New week, same self-inflicted errors extend ASU's losing streak to four

As the old adage goes, when a coach makes a bold in-game decision he will either look like a genius or a less than.

Today, Arizona State (5-5, 2-5 Pac-12) head coach Herm Edwards looked as foolish as any coach can look when, instead of bringing out sophomore kicker Cristian Zendejas to kick a game-tying extra point, he had the Sun Devils go for a two-point conversion with 1:40 to play.

“In that position, you look at it this way,” coach Herm Edwards explained, “if you kick it, you still got to stop them from scoring, right? They still get the ball, I mean, you got to stop them. They kick a field goal, they still beat you.

“I just felt like we’re on the road, I told the football team, I said ‘I’m not playing to lose, man, I don’t play to lose.’ We fought uphill this whole game, and I just felt at the end, when we got in there, I said, ‘when you score, we’re going for two, I said that when we had the ball at the 40.’”

After initially lining up, then getting a chance to rethink the decision following an Oregon State (5-5, 4-3) timeout, ASU called a pitch play left to junior running back Eno Benjamin, who did not get adequate blocking to turn the corner, and right before being forced out-of-bounds tried to create space and just chuck it to the end zone, getting the pass batted down incomplete as opposed to a loss of about eight yards.

Benjamin’s pass was a smart desperation play given the situation, because hey you never know, maybe you get a defensive holding or something that allows for a second chance. But deservedly so, the Sun Devils would prove to be out of chances by that point, and the 12-yard (should’ve been tying) touchdown pass to senior receiver Brandon Aiyuk on 4th & 8 would be all for naught in OSU’s 35-34 victory over ASU on senior day in Corvallis.

“We were kind of hoping they would watch the film of our two-point plays, which most people do,” offensive coordinator Rob Likens said, “It was just kind of off of that, you know, it worked well in practice. Just like any call that doesn’t work, yes, I would to have it back because it didn’t work. But yeah man, just heartbroken for the kids, and the team, and fans, everybody.”

If you thought things couldn’t get much worse after ASU’s humiliating loss to the UCLA Bruins three short weeks ago, which gave that team its first home win of the season in its fourth try, think again.

With today’s victory over the Sun Devils, the Beavers earned their first home win against a power-five opponent since they beat Oregon in 2016- today’s win stopping that specific losing streak at 14 games.

“We’re just going to try to work the details every day,” senior defensive back Kobe Williams said after the loss. “So, when we come into the game, we can perfect everything, not start out slow, not have these big mistakes early in games I guess.”

Despite the inexcusable coaching decision that gave OSU the ball at its own 48- thanks to a recovered onsides kick- with a one-point lead and a tick under 100 seconds to play in regulation, the Sun Devils still had an outside shot to salvage a victory in the end. But as the college football world has seen over the past month, this young Sun Devil team has simply run out of steam and lost its will to win the close games that it once had.

“We have yet as a team to play a complete game,” starting true freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels stated. “It’s either first half the defense is going and the offense is struggling, it’s just we got to play a complete game to be able to win. We haven’t played one in a minute…we can’t always just be playing the second half.”

Going into that final Beavers possession, ASU only had two timeouts because, ironically, it burned one prior to that fourth-down touchdown pass to Aiyuk. Still, the Sun Devil front six was able to initially hold strong thanks to the efforts of guys like seniors Roe Wilkins and Khaylan Kearse-Thomas, and sophomores Darien Butler, Jermayne Lole and D.J. Davidson.

The three carries for eight yards by senior OSU running back Artavis Pierce brought their offense to a 4th & 2 from ASU’s 44, still with 42 seconds on the clock, and the Beavers would twice call timeout before running that play.

The game would come down to that, and with ASU out of timeouts, Beavers head coach Jonathan Smith decided to give Edwards a taste of his own medicine and keep his offense on the field. It would come down to either getting two yards and clinching the win or turning it over and risking ASU only needing to go 30ish yards to be able to attempt a game-winning field goal themselves.

When the play was run, it initially looked like the latter scenario had played out. However, junior transfer cornerback Jack Jones- who was probably the biggest liability on defense all game- was appropriately called for defensive pass interference for putting his left hand on the arm of senior receiver Trevon Bradford right before he had a chance to catch the ball, negating the pass defended and giving the Beavers the winning first down they needed.

“I think the difference might be the two fourth-down conversions,” defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said. “The (pass-interference) there at the very end, which I’ll see on tape, and then the fourth down in the red zone after the fumble. We got to get off the field on those.”

Gonzales, who has coached through his mother passing away this past week from complications from stomach surgery, noted that the defensive backs must get better as a unit, but admitted there were mistakes across the board.

ASU did improve in some problem areas from the past few weeks such as penalties and first quarter point differential. Although the Sun Devils allowed two touchdowns in the first, their offense matched that output in the same time frame and the team was only penalized four times for 38 yards on the game.

Several players had nice individual performances too, starting with Aiyuk’s eight catches for 173 yards, a receiving touchdown plus a 63-yard punt return touchdown in the second quarter that was crucial in keeping ASU only down 28-21 at halftime.

Daniels also looked good when he was given time to throw, completing 24 of 36 passes for 334 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, and Benjamin added 70 rushing yards on 15 carries (4.7 yards per carry), a rushing touchdown plus 27 receiving yards on five catches.

Defensively, Kearse-Thomas led the way with 11 tackles, a sack, and two tackles-for-loss. Other notable performances included Lole (8 tackles, a sack, a pass defended), Wilkins (five tackles, two tackles-for-loss, including a sack, plus a forced fumble), and sophomore linebacker Merlin Robertson (five tackles, two for loss).

In the end though, the way Edwards sees things, it seems like it was just a different week that seemed like Groundhog Day for ASU football.

“We gave them an early lead, couldn’t slow them down for a while,” Edwards said. “The first half I think they had 22 minutes of possession, we had nine…you know, turnovers were the thing again, and the big scores early, we’ve given up almost 28 points now in the first half of football games in (each of) the last three times we’ve played, and that’s a little concerning.

“We got to find a way to slow that number down, and when we do, we’ll have a chance to win a game.”

ASU will return to action when it hosts the currently No. 6 Oregon Ducks (8-1, 6-0) next Saturday in Tempe for the penultimate game of the regular season, one that will determine whether the Sun Devil will have a losing regular-season record this year.

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