Monday Morning QB
- By Devil Dust
- Devils' Huddle
- 4 Replies
Ipso Facto...you are not going to win many games with a below average or injured QB...
In this case, with Brady gone for the season and the hot shot freshman not yet ready for the big leagues, we are in the position to use an injured Manny against formidable PAC opponents that is the equivalent of fighting with one hand tied behind your back...
An injured Manny makes him one dimensional and easy to defend against, whether we want to admit that or not...
Put that together with a defense that is that in name only and you are looking at big trouble looming ahead for the Sun Devils...
Meanwhile, our next opponent, Wazzu, has one of the best QBs in the land in Luke Falk and, with our inept defense, it is anyone's guess as to how many yards and points the Cougars will put up against the Devils...
My guess is that it will be a lot of yards and a lot of points and, with Manny not being close to 100%, the offense will be easy to defend against and, therefore, will not be able to score a bunch of points...
We have plenty of depth issues on the team and some talent issues as well but no one figured we would be in this place with our QB situation at the start of the season...
From my standpoint, we should not have as many issues as we currently have if Todd and his crew had been recruiting more effectively over the past four to five years but it is what it is and he is not alone, when it comes to those type of things...just look at UCLA and AU as well...
On the plus side, we are still 5-2 and only need a couple more wins to become bowl eligible which would salvage the season to some extent given our injuries and crappy defense...
I wish we could wire Paladin in San Francisco so he could ride in on horseback to rescue us but Have Gun, Will Travel went off the air in 1963...
I can still see Richard Boone, like the present day Jack Reacher, pulling into town and setting things straight there for those that can't defend themselves...
Lord knows that we are having a very hard time defending ourselves these days...
Not to be lost in all this is the work of Zane Gonzalez and Matt Haack who have made our special teams special...
In addition to our QB situation, we also have missed Christian Sam a lot on defense, although he doesn't play in the secondary but he is one of our better defensive players who has been sidelined by an injury...
On another note, Cowherd last week said that for a program to be really successful there need to be at least 30 in-state elite players that local teams can recruit and I'm sure that Arizona doesn't yet fit that description...
Obviously, places like Cal, Texas, Ohio and Florida do but they also have every team in the nation recruiting there as well...
I sure hope that our new coaches are great at establishing relationships because that is the name of the game in recruiting...
What do you think about any of this..??
Go Devils!!!
In this case, with Brady gone for the season and the hot shot freshman not yet ready for the big leagues, we are in the position to use an injured Manny against formidable PAC opponents that is the equivalent of fighting with one hand tied behind your back...
An injured Manny makes him one dimensional and easy to defend against, whether we want to admit that or not...
Put that together with a defense that is that in name only and you are looking at big trouble looming ahead for the Sun Devils...
Meanwhile, our next opponent, Wazzu, has one of the best QBs in the land in Luke Falk and, with our inept defense, it is anyone's guess as to how many yards and points the Cougars will put up against the Devils...
My guess is that it will be a lot of yards and a lot of points and, with Manny not being close to 100%, the offense will be easy to defend against and, therefore, will not be able to score a bunch of points...
We have plenty of depth issues on the team and some talent issues as well but no one figured we would be in this place with our QB situation at the start of the season...
From my standpoint, we should not have as many issues as we currently have if Todd and his crew had been recruiting more effectively over the past four to five years but it is what it is and he is not alone, when it comes to those type of things...just look at UCLA and AU as well...
On the plus side, we are still 5-2 and only need a couple more wins to become bowl eligible which would salvage the season to some extent given our injuries and crappy defense...
I wish we could wire Paladin in San Francisco so he could ride in on horseback to rescue us but Have Gun, Will Travel went off the air in 1963...
I can still see Richard Boone, like the present day Jack Reacher, pulling into town and setting things straight there for those that can't defend themselves...
Lord knows that we are having a very hard time defending ourselves these days...
Not to be lost in all this is the work of Zane Gonzalez and Matt Haack who have made our special teams special...
In addition to our QB situation, we also have missed Christian Sam a lot on defense, although he doesn't play in the secondary but he is one of our better defensive players who has been sidelined by an injury...
On another note, Cowherd last week said that for a program to be really successful there need to be at least 30 in-state elite players that local teams can recruit and I'm sure that Arizona doesn't yet fit that description...
Obviously, places like Cal, Texas, Ohio and Florida do but they also have every team in the nation recruiting there as well...
I sure hope that our new coaches are great at establishing relationships because that is the name of the game in recruiting...
What do you think about any of this..??
Go Devils!!!
Sunday Walkabout
- By Devil Dust
- Devils' Huddle
- 25 Replies
Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = Wait Until Next Year
As Arizona has found out this year with all of its QB issues and lack of quality players and depth issues, the Cats are going nowhere fast and now the Sun Devils are not that far behind them it would appear...
ASU was supposed to lose to Colorado but they didn't just lose but got embarrassed defensively once again, only this time the Buffs ran at will against our supposedly great rushing defense and came away with a whooping 315 yards rushing to go along with 265 yards passing...
