Edwards still looking to grow program following rivalry victory

Arizona State’s 24-14 victory over Arizona resembled much more than just a victory over the team’s in-state rival for the third consecutive year.

In a way, the game was one that mirrored the season the season head coach Herm Edwards faced in his second year in Tempe.

The Sun Devils looked lost in the first half. A team riddled with true and redshirt freshmen in almost every important position.

In the second half, like a team that was ready to turn the corner that leaned on experience and the legs of junior Eno Benjamin.

“Season of two halves,” Edwards admitted. “We started out very well this season and we sputtered a little bit ─ didn’t handle success very well. This game was kind of like that.”

The season was one in which the Sun Devils faced this same sense of having everything figured out at one point, and the next looking like a team that had never figured it out.

This came in the form of a 5-1 start to the season before suffering four straight losses that came in the middle of conference play.

“They didn’t handle success to be quite honest,” Edwards stated. “A lot of young do not know how to handle success. It’s too easy. You get 5-1 and think ‘we’re pretty good.’ You don’t think you have to work at it ─ you have to work at it.”

Prior to the matchup against the team’s rival down south, Edwards reflected on his team’s struggles throughout the year.

His team largely won games in which they were the underdog in and seemed to fail when the pressure mounted on them when they were supposed to win.

“All of a sudden the arrow is pointed at you when you’re a good team,” Edwards said. People get up to play you. Before we were underdogs. We beat three ranked teams this year. We were the underdog. We like that roll. We were fine. Underdog, yeah man let’s go. How about when you’re not the underdog? I challenged them last night. Why don’t the team that beat Michigan State, Cal and Oregon, I want those guys to show up tomorrow.”

Part of the team’s issues stemmed from their well-documented youth. While the team’s freshmen may have caused problems in certain areas, the team’s generation as a whole seemed to cause issues in the eyes of Edwards.

With the rise of technology, it’s become easier to have information come to you at your slightest need. Something that Edwards says doesn’t in the game of football.

“They want everything fast,” Edwards said. “I can press a button and get all my information. When they’ve got to work at it, they go nah that’s too hard. Let me press a button. You can’t press a button in football. You’ve got to work. If you’re not willing to work, you can’t get better. We’ve got to get better.”

For Arizona State, this lesson is one that was learned the hard way. As the Sun Devils saw that despite a 5-1 start, things weren’t going to come instantaneously.

The road to becoming a Pac-12 South contender, much less in the national conversation, was going to take a certain amount of time.

“This was headed to being a disappointing season to be quite honest,” Edwards admitted. “5-1 then you kind of fall by the wayside. We can say there are young guys, I get all that but that’s just an excuse. We make no excuses around here. We finally won two in a row, now we’ve got to win another one. Next year we’ve got to go win another one.”

As the team experienced a four-game slide in the middle of the year, it would have been easy to blame the team’s young players.

After all the team had a true freshman starting quarterback and two along the starting offensive line. But as Edwards said it wasn’t an excuse that he found to be valid.

Instead, Edwards views this problem as one that can only benefit his young players as experience is something that you can’t replicate in practice.

“Last time I’ve checked, you can gain a lot of knowledge but until you’re allowed to play, you can gain no experience,” Edwards stated. “You’ve got to let them play. They’re going to make a lot of mistakes. The more you play the more mistakes that show up. We played in some games where we beat the Sun Devils.”

These mistakes are ones that Edwards is going to live with going forward. With a bowl game upcoming, the second-year Arizona State coach will usher in a new freshman class onto his team.

This group will learn from day one much of the same lessons that this current group has learned. Today’s accomplishments and accolades, such as a 5-1 start, mean nothing the next day.

You can go from the top to the bottom in a matter of a four-game losing skid and have a once-promising season turn to one that turns into the pursuit of a bowl game.

“You’ve got to grow up,” Edwards said. “You can’t live on what you did yesterday. I’ve never done that. I was taught that as a young man by my father. Said what you did yesterday means nothing, it’s what you do today. That’s how I’m built. Whatever happened today is over. I’m moving ahead to tomorrow. This game is over, it’s done. I ain’t worried about it anymore.”

While the team has a variety of freshmen players that will be vital to the next step of the program, there is one in particular that sits a step above the rest.

Edwards has already anointed the team to quarterback Jayden Daniels going into next season. Daniels will literally be the face of the Sun Devils as he will be on all the posters and tickets following his widely successful freshman season.

For the Arizona State coach, his quarterback seemingly has no ceiling.

“He can be as good as he wants to be,” Edwards admitted. “He likes football. He likes what you’ve got to do to be a good football player. Some guys like football because you’ve got to wear a number and people know you’re a football player. He likes the minutiae of football. He likes to study it ─ he wants to learn it.”

Armed with the generational quarterback and a mass of young and talented players, Edwards will look to continue to move his players to something bigger.

To see his young freshmen, grow up right before the fans' eyes on the field, as the Sun Devil build their program under the leadership of Edwards.

One step at a time, one play at a time.

We’re trying to build a program. I’ve said it, fans will watch them on the grass grow up. They’ll watch 25 more guys come in here next year and they’ll be out there, and they’ll grow up. Eventually, we’ll grow up and hopefully be a good team one day. That’s my aspirations.

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