Morning Mates...
Today's Topic = WOW
I've seen a lot of memorable Sun Devil games and the one last night against the Red Raiders has to be right up there with the best of them, even though we gave up 612 yards (540 passing yards) to Tech and 55 points, while the Devils scored 68 points and won...
We didn't have any turnovers while Tech had two INTs and gave us a safety early in the game...most importantly, we were 7-7 in the Red Zone thanks to Ballage and our line that made it happen, although Chip Lindsey had something to do with how it was designed and run so my hat is off to him...
The big difference for me in the game was the rushing stat where the Devils dominated that with 301 yards to only 72 for the Red Raiders which, again, validates, I think, my old saying that you "pass for show but rush for the dough"...
Special teams were also very good last night as no kick-offs were returned and our punts kept the Raiders in a hole on many occasions...
Wilkins may have "only" put up 351 passing yards to Mahomes 540 yards but Manny did not have any interceptions while Mahomes had two, both to Gump Hayes, and those were probably the difference in the game after acknowledging what Ballage did that was just spectacular...
Defensively, we improved in the second half but still gave up way too many big plays, which most PAC teams will exploit in the future, since most opponents will have good to great QBs and receivers that can take advantage of our deficits back there and we still have plenty of them...
This game, I think, shows that last week's NAU game was taken a little too negatively by many of us, including myself, and I'm not going to read too much into this game since Tech's defense is really lousy...
That said, I thought our offense had a chance to be good this season and they sure looked good last night, even if the Tech defense is poor, and I thought our defense would be improved but, so far, I don't see much improvement, keeping in mind that Mahomes is a special QB and that the Red Raiders offense under Kliff Kingsbury is very potent...
He does kind of remind one of former ASU coach Dirk Koetter, I think, and, unfortunately, our recent defenses kind of remind me of some of Dirk's defenses while he was at the school, which is obviously not a compliment...
Fortunately, for our defense, they are not going to face too many other QBs this season that can match Mahomes as a passer and scramble-runner all in one package but there are plenty of other very good PAC QBs, as mentioned, that can really exploit our defense if it doesn't improve much...
This win against Tech means, I think, that we could have a very good season if we continue to improve on both sides of the ball...I like what I see of Wilkins and our offense but still have a lot of reservations about our defense but no such reservations about our special teams...
I also think our coaching staff is the best we've had at ASU so far and hope it continues to improve as well...if we can get our defense to stop giving up big plays we'll have a chance to, maybe, compete for the PAC championship...if not, we will win only 6-7 games...
Around the PAC, the Huskies are looking strong and the Cougars are very disappointing so far but they have the offensive tools to beat anyone on any given day...
That was some game last night...
...wow..!!!
Did the game last night change your opinion of the Devils in terms of where they will finish this season..??
It only reinforced my opinion that the Devils will win 9-10+ games, especially if we can straighten some things out on defense...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = WOW
I've seen a lot of memorable Sun Devil games and the one last night against the Red Raiders has to be right up there with the best of them, even though we gave up 612 yards (540 passing yards) to Tech and 55 points, while the Devils scored 68 points and won...
We didn't have any turnovers while Tech had two INTs and gave us a safety early in the game...most importantly, we were 7-7 in the Red Zone thanks to Ballage and our line that made it happen, although Chip Lindsey had something to do with how it was designed and run so my hat is off to him...
The big difference for me in the game was the rushing stat where the Devils dominated that with 301 yards to only 72 for the Red Raiders which, again, validates, I think, my old saying that you "pass for show but rush for the dough"...
Special teams were also very good last night as no kick-offs were returned and our punts kept the Raiders in a hole on many occasions...
Wilkins may have "only" put up 351 passing yards to Mahomes 540 yards but Manny did not have any interceptions while Mahomes had two, both to Gump Hayes, and those were probably the difference in the game after acknowledging what Ballage did that was just spectacular...
Defensively, we improved in the second half but still gave up way too many big plays, which most PAC teams will exploit in the future, since most opponents will have good to great QBs and receivers that can take advantage of our deficits back there and we still have plenty of them...
This game, I think, shows that last week's NAU game was taken a little too negatively by many of us, including myself, and I'm not going to read too much into this game since Tech's defense is really lousy...
That said, I thought our offense had a chance to be good this season and they sure looked good last night, even if the Tech defense is poor, and I thought our defense would be improved but, so far, I don't see much improvement, keeping in mind that Mahomes is a special QB and that the Red Raiders offense under Kliff Kingsbury is very potent...
He does kind of remind one of former ASU coach Dirk Koetter, I think, and, unfortunately, our recent defenses kind of remind me of some of Dirk's defenses while he was at the school, which is obviously not a compliment...
Fortunately, for our defense, they are not going to face too many other QBs this season that can match Mahomes as a passer and scramble-runner all in one package but there are plenty of other very good PAC QBs, as mentioned, that can really exploit our defense if it doesn't improve much...
This win against Tech means, I think, that we could have a very good season if we continue to improve on both sides of the ball...I like what I see of Wilkins and our offense but still have a lot of reservations about our defense but no such reservations about our special teams...
I also think our coaching staff is the best we've had at ASU so far and hope it continues to improve as well...if we can get our defense to stop giving up big plays we'll have a chance to, maybe, compete for the PAC championship...if not, we will win only 6-7 games...
Around the PAC, the Huskies are looking strong and the Cougars are very disappointing so far but they have the offensive tools to beat anyone on any given day...
That was some game last night...
...wow..!!!Did the game last night change your opinion of the Devils in terms of where they will finish this season..??
It only reinforced my opinion that the Devils will win 9-10+ games, especially if we can straighten some things out on defense...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
