent wise.......so for a quick overview of who is remaining from Just 2 yrs ago, the 2022 season, on our current depth chart, is

* Kickers - 0 kickers, punters on depth chart
* QB's - 1, Trent B, and as much as we all love Trent, this coaching staff has yet to play him this year
* RB's - 0, natta
* OL - 1 i can think of - E Bohle, who has gotten decent amount of reps, seems to have played average this yr
* TE - 0, natta
* WR - 0, natta
* OFFENSE - 2 players from Herm's great nfl style program on our current depth chart from 24 months ago

* DL - 0, natta
* LBr - 1, C McCullough, has been pretty good for us this yr
* CB - 0, natta
* S - 0, natta

So, while most programs across the US of A probably have minimum 8-10 starters or depth chart kids on their rosters from 2022 season, we have a total of 3..........the Only P5 program i can think of that might have less would be Colorado, but not going to waste my time looking @ that roster

NIL Resources - While we are at it, lets take a peek @ NIL.........do you think there are Any P5 programs in the country who had less to work with in 2023 than KD?.......while our good friend Ray was AD, and 100% not endorsing or raising $ for NIL, do you think there were maybe 2-3 programs who had less to use than us??..........doubtful..........and for this yr, with the late start we had knowing Graham was not hired until March, i am confident that with the $$ commitments to current roster (or NIL commitments we had available in spring & summer to offer our kids/other portal kids) is @ best in bottom 10% of P5.........now, if the current lawsuit that is in process of being finalized in the courts kicks in @ Fall of 2025, we will be pretty much on even keel with 75+ % of the programs .......not w the Bamas, ohio states, texas, etc, but the rest of us will be in same boat w roughly $20M to use for student athletes

Recruiting - KD's 1st class in FEB of 2023 was OK, but because he came in so late - DEC 2022 - and a ton of kids had already signed in the 1st ever DEC signing period, well there was not a lot left to choose from for FEB..........and the commitments that herm had garnered were minimal @ best as most of the staff was gone @ seasons end
* his 2024 class, this yrs Freshman class, i think is a step up on paper and should play out OK........and think the verbals we have to date for the 2025 class - all the big OLine kids, 4* WR Wilson & Dyer - i think will play out even better than the 2024 class

Portal - without reviewing the 2023/2024 portal names, think we did OK in 2023 as again KD was in his 1st 6 months on job and was late to the game..........think the kids we signed this past spring have OR will play out much better - RB R Brown, DL Swanson, Konaiga, LBr Elliott, Crook, Fiasu, DB Rowser, hopefully Welch.......they have somewhat solidified our depth chart to respectable - and now that KD has built the culture, we are on our way to 6-7 W's and a bowl game, and there are a few sheckles in the NIL pot to entice new kids........well think the Dec/spring portal will play out even better than this past yr......on paper looks like we will need at minimum a solid backup QB, probably a LT, hopefully a Guard and WR on O.......maybe a couple DL pieces, a good CB, and a replacement for Sh Simmons on D

final comparison before i go watch Devils Hockey is brief comparison of Tx Tech/Cincy programs, our 2 losses

* Tx Tech - game was @ Lubbock, had a 2 yr starter/5th yr QB, much more NIL $$ than KD has had.........Tx TEch was 8-5 in 2022, do you think their HCoach inherited a little more than KD did from our 3 win 2022 team?......pretty sure having a starting QB, all Conf RB TAhj Brooks and All Conf LBr Rodriguez in his pocket for 2023-24 helped him to where they are today

* Cincinnati - game @ Cincy, had a 1 yr starter QB (transfer from Indiana), who knows how much NIL.......Cincy was 9-3 in 2022 under L Fickell, so once again guessing Satterfield inherited Much More @ 2023-24 than KD did from Herm's 3-9

Hey, was not a lot of fun watching the game today, and yes our team and staff made some mistakes.......not going into bunch of If's and Buts...........But am sure if Sam L had been available we would have had much better chance

We are a Raw Steak right now, and most programs are either medium or medium+ compared to what KD inherited.....and you dont go from Football raw to medium in 1 1/2 seasons, even in the portal era, unless you have NIL $$$........as tough as it is to do, we need to give this steak some time to cook before it resembles anything close to Ruth Chris

Keep your Chins up boys, we are in So Much better shape than the last 3 yrs, and for most part are trending good.........just takes time to return from the abyss

PS, our besties from Tucson tech got obliterated at home by Colorado, would feel much worse if that was us

We had good kickers and punters under him. Horrible day for special teams.

ASU's inability to impose its will on the ground and difficulties in halting Cincinnati's running game, along with continued shortcomings in the kicking game, have ASU still seeking their first Big 12 road win this year. Justin LaCertosa and I analyze the 24-14 loss

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"You're going to some games, and the opponent is going to whoop your butt; they're going to out-coach you, and that's why I told the team in the locker room." Another Big 12 road game, another loss where ASU sabotaged itself and had no answers for its opponent's schemes

...and Novell has 70M left on his contract. One really good year. That is a mess. I think they would hire Deion but they aren't paying that type of by out. I appreciate where ASU is right now.

ASU travels to the Midwest to take on Cincy in an effort to become bowl eligible in predominantly white uniforms! See every detail here: https://arizonastate.rivals.com/new...-to-wear-maroon-lids-atop-white-against-cinci