Football games can bring adversity from every angle.. even when you know what is coming your way. Arizona State knew exactly what they were going to face when Cal Poly came to Tempe and sure enough, they handed the Sun Devils every bit of effort they could muster. Heading into the fourth quarter of play the game really did have an upset sort of feel to it. Lack of consistently executing in all phases of the game and ability to stop the Poly offense really made for an interesting night. Sure enough though the favored team found a way to put together some big stops and score two late touchdowns to pull away and secure the victory. In college football, wins are hard to come by no matter who you are playing - Especially when the opposing team brought in the mentality and effort they played with.
Talking about the Offense
Two games into the season and you really see the offense struggling as to what their identity really is. A read-zone based scheme that came from previous years of a quarterback that was a legit threat to pull it and gain gritty yards is not found here with this years group and although Mike Bercovici has a decent burst and some vision to go with it, it just hasn’t found a groove and the results speak for themselves. I can tell you from a defensive coaches perspective that we often times love when we play a team that runs the read zone and has a quarterback who really is not much of a run threat. We will actually design our edge of the line of scrimmage attack to allow the QB to pull and run with the ball because it gives us a better chance to defend the running back knowing that if we get some extra hits on the QB it is going to work in our favor throughout a game. When you watch these last two defenses, they seem to be really dialed in on the Devils running game attacking the backs and making it hard for Bercovici and the offense to get after their staple play calling. The lack of a Jaelen Strong in this years offense really does seem to be a huge missing factor - Just think back to how many third downs Jaelen pulled the Devils out of with huge catches down the sidelines.. more than I can remember!
Position Grades
Quarterback
Grade: B-
I know I am one of many who are patiently waiting for Mike Bercovici to come out of the shell we know he can perform at here in 2015. That window is getting shorter by the day knowing that there is only one more game until South conference play starts. One of the things Berco had in this game compared to last weeks outing was time to throw the football and yet we still saw a lot of balls that were poorly thrown and run reads that were mismanaged. I think the jitters are still high in this offense and it all starts with the play of #2. Hopefully we see some great execution this week hosting NM.
Running Backs
Grade: A-
A much better performance that was to be expected and a bit of a change up we saw bringing Foster back into the backfield. Demario Richard ran very well racking up two scores and 121 yards on the ground - His longest was 16 yards. One of the things you will see Richard doing after he breaks to the second level is finding confidence in his chosen lanes. It looks like he is thinking and reading almost too much at times as he motors down to find the space rather than just putting his stocky legs in the ground to burst through the open run space. A great thing that helped the offense get things going was brining D.J. back behind the LOS for some handoffs as that really brought the speed change up to the defense. He looks smaller back there than he did last season as he is holding about 15 less pounds yet you can’t deny that it was helping the offense move the chains when it mattered.
Receivers
Grade: C+
A wide range of receives in total caught balls on the night and a huge spark from Tim White helped the Sun Devils pull away late. Gary Chambers, Devin Lucien and Foster all had solid performances catching the ball even with a couple drops to go around especially from Lucien down near the goal line. My one major critique from this group again this week falls back on their efforts in the run game and short yardage passing game. So many times when you watch who makes the tackle on defense it is coming from a major missed block out of this group. I see a lot of guys not being able to firmly lock their hands in place legally and set a wall for the ball carriers to read working downfield. It looks like this group needs to get some solid work getting themselves in better body positions to win these types of plays since so much of this offense works from 5 yards deep in the backfield to 10 yards past the LOS. If they can put that all together, the offense would see a huge increase in their success.
Tight Ends
Grade: C
Kody Kohl and Raymond Epps made their impact on the passing game as they collected four catches for 55 yards and a Kohl touchdown. Late drops early really hurt the offense from this group as it left major points off the board. Yet again, much like last week, we really saw this group struggle in the run game and missed block after missed block continue to added up to failed attempts in the run game. Kohl really seems to be struggling out in space even more than I can remember last season and he attempts to dig in and use sound technique is very far away from him. Like you want to see out of a good offensive linemen, a blocker needs to have great knee bend and really be able to chop heavy feet into the ground on contact all while keeping a solid wide base. When you watch Kohl, you will see him get far away from a lot of this - narrow base, big steps and really poor core explosion just doesn’t set the block up for him and thus he has to come off contact far too early. All things that can be fixed yet they must be worked on every day!
Offensive Line
Grade: B-
Night and day compared to last weeks performance yet that was expected because of the opponent. The input of Sam Jones at LT really seemed to help things over there on that left edge and I really felt back in spring football that was how that side was going to work itself out after watching Jones really do a great job. Bercovici only one down on one sack and the OL was really able to do a solid job on the ground. I thought collectively the group got much better this game and you could actually see much of their technique being executed to a high level. Looking forward to watching them continue to grow as a unit!
