Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = Great Weekend
We all know that anytime we win and AU loses that it is a great weekend...
It did not look like the Devils were going to beat Colorado for most of the game as our defense kept giving up too many big plays and our offense seemed to be missing on most cylinders up until the end of the game...
Meanwhile, over in LA, the Cats had made a dramatic comeback against the Trojans tying the game at 35 in the 4th quarter and had all of the momentum on their side, at that point, only to watch USC rebound nicely under the leadership of Sam Darnold to beat the Cats 49-35...
The Devils keep finding ways to win games behind a less than spectacular QB in MW but he out dueled Khalil Tate last night as these numbers prove...
MW = 18-34 passing for 202 yds with 2 TDs and 0 INTs along with 94 yds rushing on 14 carries for 1 TD and 6.78 ypc...QB rating of 64.2
KT = 14-31 passing for 146 yds with 2 TDs and 2 INTs along with 161 yds on 26 carries for 1 TD and a 6.19 ypc...QB rating of 32.6
So, Wilkins may not be a dynamic player like Tate but he is doing what Graham and his staff want him to do leading the Sun Devil offense...that is, keeping TOs to a minimum and scoring enough to win games...
Tate seems to be a great QB for Rich Rod's uptempo system in Tucson while Wilkins seems to be the right guy for Graham's system in Tempe...
So, you have an "elevator" in Tate who made a couple of very costly mistakes against the Trojans that led to the Cats loss, keeping in mind that he also got the Cats back in the game from far back in the second half, while Manny just kind of plunked along doing what was necessary to make the Devils win at the end, when it counted the most...
We are showing a great deal of resilience these days at ASU in finding ways to win and we were also very lucky that the Buffs dropped a bunch of passes last night that surely would've have led to our defeat, if those passes had been caught but those are the breaks of the game, right...
We gave up 345 passing yards to Steven Montez, the Buffs QB, which is very troubling but we won which is all that counts...
It should also be noted that last night's victory was the Sun Devils 600th career win...
As far as the PAC is concerned, it looks like the Trojans are the best team with Washington the second best right now...the Trojans only have to beat Colorado in Boulder next weekend to clinch the PAC South, I believe, while the Huskies travel to Stanford next weekend that will not be an easy game for them...
There are not any easy games in the PAC and we will have our hands full in the coming weeks against UCLA and even Oregon St on the road, before facing Tate and the Cats to conclude the season...
It looks like for the time being that Todd has dodged a bullet this season but he's still not there yet if the Devils don't win enough to go bowling...
Finally, I was very impressed by Eno Benjamin and Curtis Hodges last night as true freshmen...
We have some good, young talent but we need much more of it to still plug up our porous defense and make our offense click better...
So, here's the big question for all of you this morning...do you like tortoises or hares best at the all important QB position...??
I don't know how Aesop would answer this question and that's why I'm asking you...dynamism vs steadiness...slow but sure vs fast but mistake prone...
Who would you put your money on in a race..??
Have a good week...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = Great Weekend
We all know that anytime we win and AU loses that it is a great weekend...
It did not look like the Devils were going to beat Colorado for most of the game as our defense kept giving up too many big plays and our offense seemed to be missing on most cylinders up until the end of the game...
Meanwhile, over in LA, the Cats had made a dramatic comeback against the Trojans tying the game at 35 in the 4th quarter and had all of the momentum on their side, at that point, only to watch USC rebound nicely under the leadership of Sam Darnold to beat the Cats 49-35...
The Devils keep finding ways to win games behind a less than spectacular QB in MW but he out dueled Khalil Tate last night as these numbers prove...
MW = 18-34 passing for 202 yds with 2 TDs and 0 INTs along with 94 yds rushing on 14 carries for 1 TD and 6.78 ypc...QB rating of 64.2
KT = 14-31 passing for 146 yds with 2 TDs and 2 INTs along with 161 yds on 26 carries for 1 TD and a 6.19 ypc...QB rating of 32.6
So, Wilkins may not be a dynamic player like Tate but he is doing what Graham and his staff want him to do leading the Sun Devil offense...that is, keeping TOs to a minimum and scoring enough to win games...
Tate seems to be a great QB for Rich Rod's uptempo system in Tucson while Wilkins seems to be the right guy for Graham's system in Tempe...
So, you have an "elevator" in Tate who made a couple of very costly mistakes against the Trojans that led to the Cats loss, keeping in mind that he also got the Cats back in the game from far back in the second half, while Manny just kind of plunked along doing what was necessary to make the Devils win at the end, when it counted the most...
We are showing a great deal of resilience these days at ASU in finding ways to win and we were also very lucky that the Buffs dropped a bunch of passes last night that surely would've have led to our defeat, if those passes had been caught but those are the breaks of the game, right...
We gave up 345 passing yards to Steven Montez, the Buffs QB, which is very troubling but we won which is all that counts...
It should also be noted that last night's victory was the Sun Devils 600th career win...
As far as the PAC is concerned, it looks like the Trojans are the best team with Washington the second best right now...the Trojans only have to beat Colorado in Boulder next weekend to clinch the PAC South, I believe, while the Huskies travel to Stanford next weekend that will not be an easy game for them...
There are not any easy games in the PAC and we will have our hands full in the coming weeks against UCLA and even Oregon St on the road, before facing Tate and the Cats to conclude the season...
It looks like for the time being that Todd has dodged a bullet this season but he's still not there yet if the Devils don't win enough to go bowling...
Finally, I was very impressed by Eno Benjamin and Curtis Hodges last night as true freshmen...
We have some good, young talent but we need much more of it to still plug up our porous defense and make our offense click better...
So, here's the big question for all of you this morning...do you like tortoises or hares best at the all important QB position...??
I don't know how Aesop would answer this question and that's why I'm asking you...dynamism vs steadiness...slow but sure vs fast but mistake prone...
Who would you put your money on in a race..??
Have a good week...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
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