Talking about the Defense
For myself, this was one of those games that I expected lots of frustration as Cal Poly was bringing in an effective triple option threat that can really get the better of a good defense. When ran correctly and with intense efficiency, the triple option can chew you up, wear you down and rip off some huge gains as you stack the LOS in prep for the edge play. Hit them outside over and over again and then run the H trap. Run inside for huge gains and watch what it does to the edge option. Crack down over and over again on the safeties and outside linebackers and watch them start jumping around blocks opening up lanes... sure enough.. we saw a lot of that and to go with it some of the best cut blocking I can recall. Give great credit to Cal Poly and that game they brought into Tempe last Saturday as it really did create quite a bit of problems for the Sun Devils.
Position Grades
Secondary - Safeties - Corners
Grade: B-
A fun night if you are a backside player as you were really asked to come up and dial in your tackling skills. Jordan Simone led the group with 12 solo tackles and three TFLs. His presence and smarts out in space really helped the defense defend the pitch play on the option. I saw him at times doing a great job in space to get long on his blocks and really work some great escape moves. Loved how quick his hands are on those contacts and they really allow the defense to bring him up against teams like this. Armand Perry was having a solid game as well and I thought while he was in there he made some nice plays and kept everything in front of him well. Unfortunate to see him go down and end up in a boot. Kweishi Brown had a quite night stat wise yet he was able to do a good job in his regards. Cal Poly only threw the ball eight times and completed four of them for a long of 21. Not horrible considering all things..
Linebackers
Grade: B
This group really did try their hardest and at times, even with them making so many plays, you wondered if it was going to be enough the way the opposing offense was able to move the ball willingly at times. Christian Sam had another monster performance and is quickly starting to lead this defense up in the box with his consistent play. 12 tackles, and two sacks easily put him as my front runner for the Devils defensive MVP (again). Longino was able to find his productivity this game and I liked the way he ASU moved him around a lot more this game in terms of where he was ending up on snap. Playing much more off the edge at times and allowing him the space to read plays and use his ability to fit the defense. I see him much more suited for that type of play that basically lining him up as a defensive end which is why I have him in this group this week rather than with the line. Laiu Moeakiola was a great competitor all night and came up huge in the fourth quarter on some of his edge stops. Flat out, this guy just knows how to play football and his athletic ability and heart go a long way for the defense. Salamo Fiso had 10 tackles as well to add to the group. He struggled at times inside and when you watch a lot of the interior run game you have to question what his responsibility is on a lot of plays. I also watch him playing too tight on contact and much more so than his linebacker counterparts. He gives up the pads and needs to find better separation with his arms on a lot of plays. NM is going to bring in a similar offense and hopefully he can execute a bit better there on those inside run plays.
Defensive Line
Grade: D+
This group has to be accountable for the results up front and sure enough they were not pretty at times. It really did look like many of these guys had never seen a cut block before and some of the essential techniques to surviving such game plan were totally missing on more plays than I could count. What I saw was a lot of guys looking to far into the backfield and not reading through their blocks up front correctly. This really allowed the cut blocks to get underneath them at times and cause some huge run lanes to the second level. Guys were not placing their hands on important points of contact and just looked like they were scrambling to make it through so many plays. You would love to see Smallwood and Cherry do a better job placing their hands on the crown of the helmet or cup of the shoulder pads in their gaps and squeeze those cut blocks down some. I witnessed a lot of poor hand placement and not enough feel to follow that up which led to bodies on bodies inside. One of the reasons you will see Latu get hurt in this game is his lack of hands on the blocking linemen as he looks into the backfield and not at his respective blockers and gap assignments. On several of the inside/trap dive plays it looked like we had guys that were tied of being cut so they started to jump around these blocks and thus the holes became even bigger. Hands, hands and more hands are the only things that are going to save you when you face a front like that and sure enough this group will see some more of it this week as they face NM. The defensive ends in this game did a solid job up front. They squeezed better than I thought they would and were playing a smart QB who knew how to run the option. The QB play did not hurt ASU all that bad and that can be credited to the solid job from JoJo Wicker, Ismael Murphy Richardson and Edmond Boateng - Cherry and Smallwood both played in the defensive end spot some as well.
Overall Grade:
B
With what they faced on an every down situation you had to know this was going to be a very scrappy game. ASU got the better of Cal Poly and did a very good job from about half way through the third quarter on really coming up with some great plays to shut down any sort of rally.