Offensive Grade
C+
Overall, this was not the performance we all expected. We know that and going forward you would expect a lot of the details to continue to come together as the offense figures out their schemes and continues to build on a unit that has many new components. When the going got tough in the 4th Qtr, this group responded and you have to be proud and pleased with those efforts. A NM team that will surely come to play in Tempe this next week will be a solid warm up for USC looming the following week!
Talking about the Offense
Two games into the season and you really see the offense struggling as to what their identity really is. A read-zone based scheme that came from previous years of a quarterback that was a legit threat to pull it and gain gritty yards is not found here with this years group and although Mike Bercovici has a decent burst and some vision to go with it, it just hasn’t found a groove and the results speak for themselves. I can tell you from a defensive coaches perspective that we often times love when we play a team that runs the read zone and has a quarterback who really is not much of a run threat. We will actually design our edge of the line of scrimmage attack to allow the QB to pull and run with the ball because it gives us a better chance to defend the running back knowing that if we get some extra hits on the QB it is going to work in our favor throughout a game. When you watch these last two defenses, they seem to be really dialed in on the Devils running game attacking the backs and making it hard for Bercovici and the offense to get after their staple play calling. The lack of a Jaelen Strong in this years offense really does seem to be a huge missing factor - Just think back to how many third downs Jaelen pulled the Devils out of with huge catches down the sidelines.. more than I can remember!
Position Grades
Quarterback
Grade: B-
I know I am one of many who are patiently waiting for Mike Bercovici to come out of the shell we know he can perform at here in 2015. That window is getting shorter by the day knowing that there is only one more game until South conference play starts. One of the things Berco had in this game compared to last weeks outing was time to throw the football and yet we still saw a lot of balls that were poorly thrown and run reads that were mismanaged. I think the jitters are still high in this offense and it all starts with the play of #2. Hopefully we see some great execution this week hosting NM.
Running Backs
Grade: A-
A much better performance that was to be expected and a bit of a change up we saw bringing Foster back into the backfield. Demario Richard ran very well racking up two scores and 121 yards on the ground - His longest was 16 yards. One of the things you will see Richard doing after he breaks to the second level is finding confidence in his chosen lanes. It looks like he is thinking and reading almost too much at times as he motors down to find the space rather than just putting his stocky legs in the ground to burst through the open run space. A great thing that helped the offense get things going was brining D.J. back behind the LOS for some handoffs as that really brought the speed change up to the defense. He looks smaller back there than he did last season as he is holding about 15 less pounds yet you can’t deny that it was helping the offense move the chains when it mattered.
Receivers
Grade: C+
A wide range of receives in total caught balls on the night and a huge spark from Tim White helped the Sun Devils pull away late. Gary Chambers, Devin Lucien and Foster all had solid performances catching the ball even with a couple drops to go around especially from Lucien down near the goal line. My one major critique from this group again this week falls back on their efforts in the run game and short yardage passing game. So many times when you watch who makes the tackle on defense it is coming from a major missed block out of this group. I see a lot of guys not being able to firmly lock their hands in place legally and set a wall for the ball carriers to read working downfield. It looks like this group needs to get some solid work getting themselves in better body positions to win these types of plays since so much of this offense works from 5 yards deep in the backfield to 10 yards past the LOS. If they can put that all together, the offense would see a huge increase in their success.
Tight Ends
Grade: C
Kody Kohl and Raymond Epps made their impact on the passing game as they collected four catches for 55 yards and a Kohl touchdown. Late drops early really hurt the offense from this group as it left major points off the board. Yet again, much like last week, we really saw this group struggle in the run game and missed block after missed block continue to added up to failed attempts in the run game. Kohl really seems to be struggling out in space even more than I can remember last season and he attempts to dig in and use sound technique is very far away from him. Like you want to see out of a good offensive linemen, a blocker needs to have great knee bend and really be able to chop heavy feet into the ground on contact all while keeping a solid wide base. When you watch Kohl, you will see him get far away from a lot of this - narrow base, big steps and really poor core explosion just doesn’t set the block up for him and thus he has to come off contact far too early. All things that can be fixed yet they must be worked on every day!
Offensive Line
Grade: B-
Night and day compared to last weeks performance yet that was expected because of the opponent. The input of Sam Jones at LT really seemed to help things over there on that left edge and I really felt back in spring football that was how that side was going to work itself out after watching Jones really do a great job. Bercovici only one down on one sack and the OL was really able to do a solid job on the ground. I thought collectively the group got much better this game and you could actually see much of their technique being executed to a high level. Looking forward to watching them continue to grow as a unit!
Offensive Grade
C+
Overall, this was not the performance we all expected. We know that and going forward you would expect a lot of the details to continue to come together as the offense figures out their schemes and continues to build on a unit that has many new components. When the going got tough in the 4th Qtr, this group responded and you have to be proud and pleased with those efforts. A NM team that will surely come to play in Tempe this next week will be a solid warm up for USC looming the following week!
