During a bye week, players often take the opportunity to blow off steam – some go to see their family if they live close, others take time just to relax and enjoy some quiet after a long first half to the football season.
For head coach Herm Edwards he doesn’t take much time off. Edwards was in the facility every day during the bye week; he didn’t spend any extra time with his family. One thing Edwards did do, however, was take the time to evaluate himself.
“You look back at all the things, offensively, defensively, special teams,” Edwards said. “That’s what coaches are trained to do. A lot of our coaching staff spent the time on the road recruiting… Other than that, it was more so about preparing ourselves for the next five weeks of football.”
“I think we addressed the situations we needed to address. The coaches did a really good job of capsulizing things that we need to improve on for the next five games of the season. I think the players had a good mindset when they came back on Sunday.”
After ASU’s 35-21 second-half collapse and loss to Utah, self-evaluation was necessary on all levels, players and coaches alike. The Sun Devils were shut out in the second half, yielding 285 yards and four touchdowns to the Utes in the final 30 minutes of play. Arizona State committed 13 penalties for 115 yards, shooting itself in the foot in a style that resembled the team’s power struggle against BYU in September.
The penalties were the first aspect of improvement Edwards focused on during the bye week, compiling a list of all the fouls and offenses during the first seven weeks and who was guilty in each instance. Edwards’ data resulted in a total of 67 penalties through seven games, good enough for 127th nationally.
The breakdown was as such: 33 penalties against the offense, 23 on the defense, and 11 on special teams, by far the worst in the Pac-12. It’s the most significant and most crucial fix the Sun Devils must perform if they are to be successful in the second half of the year.
“When you think about it, we are spotting the other team nine penalties for almost 100 yards per game,” Edwards summarized. “It’s amazing we are 5-2… It’s very difficult to (win) with a deficit of 100 yards (to the opponent every game). You can’t keep living in that world; I think the players understand that. They don’t go out there to intentionally make a foul or be penalized.”
“Penalties can put us in a bad way, but we’ve tried to fight through all that, and we’ve been fortunate enough to win five games. We just can’t keep living like that, so I think the players understand that, but they have to fix it… We have to get that corrected if we want to win in a fashion where (penalties) don’t prevent us from winning. It’s a big factor.”
With the penalty bug addressed, Edwards also mentioned that he looked to his captains, his leaders to make changes and keep the team tight, strong and well-connected. Players like senior linebacker Darien Butler, redshirt junior fullback Case Hatch, junior quarterback Jayden Daniels, among others, are his instigators of change. He wrote each captain a letter outlining his expectations of them as they build themselves and the team back up to gameday speed for Saturday.
“I wrote the leaders a nice letter, told them what I expected,” Edwards explained. “Sometimes I think when you talk to them in person, that’s one thing, but when they can read it and look at it, the message really sinks in. I’ve always been that person that when I get a letter from somebody, I really focus in on what it says, and I can read it over and over again. It’s a part of my job to inform players on where we are at.”
Michael Jordan said that it’s easy to talk smack when you’re winning; when it gets difficult is when you’re behind. For Edwards, finding leaders on this Sun Devil roster is easy, especially when it fell between the two disastrous Utah trips. Edwards sent the letter to the team’s leaders, his captains, because of the situation the team finds itself in.
Arizona State yielded control of its destiny to Utah on the third Saturday of October, but the Pac-12 had other ideas this past weekend per usual. Utah’s loss to Oregon State equates the two teams back at a tie-in record at 3-1 for the Pac-12 South. Oregon and Oregon State stand at 3-1 in the race for the North. In order for ASU to punch a ticket to Las Vegas, it must win out and control its destiny once again. Edwards needed his leaders on the same page to achieve that.
“The leaders on your team have to provide energy when you feel like it’s going in the wrong direction for your team,” Edwards expressed. “When you have to say some things or act to get guys’ attention, our leaders understand that. We have good leaders on this team, and the next five weeks, they need to be leaders… We want to get our momentum back after we kind of lost it. We have to find it again.”
As far as leaders go, Edwards announced that one of his most devoted leaders, graduate student cornerback and captain Chase Lucas is “game-ready” ahead of this Saturday’s matchup with Washington State. Lucas injured his back in the first quarter against Stanford and hasn’t played since. Redshirt freshman Johnny Wilson, who has been nursing a hamstring injury for several weeks, is also expected to return. Graduate student safety Evan Fields is going to be a “game time decision.”
Edwards also shared that redshirt freshman return specialist DJ Taylor will head back to his usual duties and workload this Saturday after his reps were slashed due to some poor decision-making on the field, specifically his call to return a punt just before halftime against UCLA, which he muffed, resulting in a Bruin field goal and a one-point difference at the half.
“I think in his mind coming back this year, he felt like every time he touches the ball, he’s got to run for 100 yards,” Edward described. “It’s not about that; it’s about making good decisions. This year he made some decisions which he probably wishes he didn’t—learning experiences. But I think by taking him out and letting him watch, it all hit home. He realized it’s about the little things he has to do. Watching him in meetings and walk-through, it was good to see how he was focusing on the ball. “
For Saturday, Edwards knows he must get his team back on the right track. In 2019, a 5-1 Arizona State team lost to Utah, then dropped three games in a row, coming to a complete standstill. In 2021, Edwards can’t afford that to happen; instead of slowing, he’s got to gain momentum and get the team back to firing on all cylinders. The team took its time to reflect and identify what needs to improve; now, it’s time to make those improvements.
“Football is a game of momentum,” Edwards proclaimed. “When you have it, it’s fun; when you don’t, you ask yourself how to stop it. In Utah, they had the momentum in the second half, and we couldn’t stop it… We have another chance to correct that this weekend on Saturday afternoon.”
While he knows what he and his team must do on Saturday afternoon, the prospect of a day game, which the Sun Devils haven’t played all season, seems like a foreign occurrence to the ASU head coach.
“I don’t know what to do,” he exclaimed. “I usually get here five hours before, so know I’m going to have to get here at 4 a.m. probably! That’s early!”
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