Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = Luckless
That's a good description of our Sun Devils this fine morning as you don't win PAC games having to use your fourth string QB, missing a couple of OL, missing some key defensive players and having a secondary that has to use a converted RB as one of its DBs, etc...
So far, this season is the antithesis of our 2014 season when we had the Jael Mary against USC that propelled us to another 10 win season...
The difference between most PAC teams, ASU included, and elite programs such as USC, most of the time, is the quality of the depth that the Trojans have compared to almost all other teams in the conference...that has also been true of Stanford until this year...
Additionally, it was such a fluke that Brady White was injured right after Wilkins was injured and, with Bryce Perkins being injured, even before the season started, you have such a mess that even Nick Saban could not overcome with the personnel the Devils have at hand...
It was a miracle of sorts and a credit to the team and staff that the Devils didn't ever quite last night and were competitive, with a very good Cougar team, until the bitter end...
I've been very critical of Keith Patterson and Todd for the defensive mess but the mess is largely due to poor past recruiting on defense, especially in the secondary and line-backing spots, if you include the hybrid D-backer position in the equation...
Half of the "talent" in the secondary, that has to include the converted Gump Hayes there, out of necessity, is not PAC quality type players the way Irabor, Nelson, Darby and some other holdovers from the Erickson regime were big time players for the Devils...
There is no comparison and is why the Devils have struggled so mightily the past couple of seasons on defense...it really is as simple as that whether any of us want to believe that or not...
And, as stated numerous times before, that should not be the case in a head coach's fifth season at a school, so it squarely rests on Todd's desk where the buck stops...
The same thing has happened elsewhere in the PAC and you don't have to look any farther than Tucson and Arizona to see the results of poor recruiting by Rich Rod, during his first three years at the school, where "his kind of guys" aren't big enough, fast enough or smart enough to beat most good teams...
The Cats have also had some significant QB issues that have really hindered things as well...
Therefore, the moral of this story is that until the Devils get better players on defense, particularly in the secondary, don't run out of viable QBs and establish a lot more quality depth at almost every position, they will be at the mercy of Lady Luck during seasons like this one...
And, you do not want to ever be messing with the fickle Lady Luck if you can help it...
End of story...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = Luckless
That's a good description of our Sun Devils this fine morning as you don't win PAC games having to use your fourth string QB, missing a couple of OL, missing some key defensive players and having a secondary that has to use a converted RB as one of its DBs, etc...
So far, this season is the antithesis of our 2014 season when we had the Jael Mary against USC that propelled us to another 10 win season...
The difference between most PAC teams, ASU included, and elite programs such as USC, most of the time, is the quality of the depth that the Trojans have compared to almost all other teams in the conference...that has also been true of Stanford until this year...
Additionally, it was such a fluke that Brady White was injured right after Wilkins was injured and, with Bryce Perkins being injured, even before the season started, you have such a mess that even Nick Saban could not overcome with the personnel the Devils have at hand...
It was a miracle of sorts and a credit to the team and staff that the Devils didn't ever quite last night and were competitive, with a very good Cougar team, until the bitter end...
I've been very critical of Keith Patterson and Todd for the defensive mess but the mess is largely due to poor past recruiting on defense, especially in the secondary and line-backing spots, if you include the hybrid D-backer position in the equation...
Half of the "talent" in the secondary, that has to include the converted Gump Hayes there, out of necessity, is not PAC quality type players the way Irabor, Nelson, Darby and some other holdovers from the Erickson regime were big time players for the Devils...
There is no comparison and is why the Devils have struggled so mightily the past couple of seasons on defense...it really is as simple as that whether any of us want to believe that or not...
And, as stated numerous times before, that should not be the case in a head coach's fifth season at a school, so it squarely rests on Todd's desk where the buck stops...
The same thing has happened elsewhere in the PAC and you don't have to look any farther than Tucson and Arizona to see the results of poor recruiting by Rich Rod, during his first three years at the school, where "his kind of guys" aren't big enough, fast enough or smart enough to beat most good teams...
The Cats have also had some significant QB issues that have really hindered things as well...
Therefore, the moral of this story is that until the Devils get better players on defense, particularly in the secondary, don't run out of viable QBs and establish a lot more quality depth at almost every position, they will be at the mercy of Lady Luck during seasons like this one...
And, you do not want to ever be messing with the fickle Lady Luck if you can help it...
End of story...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
