ASU's defensive domination was still far from being error-free

Darien Butler said in fall camp that the chemistry between him, the linebackers, and the rest of the Arizona State defense was second to none, and that not much talking needed to be done in order for plays to execute as intended.

“When you got guys that played a lot of football, the game slows down for them,” defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce said. “We call it The Matrix.”

That notion was confirmed during Thursday night’s 41-14 win over Southern Utah at Sun Devil Stadium, a game ASU proved they were the better team, albeit some areas in need of improvement that will undoubtedly receive critical examination over the next week.

When Butler swapped places with Kyle Soelle in the MIKE linebacker spot with 22 seconds left in the first half, both knew that regardless of the change, they would be on the same page. When the SUU receiver began to cross to the middle of the field, Butler was already in motion. Before Soelle could raise his hands to alert his teammate; Butler had read the eyes of quarterback Justin Miller and sped to the edge of the zone. He found the ball waiting for him when he arrived.

“Now it mattered that he fell down every time he caught the ball,” Pierce laughed. “I didn’t understand that quite well.”

Although he could not advance the football, Butler roved the football field relentlessly. He was especially impressive in his ability to hover around the ball and make tackles in the open field. The junior linebacker finished with five tackles (four solo, one for loss) and two interceptions.

“I think we did all right on defense,” Butler said. “A lot better with our communication, something we were harping on in the spring, in the summer, and in fall camp. So I believe that our communication can get a lot better, it can improve, but just flying around is what we’re working on.”

Pierce also took note of the team’s consistency winning isolated matchups.

“To me, the hardest thing in college football is to make tackles in the open field,” Pierce said. “A team like this, too, there’s a lot of motion, spraying, they’re all over the place, and they create one-on-one opportunities. I think our secondary did a great job doing that; there weren’t a lot of missed tackles just from the sideline view I had. But you’re proud of them; we talk about tackling efficiency being high in the 85 to 90 percent. I think we were close to it.”

After leading college football with 13 takeaways last season, ASU picked up where they left off and added four more on Thursday night. Butler had his two picks, of course, but Deandre Pierce intercepted an errant throw by SUU quarterback Justin Miller on the Thunderbirds’ opening drive. Cornerback Jack Jones forced a fumble, which was promptly recovered by defensive lineman DJ Davidson.

However, the game was far from clean; it lacked the discipline one would expect from a defense that has played together for so long. In total, the Sun Devils committed 13 penalties for an astounding 135 yards, the most in a game since 2010. Head coach Herm Edwards said it was “hard to watch” the unit of juniors and seniors make avoidable errors that wiped away numerous impact plays.

“It was bad football,” Edwards said. “It was sloppy football. It was embarrassing football, to be quite honest.”

Not even Butler could escape the penalty bug, who fell victim to a pass interference call on a 2nd & 20 effort in the second quarter, which gave SUU a first down. After the game, Butler vowed the performance by the Sun Devils on Thursday would not be repeated.

“We’re gonna clean it up in practice, make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Butler said.

Another aspect that made things difficult for the Sun Devils was Tyler Johnson’s disqualification for targeting in the first quarter. Johnson rocketed through the line of scrimmage and managed to get to SUU quarterback Justin Miller soon after he threw the football. Johnson made contact with the crown of Miller’s contact; the play went under review, and Johnson was ejected shortly after.

It was a big blow early on for ASU, which began the game already missing the presence of 3-technique Jermayne Lole, who underwent surgery to fix a tear in his right tricep and is out for the season.

“Losing Tyler is always big, man,” Butler said. “That’s the guy who wants to be out there, but you got to give everything you got. He’s one of those guys that just got a nose for the football, is always on the ball.”

“I said, ‘if you wanted to get out and retire, just let me know,’” Edwards joked. “But don't get thrown out today. We need you.”

Despite the mistakes, the Sun Devils left the stadium 1-0. Most of all, they accomplished their goal of getting their starters out once the team held a comfortable lead. That allowed many of the younger players to make their debut and get some live action reps in that will surely aid their development, confidence, and experience.

Still, the entire team understands that play of much higher quality will be required to deliver on their goals. Tougher opponents in the future will not be as forgiving. But tonight, it was enough.

“You don’t want to play like that,” Edwards said, “so hopefully, it’s a learned lesson. They knew after we got in the locker room the players knew what I was going to say. But it’s a W, that’s more important.”

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