A suffocating and opportunistic ASU defense highlighted Saturday’s 48-7 win. And while a lot of credit is given to defensive coordinator Brian Ward’s scheme and the execution of his players, he, in turn, credits the other side of the ball just as much. When your opponent feels pressure to answer a score, mistakes are more readily made as you’re in constant catch-up mode, which takes you out of rhythm.

“It’s about playing complementary football,” Ward said. “Takeaways are a part of football, and I’ve seen more turnovers in my career when our offense can score points. When the offense is throwing the ball a lot and putting the quarterback in harm's way, the quarterback can make some bad decisions. We scored a lot of points and made Wyoming feel like they had to stay with us; when that happens, we’re able to create opportunities.”

Following a display in which it forced three turnovers and scored two defensive touchdowns, Ward wants the defense to keep the pressure up this weekend as well. He believes the group needs to mature in how it handles success, especially the returning players after they endured a 3-9 campaign last year.

“You have to learn how to win as a program,” Ward expressed. “You just go through steps feeling like, okay, you’re off and running as a program, so hopefully, this next week’s going to be that next step, and our guys can handle success. Our guys are tough, especially the guys who came back from going through what we went through and the steps we had to take last year, and that’s part of the growing process. This next step is learning how to win, and that’s my challenge to the defense.”

Toward the end of the Wyoming game, the Sun Devils let up a late touchdown with two seconds left on the clock, as they are extremely close to recording their second-largest shutout win in this century (the record is a 55-0 win over Sacramento State in 2013). Nonetheless, Ward is still satisfied with his team’s play and doesn’t want that last drive to cloud the overall achievement of last Saturday.

“As a defense, we executed when we needed to,” Ward remarked. “I was proud of everybody, even the last drive when they scored. There were a couple of calls I wish I could’ve had back, and we made a couple of mistakes to allow those plays to happen. That’s the thing about defense; you’re always going to remember that one play.”

With Mississippi State next up on the schedule, the defense will face a much different-looking offense than Wyoming’s. The Cowboys were a run-first team that struggled to throw the ball or run it. Mississippi State is a more well-balanced team with a veteran and elusive quarterback in senior Blake Shapen. Furthermore, their high-tempo offense will be a challenge for Ward’s defense.

“They spread the ball around a lot,” Ward mentioned. “You’re going to see the ball in the air a lot, and they do a great job protecting the quarterback and taking what the defense gives them. They try to get you out of position with their tempo, and they may be the fastest team we see all year.”

This contest is an early and very stiff test for the ASU’s cornerbacks. The Sun Devil defensive coordinator’s confidence in that group’s ability to handle the receivers can play a large role in how they approach the game; an effective game plan can keep an opposing explosive offense off the field and tilt the scales in ASU's favor.

“The most important thing is it’s about us, not them,” Ward noted. “If our guys can execute, then it becomes a one-on-one situation. We just tell our guys to win their one-on-one, win your battle. Their whole philosophy is to get to 100 plays on offense. Their mentality is that we’ll be too gassed to defend them come the fourth quarter, and I’ve been a part of that type of system before. Right now, it’s all about recovery and getting ourselves ready for Saturday.”

While the Sun Devils lost veterans from last year, the experience on the field hasn’t faulted. Two of the biggest recruits on the defense were transfer linebackers junior Keyshaun Elliot and redshirt junior Zyrus Fiaseu, who saw instant success with their interceptions on the first and second drives, with Fiaseu also scoring on his interception return. Ward believes each week, the defense builds on their chemistry as a collective unit, and last week was their first test, which they passed with flying colors.

“If we’re executing, we’re gonna be fine,” Ward conveyed. “We don’t put those things in our head; we’re kind of like salesmen. We’re only as good as our last sale, but for us, we’re only as good as our last week. I think we have a really good group and a lot of experience on our defense. We don’t have a lot of starters coming back, but we have a lot of experienced guys that have played a lot of football. Now I want to see what they can do all together, and we saw that last week.”

The Sun Devils are looking to repeat an explosive offense performance this week against the Bulldogs. For offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo, the proficiency with which his players executed was impressive because it was the first time this unit under his tutelage had taken to the field on game day.

“It was our entire offense's first time together,” Arroyo noted. “From play calling and talking over it and working the situations and playing against an opponent. So I was really excited about the growth that we’re able to move forward with and build on from training camp and spring ball and summer.”

A formidable showing against Wyoming turned confidence into cockiness and resulted in a lackluster Tuesday practice, which prompted head coach Kenny Dillingham to state, “We practiced like a 1-11 team today.” The team focus and intensity returned on Wednesday, and coaches such as Arroyo were not shy about calling out his players then for the lackadaisical play, even though it’s a natural byproduct of a week one win.

“There’s going to be instances in every practice where guys just happened to be maybe an earshot of some of it or not,” Arroyo admitted. “But there’s going to be opportunities in every practice where if the expectations aren’t met that you set the standard.

“I think it may be something that somebody looks at and subjectively say, today was all right, but we’re trying to set a new level of precedence in rages to how to do things, and I think that’s an everyday win, lose or draw.”

ASU’s offense coordinator will certainly praise his players when they’ve earned it, something he’s learned through his extensive coaching career while taking life experiences and applying them to the emotional turns of a football season.

“I think you do this long enough, and you find every little sticky thing you can,” Arroyo said, laughing. “You got to be careful of not celebrating at all because there were some really good things that you did. It’s kind of like parenting you need to celebrate victories and the good stuff, I think the reality of it is there’s going to be something in there that you could take away from it.

“The score will always take care of itself, you just got to make sure you understand how you got there and what you can do to fix other things.”

One position group that earned a lot of praise on Saturday was the running back core. Three separate players scored three touchdowns, showcasing the vast quality of the room, which has become an apparent strength for ASU.

“The depth at that position is pretty special,” Arroyo commented. “To be able to roll guys in and not have to think about if I'm worried about certain guys in certain roles…as a whole, the group goes in, and it's seamless.”

ASU will need a more seamless play from the backfield against Mississippi State, which, albeit versus an FCS opponent, had a dominant game of its own, allowing just 3.3 rushing yards per attempt coupled with three tackles for losses. Arroyo understands the furious defensive style the Bulldogs plan to showcase, and the keys in his mind are the same: pounding the football on the ground, establishing the tone, and opening the aerial attack from there.

“On the perimeter, they got some real guys, so being able to run the football effectively in any game is really kind of our identity as we saw last week,” Arroyo described. “Putting guys down in the box and be able to take advantage of the guys on the perimeter and give those guys a one-on-one situation if we can get to that.

With a new head coach on the other sideline in Jeff Lebby, this new era for Mississippi State is in its earliest stages. An experienced coach such as Arroyo knows that creates an interesting challenge, as the element of surprise by the Bulldogs and their first-year staff is very present.

“All I can do is check the tape and have a little bit of background,” Arroyo stated, “look at what I saw versus Eastern Kentucky and then try to put a package together off of one game; it gets kind of hard. I’ll have to make a lot of in-game adjustments. It will be fun and exciting to see how our guys handle it and how us as a staff will do.”

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