HOUSTON - What a difference a year makes. Both teams that took to the field on Saturday night at NRG stadium were hoping that their respective deficiencies from last year would show marked improved out of the gates in one of the more intriguing games of week one of college football.
A quick look at the scoreboard, and Arizona State’s 38-17 loss to Texas A&M, tells you all you need to know as to which team was able to truly engineer that coveted 180 degree turn in their shortcomings and which team, at least for the time being, got a stern yet true evaluation of where they truly are this early in the 2015 season.
There is much to talk about when it comes to this game so let’s get straight to it.
Offense
You can predict that any football game’s outcome will come down towho controls the line of the scrimmage and be right over 90 percent of the time. Yet, with ASU’s question marks at offensive tackle and Texas A&M’s stellar pass rushing, it was beyond evident that this matchup would easily be the biggest factor in both team’s fortunes last night.
What had to be frustrating for ASU is that all their confidence they had in both their new offensive tackle starters, Evan Goodman on the left and Billie McGhee on the right, to handle the likes of Aggie defensive ends Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall, proved to be dare we say misplaced.
Garrett and Hall combined for six of Texas A&M’s nine sacks, and collectively had three forced fumbles. Garrett added three quarterback hurries, a number that on such a dominating night by his team looked to be much higher.
You can’t beat what you can’t catch, and Goodman repeatedly lost the footrace, if you will, mostly against Garrett, and McGhee mostly against Hall. Those ends’ speed was simply blinding and as much as you expected ASU to be challenged in this specific matchup, you didn’t expect to seemingly muster zero success the entire game.
We talked numerous times about ASU’s shortcomings with their own pass rush affecting not only that area in and of itself but also the Sun Devils’ offensive tackles who are simply not facing high quality pass rushers in practice and on a night like last night it was the equivalent of sending a six-year old with 1st grade education straight into 12th grade and expecting him to ace any class he took there. The level or preparation wasn’t remotely adequate.
Now how can you combat such pass rushers? Obvious answer is to increase the protection with a tight end, but that only takes care of one side of the line of scrimmage. Two tight ends? Not enough depth there to run it repeatedly (although ASU did more of that in the second half) with Grant Martinez and Dan Vear not healthy enough to play in a game.
Change the cadence and snap count to throw off the timing of these ends? If it did take place last night it was poorly executed and then some.
I’ve talked ad nauseam as to how ASU’s offense can only be successful when it is balanced in its approach. While the final numbers couldn’t be more equal if you wanted them to be, 41 rushes and 41 pass attempts, the reality of this situation is quite different.
As much as we talked about the struggles at offensive tackles, we talked just as much about the strength of this interior offensive line. Furthermore, the Aggies’ interior defensive linemen were not considered to be as challenging as it ends. So why not attempt more inside downhill runs, an aspect that is already ASU’s bread and butter and instead run more to the perimeter and into the hands of a Texas A&M defense who early on proved to be plenty fast and handful for the offense?
The second half we did see more of the downhill running, with Bercovici under center and Demario Richard, who struggled mightily catching the ball, rushing for 48 yards, and had runs of 18 yards (twice) and 15 yards in the second half. One of the many facets that while were positives in the game was also the too little, too late variety.
I can’t even pin that approach to Kalen Ballage’s absence (due to illness). It was just one more aspect of the game plan that was highly questionable and one that put ASU countless times in long yardage situations. Just in the first half ASU dug itself a hole time and time again having 2nd and 7, or longer, downs and on against where Bercovici was suffocated by the Aggies pass rush, that was a sure recipe for disaster. With all the constant pressure on Bercovici it is commendable that he did no throw an interception.
With 199 passing yards this was obviously a night that Bercovici would want to forget, even if that lack of production was a great part to the struggles of the offensive line. 5 of 18 on 3rd down are numbers you just don’t see from the ASU quarterback. Negating circumstances for sure, but at the same time there were some read options that he could have run the ball, especially in a game where the defensive ends were crashing in at will.
We did see that in the second half where he scored on a long 19-yard touchdown run and also ran for a first down. I think he should have run the ball on that 3rd down where Richard was stuffed and ASU did have to settle for a field goal. He had a total of 45 rushing yards in fact in the second half (not counting sacks), but again it was too little, too late. This is something that should have been an in-game adjustment in the first half, rather than a halftime adjustment.
So when you paint a picture of a quarterback who is literally running for his life on almost every snap, evaluating the wide receivers in nearly impossible. Having said that between Demario Richard and De’Chavon Hayes there were more than a handful of dropped passes. So on the seemingly rare occasions that Bercovici did have time to throw his receiving targets failed him more times than anyone would like to remember. Again, is this an area that Ballage could have helped in? Probably, but I don’t know if enough to make a huge difference.
The Aggies did a great job in coverage neutralizing D.J. Foster and Devin Lucien, yet when you can successfully rush just four linemen there was plenty of help in the secondary to accomplish that mission. I don’t know if John Chavis can really turn what was an abysmal defense on a dime, but last night he looked to be well on his way, even if it was just week one.