We weren't going to beat CU with Manny at about 50% mobility and Gonzales isn't going to kick enough FGs in a game like this to win, either...
However, the most glaring deficiencies are related to fundamentals where we are just awful in so many areas, it is beyond understanding, when you have a coaching staff being paid millions of dollars to get those things accomplished during a season...
The irony on defense is that Graham is a defensive minded coach who loves that part of the game and, yet, in his fifth season at ASU, the defense is as pathetic as this one is, that is following on the same path as the pathetic defense we had last seasons, too...
Which brings us to some changes that are going to have to be made soon on the defensive side of the ball and I have come to the conclusion that getting rid of Keith Patterson will not be just a scapegoating exercise, based on what has been seen on that side of the ball, ever since he was hired by Graham three years ago...
A lot of it has to do with glaring talent deficiencies on defense, especially in the secondary, but most of it, at this point, has to fall on the shoulders of Todd and his defensive staff and in particular Keith Patterson...
The biggest problem is the one associated with coaching credibility, not with just the fans and boosters, but with the players themselves, when they get taken apart, week after agonizing week, by just about every opponent...it's very embarrassing, which they know more than anybody else and that is all on the coaches and nobody else...
At least the ineptitude of the Sun Devils allowed me to turn the channel back and forth between our game and the Cubs-Dodgers baseball game, where great things happened in the 8th inning, when former D-back Miguel Montero hit a Grand Slam HR to win the game for the Cubs...
Getting back to the PAC, the Cougs beat the Bruins in Pullman and at least the Bruins were competitive in that game, even using their second string QB since Rosen wasn't available...
The talented Trojans demolished the hapless Cats and look now to be the best team in the South, while Stanford beat Notre Dame that was ranked in the Top 10 before the season started and the Irish are now 2-5 and may not become bowl eligible...
I'm hopeful that we'll win another couple of games to be bowl eligible but with this defense of ours and with our current QB situation, that may be a very tall order...
I know some will say that Keith Patterson is not the big issue with the defense but I've seen enough and, even with the talent deficits that exist on defense, the defense is not being coordinated in any meaningful way these days, in my humble opinion, so something needs to be done soon to correct that issue...
In the meantime, we can all wait until next year as fate was just not on our side this season...
As always, I will look forward to your feedback...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = Wait Until Next Year
As Arizona has found out this year with all of its QB issues and lack of quality players and depth issues, the Cats are going nowhere fast and now the Sun Devils are not that far behind them it would appear...
ASU was supposed to lose to Colorado but they didn't just lose but got embarrassed defensively once again, only this time the Buffs ran at will against our supposedly great rushing defense and came away with a whooping 315 yards rushing to go along with 265 yards passing...
We weren't going to beat CU with Manny at about 50% mobility and Gonzales isn't going to kick enough FGs in a game like this to win, either...
However, the most glaring deficiencies are related to fundamentals where we are just awful in so many areas, it is beyond understanding, when you have a coaching staff being paid millions of dollars to get those things accomplished during a season...
The irony on defense is that Graham is a defensive minded coach who loves that part of the game and, yet, in his fifth season at ASU, the defense is as pathetic as this one is, that is following on the same path as the pathetic defense we had last seasons, too...
Which brings us to some changes that are going to have to be made soon on the defensive side of the ball and I have come to the conclusion that getting rid of Keith Patterson will not be just a scapegoating exercise, based on what has been seen on that side of the ball, ever since he was hired by Graham three years ago...
A lot of it has to do with glaring talent deficiencies on defense, especially in the secondary, but most of it, at this point, has to fall on the shoulders of Todd and his defensive staff and in particular Keith Patterson...
The biggest problem is the one associated with coaching credibility, not with just the fans and boosters, but with the players themselves, when they get taken apart, week after agonizing week, by just about every opponent...it's very embarrassing, which they know more than anybody else and that is all on the coaches and nobody else...
At least the ineptitude of the Sun Devils allowed me to turn the channel back and forth between our game and the Cubs-Dodgers baseball game, where great things happened in the 8th inning, when former D-back Miguel Montero hit a Grand Slam HR to win the game for the Cubs...
Getting back to the PAC, the Cougs beat the Bruins in Pullman and at least the Bruins were competitive in that game, even using their second string QB since Rosen wasn't available...
The talented Trojans demolished the hapless Cats and look now to be the best team in the South, while Stanford beat Notre Dame that was ranked in the Top 10 before the season started and the Irish are now 2-5 and may not become bowl eligible...
I'm hopeful that we'll win another couple of games to be bowl eligible but with this defense of ours and with our current QB situation, that may be a very tall order...
I know some will say that Keith Patterson is not the big issue with the defense but I've seen enough and, even with the talent deficits that exist on defense, the defense is not being coordinated in any meaningful way these days, in my humble opinion, so something needs to be done soon to correct that issue...
In the meantime, we can all wait until next year as fate was just not on our side this season...
As always, I will look forward to your feedback...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
