When defensive coordinator Brian Ward was brought in from Washington State, he and head coach Kenny Dillingham assured fans that the defense would be aggressive and assertive, and players pointed out that the goal of this defense would be controlled chaos.

However, in week one against Southern Utah, the Sun Devil defense created no turnovers nor posted sacks. The game was by no means a bad showing by the defense, holding the Thunderbirds to just 226 total yards and only 87 of them on the ground. ASU played in a lot of base defense, relying on four-man pressure to get at Southern Utah, but their game plan was successful and was only basic due to the opponent on the other side of the field, and the approach they decided to take last Thursday night.

“The guys that are trying to survive and hopefully get lucky at the end of the game, they’re just gonna try to get you tired and get you frustrated because they know that we are a pressure-oriented defense,” Ward said. “I told our guys it was a great job to stay composed, stay poised, and it was on me as a play caller to understand the style that they’re playing.

“We were anticipating them to take shots of their motion series and some of those shifts, and they never really did. They just played it really close to the vest, and so we did, too. Hopefully, [Oklahoma State] is a game that allows us to let our guys loose a little bit.”

Dillingham also believed that a formidable performance by his defense isn’t only a matter of producing an elaborate stat sheet; forcing your opponent to revamp their normal style of play is certainly a feat that should be minimized.

“If teams don’t want to play their normal style of play because of the pressure, then obviously our goals will be lesser than what we expected if people are adapting and trying to limit what they do offensively,” Dillingham said. “I think it just depends on who you play. When they do change their style of play, our theory is that we already got you to change what you do, so we feel like we already have an advantage.”

While ASU succeeded in forcing the Thunderbird offense to be as mundane as possible, pressure and turnovers will be necessary if the Sun Devils want to halt the Oklahoma State offense. The Cowboys have long been one of college football’s more successful teams, posting double-digit winning seasons in five of the last ten years, mostly due to the coaching and leadership of head coach Mike Gundy.

If Dillingham’s tenure as the head coach of ASU is as long or as successful as Gundy’s, then Sun Devil fans will be quite content for years to come. Entering his 19th season, Gundy has led the Cowboys to 17 bowl appearances and has a career record of 157-75 in Stillwater. Even a first-year coach, such as Dillingham, can respect and appreciate how difficult it is to be successful at one program for so long.

“He’s one of the legends in this profession,” Dillingham remarked. “He’s obviously been doing it a long time at the same place. It just shows the consistency he’s had. The one thing about his teams is they play hard, they play smart, and he always wins.”

Last week, the Cowboys beat Central Arkansas by a score of 27-13 in a game that was closer than it should have been. Interestingly, Oklahoma State ran out three different quarterbacks in the game when facing that FCS opponent.

Redshirt Senior quarterback Alan Bowman started the game, but he only threw for 80 yards and completed only 54% of his passes. Redshirt freshman Garret Rangel had arguably the most successful night, throwing the Cowboys only, throwing a touchdown, and completing 10 of his 15 passes but also throwing the game’s only interception. Finally, Mike Gundy’s own son, redshirt sophomore Gunnar Gundy, entered the game, throwing 109 yards and completing all but two of his nine passes.

“I mean, they are all pretty similar,” Ward commented. “(Rangel) runs the ball a little bit better than the other two. (Gundy’s) Son is kind of a tweener between both of those guys. And the big guy Bowman, he’s more of a drop back and try to use his big arm to really stretch the perimeter of the field horizontally and vertically.”

Oklahoma State presents the first Power Five test for ASU and a chance to prove that Dillingham’s squad could possibly disprove the low preseason expectations that have been placed on the Sun Devils. The difference could be the ‘controlled chaos’ that the defense will generate up front, and Ward is ready to adapt his group in any way needed to come away victorious on Saturday night.

“Last week was about winning the football game, and this week is gonna be the same thing,” Ward stated. “If something’s working, we’re going to continue to take water out of that well. If it’s not, or if we feel like we’ve got to keep these guys off balance, then you’re going to see more volume of calls. It’s really not about Oklahoma State. It’s not about Southern Utah. It’s really about us and what we’re trying to do and about us executing the game plan.”

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