Overall, the Texas A&M defense may have surprised a bit with their speed, but it was a still a unit that if ASU played to its strength with downhill running, got more creative in snap counts/cadence and play calling in general, and utilized Bercovici more on the read option, you wouldn’t see them struggle as much as they did and not capitalize on a pretty good night by the defense, which brings me to that unit…
A quick look at the scoreboard, and Arizona State’s 38-17 loss to Texas A&M, tells you all you need to know as to which team was able to truly engineer that coveted 180 degree turn in their shortcomings and which team, at least for the time being, got a stern yet true evaluation of where they truly are this early in the 2015 season.
There is much to talk about when it comes to this game so let’s get straight to it.
Offense
You can predict that any football game’s outcome will come down towho controls the line of the scrimmage and be right over 90 percent of the time. Yet, with ASU’s question marks at offensive tackle and Texas A&M’s stellar pass rushing, it was beyond evident that this matchup would easily be the biggest factor in both team’s fortunes last night.
What had to be frustrating for ASU is that all their confidence they had in both their new offensive tackle starters, Evan Goodman on the left and Billie McGhee on the right, to handle the likes of Aggie defensive ends Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall, proved to be dare we say misplaced.
Garrett and Hall combined for six of Texas A&M’s nine sacks, and collectively had three forced fumbles. Garrett added three quarterback hurries, a number that on such a dominating night by his team looked to be much higher.
You can’t beat what you can’t catch, and Goodman repeatedly lost the footrace, if you will, mostly against Garrett, and McGhee mostly against Hall. Those ends’ speed was simply blinding and as much as you expected ASU to be challenged in this specific matchup, you didn’t expect to seemingly muster zero success the entire game.
We talked numerous times about ASU’s shortcomings with their own pass rush affecting not only that area in and of itself but also the Sun Devils’ offensive tackles who are simply not facing high quality pass rushers in practice and on a night like last night it was the equivalent of sending a six-year old with 1st grade education straight into 12th grade and expecting him to ace any class he took there. The level or preparation wasn’t remotely adequate.
Now how can you combat such pass rushers? Obvious answer is to increase the protection with a tight end, but that only takes care of one side of the line of scrimmage. Two tight ends? Not enough depth there to run it repeatedly (although ASU did more of that in the second half) with Grant Martinez and Dan Vear not healthy enough to play in a game.
Change the cadence and snap count to throw off the timing of these ends? If it did take place last night it was poorly executed and then some.
I’ve talked ad nauseam as to how ASU’s offense can only be successful when it is balanced in its approach. While the final numbers couldn’t be more equal if you wanted them to be, 41 rushes and 41 pass attempts, the reality of this situation is quite different.
As much as we talked about the struggles at offensive tackles, we talked just as much about the strength of this interior offensive line. Furthermore, the Aggies’ interior defensive linemen were not considered to be as challenging as it ends. So why not attempt more inside downhill runs, an aspect that is already ASU’s bread and butter and instead run more to the perimeter and into the hands of a Texas A&M defense who early on proved to be plenty fast and handful for the offense?
The second half we did see more of the downhill running, with Bercovici under center and Demario Richard, who struggled mightily catching the ball, rushing for 48 yards, and had runs of 18 yards (twice) and 15 yards in the second half. One of the many facets that while were positives in the game was also the too little, too late variety.
I can’t even pin that approach to Kalen Ballage’s absence (due to illness). It was just one more aspect of the game plan that was highly questionable and one that put ASU countless times in long yardage situations. Just in the first half ASU dug itself a hole time and time again having 2nd and 7, or longer, downs and on against where Bercovici was suffocated by the Aggies pass rush, that was a sure recipe for disaster. With all the constant pressure on Bercovici it is commendable that he did no throw an interception.
With 199 passing yards this was obviously a night that Bercovici would want to forget, even if that lack of production was a great part to the struggles of the offensive line. 5 of 18 on 3rd down are numbers you just don’t see from the ASU quarterback. Negating circumstances for sure, but at the same time there were some read options that he could have run the ball, especially in a game where the defensive ends were crashing in at will.
We did see that in the second half where he scored on a long 19-yard touchdown run and also ran for a first down. I think he should have run the ball on that 3rd down where Richard was stuffed and ASU did have to settle for a field goal. He had a total of 45 rushing yards in fact in the second half (not counting sacks), but again it was too little, too late. This is something that should have been an in-game adjustment in the first half, rather than a halftime adjustment.
So when you paint a picture of a quarterback who is literally running for his life on almost every snap, evaluating the wide receivers in nearly impossible. Having said that between Demario Richard and De’Chavon Hayes there were more than a handful of dropped passes. So on the seemingly rare occasions that Bercovici did have time to throw his receiving targets failed him more times than anyone would like to remember. Again, is this an area that Ballage could have helped in? Probably, but I don’t know if enough to make a huge difference.
The Aggies did a great job in coverage neutralizing D.J. Foster and Devin Lucien, yet when you can successfully rush just four linemen there was plenty of help in the secondary to accomplish that mission. I don’t know if John Chavis can really turn what was an abysmal defense on a dime, but last night he looked to be well on his way, even if it was just week one.
Overall, the Texas A&M defense may have surprised a bit with their speed, but it was a still a unit that if ASU played to its strength with downhill running, got more creative in snap counts/cadence and play calling in general, and utilized Bercovici more on the read option, you wouldn’t see them struggle as much as they did and not capitalize on a pretty good night by the defense, which brings me to that unit…
