Arizona State (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) handily controlled the Colorado Buffaloes at home on Saturday night, displaying the strong elements of the team, such as the dynamic rushing attack and elite pass defense. The win over the Buffs was a good rebound contest and tune-up for the Sun Devils after a demoralizing loss ridden with penalties on the road at BYU.
Next up for ASU is perhaps its greatest test across the entire Pac-12 slate, the No. 20 UCLA Bruins – who sit atop the Pac-12 South standings at 3-1 with a singular win in conference play right next to the Sun Devils.
“(UCLA head coach) Chip (Kelly) has done a nice job of building the UCLA program down there,” ASU head coach Herm Edwards remarked to lead off his weekly Monday press conference. “They have a senior defense – these guys are all back. They don’t allow you to run the ball at all; they’re very good against the run. They score a lot of points on offense, averaging about 40 points a game… They are a team that plays well; they’re on a roll right now, so we have to muster up our ability to stay focused.”
For Edwards and ASU, why the extra emphasis on focus? For that answer, you must look back to ASU’s contests against the L.A. schools last season, as well as the surplus of players who call the city home. Last year ASU came out of the gates firing in its first contest against USC at the L.A. Colosseum, leading 27-14 with just under four minutes to play. The team lost focus amidst the excitement, the homecoming and ended up falling short in an incredible Trojan comeback.
The week after, ASU went back home to play UCLA in a barnburner. The Sun Devils scored with four and a half minutes remaining on the clock, trailing by one. Offensive coordinator Zak Hill and Edwards went for the home run ball, a two-point conversion to take the lead. It failed.
“We have a lot of players that come from Los Angeles,” Edwards mentioned. “They have to get their mindset to go back home. A lot of times, they get excited about going back home, and they have to keep their poise and make sure this thing doesn’t get away from them. I think we have enough guys now who have been there numerous times in L.A., and hopefully, they can keep their emotions in check.”
On defense, Arizona State is among the best in the country in negating the passing attack but stopping the rush has caused some issues. UCLA senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson poses a threat in both aspects. In the 2020 matchup, the senior threw for 192 yards and rushed for 49, scoring a touchdown through the air and on the ground. Time and time again, it seemed as if the dual-threat quarterback snuck through the ASU pressure at the line of scrimmage on crucial downs.
Quarterback containment is an area that calls for improvement thus far in 2021 for ASU, as the Sun Devils yielded 50 yards and a touchdown to UNLV redshirt freshman quarterback Doug Brumfield, 59 yards to BYU sophomore quarterback Jaren Hall and 57 yards to Colorado freshman quarterback Brendon Lewis. UCLA is bound to run the ball no matter what with the prowess of junior running back Zach Charbonnet, but if the Sun Devils can limit the quarterback rush, that’s one less weapon to worry about.
“You’re not going to stop (Thompson-Robinson) from running. You can try to contain him and hold him to a minimum,” Edwards explained. “You have to understand the rush lanes… Anytime you run by a quarterback, our quarterback does the same thing; you open windows for him to escape. You run past the quarterback; you’ve got a problem.”
“A lot of teams when they empty out the backfield, if you don’t have a person who’s accountable for the quarterback, they’ll hit you with a quarterback draw. It happened to us. We did it one time against BYU, then the next time we got it right, and the quarterback got hit, so you have to be aware of all those things.”
On offense, Arizona State’s passing attack has evolved as the young core of wide receivers are growing ever more comfortable on connecting with junior quarterback Jayden Daniels. In Week Five, there is still no definitive number one guy, but Edwards seems to prefer the by committee, balanced approach.
“I’m okay with (not having a number one receiver),” Edwards expressed. “There’s only one ball, though, and I think when you have a balanced attack, you get more guys involved in the offense, and you have the ability to flow. The only way you can do that is you have to run plays; we can’t bog down offensively.”
The Sun Devil head coach also added some news on the injury front, saying that graduate student cornerback Chase Lucas, sophomore running back DeaMonte Trayanum, and graduate student wide receiver Bryan Thompson will all return to the field against UCLA on Saturday.
Edwards’ Monday presser could not have gone by without mention of the most significant thorn in the Sun Devils’ side through four games this season: themselves. Penalties are a frequent occurrence for ASU thus far, so much so that the team is ranked 129th out of 130 FBS schools in penalties per game with 10, only bested by Ole Miss, averaging 11.5.
“The message this week is don’t give the opponent extra opportunities due to your own errors; you can play somewhat of a consistent game,” Edwards said. “When you do that, you’ve got a chance to win… Don’t beat yourself; that’s always my philosophy as a head coach: just don’t muck it up with fouls, penalties, and turnovers. I always say try to play a clean game. If you can do that, you have a chance to win.”
UCLA is ASU’s biggest test of the conference schedule, considering the disastrous starts of teams like Utah and USC, who don’t appear to be as formidable as they seemed at the beginning of the season. No matter the opponent, Edwards’ vision doesn’t stray.
“You can’t determine which ones are the big ones or not because you only get to play nine (Pac-12 games); they’re all big,” Edwards said. “You can’t lose a bunch of these conference games because then you don’t control your destiny. As long as you continue to win games in the Pac-12, you control your destiny.”
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On Monday, Edwards began his press conference by addressing the tragic death of Utah sophomore cornerback Aaron Lowe, who was fatally shot early Sunday morning, as well as Washington State redshirt junior wide receiver Brandon Gray who was also shot Sunday morning in a separate incident and remains in serious but stable condition.
Lowe died just after midnight on Sunday morning, less than a year after his former high school teammate and fellow Ute Ty Jordan died in an accidental shooting. Lowe switched his number from No. 2 to 22 to honor Jordan and was named the first recipient of the Ty Jordan Memorial Scholarship.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Utah and Washington State,” Edwards said somberly. “We wake up every day in this world and think that every day we get up and we’re controlling our destiny. When you see something like that, it really hits home to athletes. It’s sad, and our prayers go out to both those universities and their families, everyone involved. That’s the most important thing I can tell you today.”
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