One of the more competitive practices of spring thus far saw quite the energy differential between the offense and defense, according to head coach Kenny Dillingham. A big-play-hungry offense won its share of the back-and-forth battles with the defense after the latter unit was dominant for the vast majority of the spring sessions.
Leveled competition is a pinnacle piece of the preseason puzzle during these March-April 15 practices. The battles taking place three times a week on Kajikawa Field indicate the growth Dillingham would like to see from last year. In Thursday’s clash, the offense was able to effectively establish its ground game at the latter stages of the session.
“Yeah, today, the O-line went out there and what’s that hat? We run the damn ball,” Dillingham stated. “It was quite evident and defense, you know, on the contrary, we got to stop the damn run.
“I think that's what the challenge is. I didn't think the energy level was there from the defense, especially the front four in the box, and I think it showed up at the end of practice. But I don't think we had that same passion and energy that we had in the prior practice.”
The offense under Dillingham last year struggled as playcalling was stripped from then-offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin only three weeks into the season. Although the Sun Devils had three wins, it wasn't much to the credit of the run game, which averaged 111.2 yards per game and ranked near the bottom of the Pac-12 statistical standings.
The last two days of practice, though, have presented a more encouraging picture, as the offensive line in the first two sessions in full pads seemed to have found a rhythm to service the deep stable of the Sun Devils’ running backs. On Thursday, Kyson Brown exploded taking the first play from scrimmage in a team period for what appeared to be a 60-yard run, and later adding a few other first-down runs as well as a touchdown. Last year’s starter, Cam Skattebo, had some other impressive runs of his own, and his score came as a result of the offensive line moving the pile just yards away from the end zone.
What was the difference between Thursday versus the stout defensive performances we’ve seen all spring?
“Mindset,” Dillingham stated. “You know, they (defense) came out, first day in pads, and they had a mindset that we're gonna kick your ass. I'm gonna kick your butt. But today, they didn't just didn't have that dog in em’, that dog wasn't there. Like I told him after practice, football was one of the simplest games that coaches complicate. At the end of the day, if I know who I'm blocking, and I win that block, we score, or you stop us (offense).
“If you don't come out, you don't have that mindset that this is a one-on-one fight. Once we figure out who my one-on-one is it is a fight to the death. Right? If you don't have that mindset, then you're gonna wind up on the other end of it. And I think today the offensive line had that mindset you saw it on the fourth downplay, third downplaying the red zone when the O-line came in and sprinted to push the pile, where was the defense?”
ASU defensive coordinator Brian Ward said that he views the offensive effort as finding its identity. That being said, Ward wants his players to play at a higher level and constantly improve, even if the offense they face in practice is displaying their advancements.
“We're still installing, and we're getting really good looks in the run game,” Ward said. “And it's and it's great because we're not going to get a false sense of confidence. “You got to do your 1/11th on defense, and if one guy's not in the theater (during a defensive meeting), he misses the tackle, and those are things that happened. But you know, to me, it's an opportunity for us to get better and to learn from it and not get a false sense of security in terms of our ability to stop the run.”
A further lesson learned by the staff was the distinction between the outside view of what is labeled a success or failure on both sides of the ball. One score can define an offense as a triumph, while a blown coverage can define a defense as a shortcoming. Despite the fact that the offense was plenty impressive in this last practice, Ward was happy with the production he’s seen from his group from the beginning of spring.
“Yeah, they broke off a couple of runs,” Ward commented. “But the positive that will take away to practice today is I think they had, six, six or seven series in the red zone. And they basically got one touchdown…like, one real touchdown. We played some pretty good red zone defense for a red zone install day.”
The bend-don’t-break mentality last season was a cornerstone of many of the defensive pefrromnaces of the Sun Devils in the first two months of the 2023 campaign. The apex of that effort was holding national championship runner-up Washington to zero offensive touchdowns on their home field. As Ward further cements the defensive initiatives this season, that approach can be the difference in those moments that can define a practice or, better yet, define a game.
“You give up a long run on the very first play of team (segment); it doesn't feel like a great day,” Ward said. “On the first drive, we held them to field goal, and then they come back, they hit us on a deep ball, and they finish the drive with a great score in the red zone.
“We got them into third-and-eight, we get them off the field, they get to kick another field goal. Now, the whole practice is different.”
While coaches surely want to see both sides of the ball succeed without the scales being heavily tilted in favor of one group over the other, the ‘defense wins championships’ mantra is certainly one that any coach would view as a necessary ingredient for success. Therefore, the defense's bounce back and response in Saturday’s scrimmage will be interesting to follow and will serve Ward as a barometer of his unit’s ability to reestablish the dominance they have enjoyed for the bulk of spring practices.
“We got to have better energy,” Ward stated. “We got to be able to respond. And one of the things we got to put pressure on guys to see if they are going to respond. And that's really where we're at.”
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