For myself, this was one of those games that I expected lots of frustration as Cal Poly was bringing in an effective triple option threat that can really get the better of a good defense. When ran correctly and with intense efficiency, the triple option can chew you up, wear you down and rip off some huge gains as you stack the LOS in prep for the edge play. Hit them outside over and over again and then run the H trap. Run inside for huge gains and watch what it does to the edge option. Crack down over and over again on the safeties and outside linebackers and watch them start jumping around blocks opening up lanes... sure enough.. we saw a lot of that and to go with it some of the best cut blocking I can recall. Give great credit to Cal Poly and that game they brought into Tempe last Saturday as it really did create quite a bit of problems for the Sun Devils.
Position Grades
Secondary - Safeties - Corners
Grade: B-
A fun night if you are a backside player as you were really asked to come up and dial in your tackling skills. Jordan Simone led the group with 12 solo tackles and three TFLs. His presence and smarts out in space really helped the defense defend the pitch play on the option. I saw him at times doing a great job in space to get long on his blocks and really work some great escape moves. Loved how quick his hands are on those contacts and they really allow the defense to bring him up against teams like this. Armand Perry was having a solid game as well and I thought while he was in there he made some nice plays and kept everything in front of him well. Unfortunate to see him go down and end up in a boot. Kweishi Brown had a quite night stat wise yet he was able to do a good job in his regards. Cal Poly only threw the ball eight times and completed four of them for a long of 21. Not horrible considering all things..
Linebackers
Grade: B
This group really did try their hardest and at times, even with them making so many plays, you wondered if it was going to be enough the way the opposing offense was able to move the ball willingly at times. Christian Sam had another monster performance and is quickly starting to lead this defense up in the box with his consistent play. 12 tackles, and two sacks easily put him as my front runner for the Devils defensive MVP (again). Longino was able to find his productivity this game and I liked the way he ASU moved him around a lot more this game in terms of where he was ending up on snap. Playing much more off the edge at times and allowing him the space to read plays and use his ability to fit the defense. I see him much more suited for that type of play that basically lining him up as a defensive end which is why I have him in this group this week rather than with the line. Laiu Moeakiola was a great competitor all night and came up huge in the fourth quarter on some of his edge stops. Flat out, this guy just knows how to play football and his athletic ability and heart go a long way for the defense. Salamo Fiso had 10 tackles as well to add to the group. He struggled at times inside and when you watch a lot of the interior run game you have to question what his responsibility is on a lot of plays. I also watch him playing too tight on contact and much more so than his linebacker counterparts. He gives up the pads and needs to find better separation with his arms on a lot of plays. NM is going to bring in a similar offense and hopefully he can execute a bit better there on those inside run plays.
Defensive Line
Grade: D+
This group has to be accountable for the results up front and sure enough they were not pretty at times. It really did look like many of these guys had never seen a cut block before and some of the essential techniques to surviving such game plan were totally missing on more plays than I could count. What I saw was a lot of guys looking to far into the backfield and not reading through their blocks up front correctly. This really allowed the cut blocks to get underneath them at times and cause some huge run lanes to the second level. Guys were not placing their hands on important points of contact and just looked like they were scrambling to make it through so many plays. You would love to see Smallwood and Cherry do a better job placing their hands on the crown of the helmet or cup of the shoulder pads in their gaps and squeeze those cut blocks down some. I witnessed a lot of poor hand placement and not enough feel to follow that up which led to bodies on bodies inside. One of the reasons you will see Latu get hurt in this game is his lack of hands on the blocking linemen as he looks into the backfield and not at his respective blockers and gap assignments. On several of the inside/trap dive plays it looked like we had guys that were tied of being cut so they started to jump around these blocks and thus the holes became even bigger. Hands, hands and more hands are the only things that are going to save you when you face a front like that and sure enough this group will see some more of it this week as they face NM. The defensive ends in this game did a solid job up front. They squeezed better than I thought they would and were playing a smart QB who knew how to run the option. The QB play did not hurt ASU all that bad and that can be credited to the solid job from JoJo Wicker, Ismael Murphy Richardson and Edmond Boateng - Cherry and Smallwood both played in the defensive end spot some as well.
Overall Grade:
B
With what they faced on an every down situation you had to know this was going to be a very scrappy game. ASU got the better of Cal Poly and did a very good job from about half way through the third quarter on really coming up with some great plays to shut down any sort of rally.
