Arizona State’s players trudged through their smudged end zone after their 30-21 loss to Eastern Michigan with hollow eyes and slumped shoulders.

Their emotions did a better job conveying the game’s result than any word the maroon and gold faithful lobbied on social media in the aftermath. Pathetic. Demoralizing. Nauseating. Those apt descriptions were still a ways off from describing how the defeat impacted the team.

With ASU’s first conference matchup against Utah looming like an ominous shadow, it felt like a knockout punch.

LaDarius Henderson sulked behind the podium, his mouth set in a tight line. The left guard tried to put into words the deflation he felt losing to an opponent the Sun Devils should not have lost to. The senior certainly knew what the priority for the team was.

“Figure out what team we are going forward into Pac-12 play,” Henderson said.

It is normal for teams to work through a non-conference slate and discover new things about themselves. During its rocky journey to start 2022, ASU has seen young players break out, and veterans reach new levels. Even so, ASU head coach Herm Edwards long believed one particular characteristic to be unflappable.

“We have a toughness about ourselves, and that won’t change,” Edwards said in his first press conference to open preseason camp nearly two months ago. “It’s coaches-fed and players-led.”

It did change. ASU wilted against Eastern Michigan’s rushing attack, allowing Samson Evans to slash his way to a career night. Evans collected 257 rushing yards and a touchdown on 35 attempts, averaging 7.3 yards per carry. ASU never once led the entire game.

After three games, ASU sits at a 1-2 record. What has defined the identity of the Sun Devils so far? It starts and ends with the coaching staff failing its players.

ASU has consistently illustrated an inability to put itself in the best position to win. No moment had a more prominent resonance than how the Sun Devils handled the 1:07 before halftime against Eastern Michigan.

ASU suffered a delay of game penalty to start the drive, moving the team back five yards to its 17-yard line. Offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas orchestrated a snail-paced attack. The team huddled before every play and drained precious time but passed the ball anyway.

It did not look like the Sun Devils were comfortable trusting quarterback Emory Jones to direct the two-minute drill, an element he executed to great success during 11-on-11 periods in practice. Perhaps the lack of aggression stems from a fumble by Jones in a similar situation against Northern Arizona earlier in the season. The turnover led to a field goal, the only points scored by the Lumberjacks in that outing.

The Sun Devils went three-and-out. The clock continued to tick off a short catch inbounds by wide receiver Elijhah Badger. Eastern Michigan was out of timeouts. Then, to cap off a spectacular show of atrocious clock management, Herm Edwards called ASU’s final timeout on fourth down.

“I probably called it too soon, but it looked like to me we had made the first down,” Edwards admitted.

Edwards wears a headset every game that connects him to the rest of his staff. If he needed clarification about the down and distance, his assistants were only a short radio away. In spite of that, Edwards should have it memorized front and backward that the clock stops after a first down in college football. Seconds continued to bleed on 4th-and-1, and the incredulous gaffe gave the Eagles a chance to return the ball on a punt.

The play-calling also has predominantly seemed out of touch with the team’s strengths and mismatch potential. The receiving corps is distinguished by elusive players who can separate and create yards as a ball carrier but also have some vertical speed. Players who have emerged include Badger, Giovanni Sanders, Andre Johnson, Charles Hall, and Zeek Freeman. Tight ends Messiah Swinson (6-7, 255 pounds) and Jalin Conyers (6-4, 265 pounds) add an imposing blend of size and athleticism to the lineup.

Thomas proved in the NAU game that a “less is more” approach can be functional for his offense. Emory Jones made decisive pre-snap reads and shined in an RPO-heavy approach, dotting up six receivers on short hitches, screen passes, and stop routes that attacked the underneath space. Those quick completions frequently churned out yards after the catch and established a rhythm in the passing game.

The Oklahoma State game plan, however, was a complete U-turn. Thomas challenged the offensive line to block long enough for downfield routes to develop. The Cowboys’ talented pass rush, a physical and belligerent bunch, conquered the trenches and compressed Jones in a tight pocket. ASU’s reliance on the run was predictable, leading to a miserable 2-13 showing on third down.

Thomas was expected to return to the foundations that facilitated success. It got off to a rough start, as ASU punted twice to start the game. The offense managed to rebound with back-to-back scoring drives. Jones looked best when he hit his receivers off quick breaks or freestyled on rollouts, playing almost a 7-on-7 style of football. Jones hit Andre Johnson for his first touchdown off a dig route sprung from a mesh concept, then pranced into the end zone himself with an open-field scramble.

But Thomas still felt short in several areas. Swinson and Conyers remained largely uninvolved. Thomas dialed up zero screens in the first half, rarely using backfield motion to shift Eastern Michigan out of position or kickstart a playmaker’s acceleration. The team did not convert a single deep throw all night. ASU eventually scored again in the fourth quarter on a Xazavian Valladay touchdown run, yet the amount of effort it took to finally produce a big play was exhausting.

“We were trying to be aggressive, take our shots when we can,” Thomas said. “I think we had some opportunities there, but obviously, we have to connect.”

Penalties also dominated the headlines once again under Edwards. ASU committed nine infractions for 84 yards. It was hardly improved from the ten penalties and 95 yards a week ago against Oklahoma State. The team only committed four for 35 yards against NAU, but two of those wiped out pick-six returns. A year ago, ASU ranked third among FBS teams with 8.9 penalties and 73.3 yards per game. Not much has changed.

“We got in a mode where we had to throw the ball,” Edwards said. "We had to get it down the field, and we got a couple of holding calls. I mean, that’s part of it. You don’t want that to happen, but it happened.”

Even the basics are overlooked by the coaching staff. Herm Edwards lamented after ASU’s first game about Emory Jones taking hits on the run. “You gotta know when the journey is over,” Edwards said. “I’m going to ask if he ever played baseball because, in baseball, you slide.”

The Sun Devils do not tackle in practice in hopes of preventing injuries. Jones also dons a grey, non-contact jersey as an extra warning measure. When he scrambles against ASU’s defense, Jones never fears he will be hit. His reluctance to slide stems directly from the guidelines enforced by Edwards.

When asked directly if the accountability for the loss fell on the coaching staff, Edwards specified the blame as a program-wide issue.

“Well, I don’t know if it’s coaching. I just think it’s everything; it’s all of it. Coaches, players, when we lose, everybody loses. And we got to do a better job.”

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