It’s been ten years since the Pac-10 Conference expanded to the Pac-12 format that we know today, and during that time, only six teams have made back-to-back trips to the Pacific Northwest. Last week, Arizona State traveled to Seattle, Washington, to face the Huskies, a game which it won in a dramatic 21-point showcase in the fourth quarter.
Yet, as promising as that win might’ve been, history had a case against the Sun Devils – as none of those six teams which made those consecutive trips had won both matchups.
On Saturday night in the second leg of their trip, the Sun Devils became another notch on that list, falling to Oregon State 24-10 in its most abysmal offensive showcase this season.
“There was no consistency in our offense tonight,” ASU head coach Herm Edwards said postgame. “You need consistency. You have to move the ball. You can’t stall out after three or four plays and then punt. You can’t do that.”
Redshirt senior running back Rachaad White has been ASU’s offensive catalyst over the past several weeks. He’s singlehandedly carried Arizona State to wins against USC and Washington with 386 rushing yards, 88 receiving yards, and five touchdowns. His performances captured him back-to-back Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week and Rose Bowl Player of the Week honors, but on Saturday night against the Beavers in Corvallis, the dynamic back was stifled.
White’s 39 rushing yards is his second-lowest mark on the season, only bested by his performance against Colorado, where he rushed for 37 yards. In a game where success depended entirely on the performance of the ground attack, as it was the battle between the two best running backs in the conference (White and OSU redshirt junior BJ Baylor), the Arizona State running game was completely shut down.
The Sun Devils were held to a season-low 100 yards rushing by the Oregon State defense, which is the worst mark since the team put up 87 rushing yards against Florida State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl at the end of the 2019 season.
“We couldn’t get into the run game that we wanted to get into,” offensive coordinator Zak Hill shared. “We weren’t able to get the rushes in early that we wanted to get in this game. It came down to them making plays and doing some things that we didn’t.”
The passing attack wasn’t much better against the Beavers, either. ASU junior quarterback Jayden Daniels looked hurried, frantic, and at times, confused. Daniels faltered at linking up with his receivers, particularly any player that wasn’t wearing no. 3.
The biggest passing plays of the night came in the first quarter, but both of those completions, good for 24 and 34 yards, were throws to White. Later down the line, Daniels found junior wideout Ricky Pearsall for catches of 22 and 17 yards and redshirt freshman Elijhah Badger for a gain of 15, but those were the only significant strides taken through the air in Corvallis.
“Between the run game and the pass game, we just couldn’t get into a rhythm,” Hill said. “That prevents you from scoring points… We are frustrated with both sides of the offense.”
“You have to move the ball,” Edwards asserted. “College football allows you to move the ball. We have to move the ball better than that. You can’t go two or three possessions and not move the ball; that’s very difficult. When you go on the road and face a team like this that runs the football and keeps it away from you, it puts you in a bad way.”
Despite the inefficiencies attributed to both the rushing and passing attacks on Saturday night, by far the worst aspect was the penalties. Entering the contest with Oregon State, Arizona State was 126th out of 130 teams in the country in total penalties and penalty yards issued, with 88 infractions for 810 yards. Against Oregon State, the penalty bug continued to make Arizona State sick, with its most potent symptom being the false start.
In the first quarter, redshirt junior fullback Case Hatch, returning from injury, logged the first violation.
Redshirt junior right guard Spencer Lovell, in for the injured graduate student starter Henry Hattis, was penalized for a false start in the second quarter.
In the third, White and Pearsall had false starts on consecutive plays, then the Sun Devils got a break with an OSU pass interference call, allowing a fresh set of downs. On the next play, Lovell got called for another false start.
With just over minutes left in the game, Arizona State was driving, hoping to close the lead to one score. Daniels completed passes to Badger, then to White. On a fresh set of downs, Daniels missed Pearsall and then had to throw the ball away under pressure.
On 3rd-and-7 from the ASU 49, redshirt junior right tackled got dinged for a false start. Then Lovell jumped for the third time. In two plays, the Sun Devils had gone from a seven-yard mark to try and get the first down to a 17-yard challenge for a fresh set. Daniels was sacked on the play, and his fourth-down effort was an incompletion.
With the other infractions included, such as holding calls and defensive pass interferences on the Sun Devils, ASU accumulated ten penalties for 64 yards.
“It’s amazing to me because when we went to Washington, (the Huskies) did the same thing with their shifts,” Edwards said. “It wasn’t really a factor there, but all of the sudden, when we come here, it becomes a factor. We practice against it, talk about it, they know it, and for some reason, they still find a way to move. You can’t move; that’s the bottom line.”
“The defense did a good job with their pre-snap (shifts), and we just couldn’t handle it along the offensive line,” Hill added. “It’s a discipline deal. It’s not easy when they’re jumping and moving and all that stuff, and we are trying to use the silent cadence. At the end of the day, it’s illegal for them to do that (the referees) are going to call it, and we have to handle it. It’s frustrating.
266 yards of total offense is by far the worst performance by the Sun Devils in 2021, a disappointing stain on a unit with so many weapons and strong potential. All that remains for Arizona State is the Territorial Cup next Saturday, as well as whichever bowl game the team is slotted into.
“It’s a shame because these guys worked so hard all week,” Edwards admitted. “All it takes is one little mistake, and the game changes… You have to move the ball offensively. If not, they are taking clock away from you and possessions, and if (you don’t execute) on your possessions, you have to punt, that makes it even worse because you don’t possess it enough. That’s the game we got caught in.”
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