Breaking Point: Loss to EMU latest public embarrassment of Edwards’ tenure
The first boos could be heard as early as the second quarter. At first, it wasn’t quite obvious, like the first few drops of an impending rainstorm falling harmlessly from the clouds. By the time both teams trotted to the locker rooms at halftime, there could be no mistaking the chorus of angry boos coming from all corners of a sparsely populated Sun Devil Stadium.
At that time, Arizona State’s worst home loss in at least 14 seasons wasn’t a done deal. A 10-point deficit to Eastern Michigan was, of course, more than enough cause for concern, but perhaps not panic. The panic began to set in when ASU stalled on its third quarter’s first drive. It became palpable when EMU not only kept up their success running the ball from the first half but improved it in the second.
A number of ASU fans will likely wake up in a cold sweat tonight, their first thought being one of relief, thinking that the image of a program that may not even be in the top five in its own STATE waltzing into Tempe and physically dominating their beloved Sun Devils for 60 minutes had to have been a nightmare. Unfortunately for those fans, the nightmare has been reality for the last year and a half or so. Saturday night’s abomination, a 30-21 loss to Eastern Michigan, feels like the spectacularly bad climax of a tenure that has featured a laundry list of “jeez, that was ugly” type losses.
Often times a head coach will take complete and full responsibility for a loss like this one. Edwards showed some accountability but certainly didn’t bend over backwards to assume full blame for the unmitigated disaster.
“When we lose, everybody loses. I don’t know if it’s coaching; I just think it’s everything,” Edwards said. “I kept telling this team; you better be ready for these guys. Because they’re a physically tough football team. All week, that’s all I kept preaching. Be prepared.”
On the player’s side, the shocking loss is the product of a week of practice that wasn’t up to the standards the team’s leaders have set for themselves.
“It kind of felt like the whole week, we as a team overall weren’t really locked into the level of detail that we usually are,” graduate quarterback Emory Jones said. “I feel like that showed up today. That’s something that we need to be aware of and realize and actually just get better from.”
This disconnect speaks volumes. It’s one that has amplified the voices of those that have been calling for a change in leadership since the program’s grapes began to truly sour in the spring of 2021 when an NCAA investigation into recruiting practices during the pandemic became public. Saturday night’s loss was so many things. Above all else, it felt like a breaking point for a regime that promised fans annual top 15 status.
Instead, it’s been reduced to mass exodus via the transfer portal, historically bad high school recruiting classes, and perhaps most painfully, a gleeful bunch of freshly victorious Eastern Michigan players dancing around the field with a MAC flag chanting at ASU’s expense. It wasn’t a cheap expense, either. Arizona State paid Eastern Michigan 1.5 million dollars to come to town and embarrass them.
On a more tangible level, Arizona State lost this game because they were dominated up front. ASU’s front seven couldn’t have stopped a nosebleed on Saturday night. EMU running back Samson Evans had a career night, rushing for a jaw-dropping 257 yards on 35 carries. Whatever he wanted on Saturday night, he got it.
Even on obvious rushing downs when it seemed as though EMU could have loudly announced to the Sun Devil defense that they planned on giving the ball to Evans and letting him run straight at them, ASU got gashed repeatedly. Six yards on first down. Eight on second. 15 on third. Whenever the Eagles decided to put the ball in the hands of their star back, he had plenty of room to run. When he wasn’t gifted with open real estate, he broke tackles and muscled his way upfield. What happened to the ASU defensive line and linebackers on Saturday night was nothing short of bully ball.
Earlier this week, defensive lineman Nesta Jade Silvera hesitated and said he “didn’t want to be rude” before discussing what he saw on EMU’s film. Rude would be one of the nicer terms used to describe what Samson and the EMU front did to Silvera’s unit tonight.
“You know you gotta have gap integrity when you play run defense; you gotta stay level,” Edwards said. “He (Evans) did a good job of being patient, actually. And those big offensive linemen did a nice job with him and just kind of found a seam. He’s a big back. He didn’t go down easy.”
Third down was again an issue for ASU. This time it killed them on both sides of the ball. During its near-perfect first half, EMU converted on a whopping nine out of ten third downs. ASU was successful on just two of five. It didn’t really matter the distance; EMU was able to pick apart the ASU defense on third down to continue its long, methodical scoring drives. The Eagles only punted once in the ballgame.
“We went into halftime knowing that we had to get that solved,” Edwards said of the run game and third-down defense. “In the first half, they had forty-something plays, and I think we had like 20 or something like that. They physically got after us.”
Much like losses at BYU and Utah last season, or the embarrassing home defeat at the hands of Washington State, Arizona State was shockingly unprepared for its tilt with Eastern Michigan this week. Players and coaches alike said all the right things regarding never taking an inferior opponent lightly leading up to the season-opening game vs. NAU, and much of that verbiage was repeated this past week. They won’t admit it, but the idea of looking ahead to Utah and the rest of the conference slate likely played a role on Saturday.
“We as a team, we just weren’t really locked in. I don’t feel like it had anything to do with the opponent,” Jones said when asked if he thought the team did in fact, get complacent with EMU.
At this point, Edwards has had to make tough postgame statements after embarrassing losses more times than he or athletic director Ray Anderson could have possibly predicted when he was hired nearly five years ago. After his latest ignominy, it seemed like these kinds of speeches are getting too comfortable.
“We’re all disappointed. I’m probably more disappointed than anybody,” Edwards said. “Because I talked about it all week, I did as much as I could in my power to say, hey man, don’t fall into this trap. And we did.”
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