When Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards was introduced as the head coach of Arizona State, athletic director Ray Anderson used a phrase constantly to justify his reasoning for hiring the then 63-year old ESPN on-air talent.
The phrase?
Competitive consistency.
“Competitive consistency in the performance and outcome of games frankly have not met our expectations,” Anderson said.
Fast forward to a season and a half under the leadership of Edwards and he believes he has delivered just that.
“I think we have delivered that thus far,” Edwards said at his weekly press conference. “ We’ve got to continue to do that and grow from there.”
This term of competitive consistency has been on full showcase this season as the Sun Devils have two road victories over Top-25 opponents and have been in one-score games four times this year as they have won three of the matchups.
Edwards defines the term as “regardless of who the opponent is, to have a chance to win the game.” Since Edwards took over, the team has done exactly that due to a sense of resiliency.
During his weekly press conference, Edwards spoke of his young team’s resiliency and how it’s building and shaping the future of his team and their quest towards competitive consistency.
Sun Devils prepared for a fight in Salt Lake
Heading into last week, both ASU and Utah were tied for 10th in the nation in defensive scoring, allowing just over 14 points a game. But after the Sun Devils gave up 34 points to Washington State and the Utes only allowed seven on the road to Oregon State, those rankings changed.
And, in the process, Edwards praise and admiration for what coach Kyle Whittingham and Utah has only grown. The Utes are currently 5-1, with their only loss coming at the hands of USC, tying them atop the south division with ASU, USC, and Arizona.
At the moment, though, Utah and ASU are the only two ranked Pac-12 South teams which, in the eyes of many, means the victor of Saturday’s game has the inside track at representing the south in the Pac-12 Championship.
But, in typical Edwards fashion, he’s not thinking that far down the road.
“Their defense is outstanding,” Edwards said of Utah. “They score a lot of points and don’t allow a lot of points. We will have our hands full, to say the least. We better be prepared to have our shoulder pads on and tie them up tight because it’s going to be that type of game.”
Last season, the Devils scored an important win over Utah in Tempe, a victory that allowed the Devils to control their destiny in the Pac-12. But, the Sun Devil head coach is hesitant to take too much from that game. Not only does ASU’s personnel look much different but Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley was injured midway through that contest.
This season, Huntley will again start against the Devils. As will the Utes’ stud running back Zack Moss, who already has over 500 yards rushing and six touchdowns. But Utah’s real calling card is it’s big and powerful defense which, as mentioned above, is top10 in the country in scoring defense.
The question then becomes how will ASU’s freshman signal-call Jayden Daniels perform in arguably his toughest test of the season to this point? Who knows. At this point, however, Edwards is just concerned with his team they’ll deal with the Utah weather.
“It’s going to be under 60 degrees it sounds like,” Edwards said. “Our guys haven’t dealt with that. I’m trying to get the (practice) bubble turned down to 50 degrees. At Cal, our guys were like, ‘Uh.’ It was 65 degrees. -Like, come on guys.”
Edwards a key figure in in-game adjustments
Down three points and in the midst of their 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive Saturday, the ASU offense stalled around midfield. A 4th and 2 was on the horizon and, because there were less than two minutes left, it was no secret ASU was going for it.
Edwards called up to offensive coordinator Rob Likens in the coaches booth with a declaration.
“I told Likens, ‘I don’t care what you’ve got. But No. 3 (running back Eno Benjamin) is carrying the ball. If we don’t make it, I can live with that. But if we don’t make it because we threw a pass, I can’t live with that.’”
Likens called a run play. Benjamin took the handoff and scampered for five yards and the first down. It’s no secret Edwards favors rushing the ball but, even more than that, he favors putting the ball in the hands of his best players in critical situations.
He tells the story of when he was the head coach of the New York Jets. They were playing the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. The Jets were at their own 35-yard line facing a 4th and 1. Edwards called a timeout and asked his players what they wanted to do, knowing full well that would tell their coach to give the ball to Hall of Famer running back Curtis Martin.
Edwards agreed. On the ensuing play, though, Martin lost three yards. Not the best result, but to Edwards, that was fine -- he could live with the decision and the rally around it his players displayed.
On defense, Edwards is the same way -- perhaps more involved. Not involved in a bad way, but willing to allow his coaches to make decisions and then offering suggestions in-game.
Like against Washington State. Cougars’ quarterback Anthony Gordon was tearing up the Sun Devils’ zone scheme. Edwards’ had enough, going up to defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales and telling him the Devils needed to go away from their three-man rush to get more pressure on Gordon. In the end, it worked.
“One thing about me, it’s like going to the dentist. Just pull it out,” Edwards said. “I’m not waiting around. I don’t want him sitting there all day.”
Close games stacking up for ASU. Is that a good or a bad thing?
Since 2018, the Sun Devils have seen plenty of close matchups and success in the matchups. ASU has tied for first among FBS teams in wins by four points or fewer with six, is 2nd in most wins by seven points or fewer with seven, and 2nd in most one-score wins with eight.
This season alone the Sun Devils have had four of their six total games decided by one score or less as they have come out with victories in three of the matchups.
Freshman Jayden Daniels’ heroics on late game drives pushed ASU to victory in each of the three victories including last week's 38-34 victory over Washington State.
Despite the victories, Edwards acknowledges his young team is going to have to learn to begin to put opponents to be able to avoid having to squeak out every victory.
“I just think when you’re young you have to grow to learn how to put people away,” Edwards admitted. “We’re so young right now at times we play like that. Then all of a sudden we get this sense of urgency of this thing is slipping away, let’s go after it. We’re in our second year of this program, let’s make no mistake. We haven’t had a whole lot of potholes yet. There could be some on the horizon. When we hit them, we have to stay steady, I’ll stay steady, and continue to build this thing.”
The Sun Devils haven’t made it easy on themselves given the sheer amount of close games they have played so far this year.
Despite playing to within a score in the majority of their matchups, this process is one of maturing and one that ASU is working towards.
A process that has been sped along given the team’s resiliency and ability to play until the final whistle.
“You know when you play a lot of young guys there’s a point to where they got to eventually learn how to close a game out,” Edwards stated. “ But to their credit, they don’t blink ─ they play. They play until there’s no time left on the clock. As long as you do that you might have a chance if you keep the game close.”
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