3 ASU Football Things: Gatorade Baths, Rudy Carpenter and the State of the Program
Good bye Las Vegas Bowl. Good bye Rudy Carpenter. Good bye football season. Here are three things we think we think after the Sun Devils’ 31-10 loss to Arizona last night.
1. The Wildcats Haven’t Learned How to Win
We know this winning thing is new to the Wildcats, but their attempt at dumping Gatorade on Mike Stoops was pathetic. They barely got his shoes wet, but at least he didn’t whine about it to the officials. And what’s with throwing on the Las Vegas Bowl caps? It’s not exactly clinching a rose in your teeth, but hey whatever floats your boat.
2. Rudy Carpenter’s Legacy Took a Hit
We expended a lot of ink this week dissecting Rudy Carpenter’s legacy and decided that he had a lot riding on this game. It’d be awfully hard to forget a guy who led us to four bowl games and four wins over Arizona. Instead, Carpenter’s career ended on a real downer. Time will tell how he’s remembered.
3. What Holiday Bowl?
The 2007 season was as magical as the 2008 season was depressing, and the positive energy surrounding the program after Dennis Erickson’s first year has been replaced by doubt. A lot of what went wrong (particularly on the offensive line) dated back to Dirk Koetter’s tenure, but it’s Erickson’s job to fix it. Where do the Sun Devils go from here? We don’t know, but we’re hoping Erickson does.
What’s Your Take, Sun Devils?
What’d you take away from the game last night? What are your feelings on this season? Let us know in the comments below.
Where to begin? There are so many fingers to point that I may not have enough space to put it all down. In no particular order …
1. Conditioning – This aspect of the program needs to get better and it needs to get better in a hurry. There are way too many players in this program that had nagging injuries affect them all season. The off-season conditioning needs to be looked at, including strength and stamina, and the in-season practice and conditioning regimen needs review. Hearing about all of these piddly little injuries started to sound like excuses.
2. Offensive line – The program is paying the price for the fact that Dirk Koetter was in way over his head and didn’t know how to recruit in the trenches. This group stinks and if there is any justice the entire lot of them will be thrown out and a group of five-star recruits will come in and take their places. I can’t believe how bad this offensive line is – this is ASU for God’s sake. Do you mean to tell me they can’t recruit decent offensive linemen? And as to the fact that they keep dropping like flies due to injury – see #1 above.
3. Blocking – It stinks, and I’m not talking about the offensive line. I’m talking about receivers who are afraid and incapable of playing physical. Did you see some of those “blocks” that ASU’s receivers tried to put on UA? I’m talking to you, Kerry Taylor. I’m talking about an 85-man roster that doesn’t have a fullback or a tight end. DE talks about running the ball but until he gets a fullback and a tight end then he is just blowing smoke.
4. Tight end – Remember when ASU used to have tight ends? I hate to say this but Grankowski is better than Heap and Miller. Meanwhile, ASU doesn’t have one on its roster. OK, maybe it does but he/they aren’t doing squat, which speaks volumes about the recruiting and/or play-calling.
5. Fullback – Get one! The red zone performance is pathetic over the last two years. Why? Because they can’t run the ball without a fullback. How hard can this be to figure out? Do you know why the so-called experts are so dismissive of comments on the Internet? Two reasons: 1) the truth hurts; 2) it reveals that it really isn’t that hard to coach football.
6. Pass Coverage – Do we coach pass coverage? No, ASU coaches the cover man to be in position to make the tackle, i.e., “bend but don’t break”, a.k.a. the girly-man defense. UA’s recievers and backs and TE were wide open all night, continuing a pattern that went on all season. Here is a coaching tip for DE – when your opponent has the ball inside the red zone and only needs a few yards for a first down you don’t line your DBs eight yards off the ball. Watch the game again and look at how ASU’s DBs are lined up – its a freaking joke. They might as well all have a sign on their backs that says, “I’m not fast enough, bright enough, or strong enough to cover you so I’m going to back way off and just hope that you don’t get behind me.” Hey DE, here’s another free tip. When you are near the goal line you don’t care about the receiver getting behind you – instead you want to keep him from getting in front of you.
7. ASU Students – A bunch of pansies. Look at the number of UA students who attend UA football games. Now compare this to the number of ASU students who attend ASU football games. And great job protecting the “A”.
8. Rudy Carpenter – Good riddance; a few years from now you’ll be a distant memory, just like the cancer formerly known as Ryan Kealy. You are arrogant, stupid, selfish, and out of shape. If it is possible you have gotten worse every year you played. Good luck in your future career bagging groceries or selling insurance. I hope that you are taking advantage of the education being paid for by the AZ taxpayers. Rudy, you are the Brett Wallace of ASU football. Why? Because you’re a jerk and you can’t deliver in the big game. This silver lining is this cloud is that attitude of the team ought to improve now that you (and players loyal to you) are flushed out of the system.
9. Rich Olson – Does everyone now understand why Miami fans were overjoyed when he left the Hurricanes? I’ve been following ASU football since the mid-60s and I have never seen a more unimaginative offense. Even the teams we beat had better offensive game plans than did ASU.
10. UNLV – No excuses; the ASU program ought to be ashamed of itself and the fans ought to get a refund for showing a ticket stub. This is every bit as bad as the New Mexico State debacle during the Snyder era or any of the bowl games in Hawaii.
11. Recruiting – So far I am not impressed. The recruiting this season is well on its way to being top-50, which helps us not one bit. Of the top-10 recruits in AZ the Devils have only one of them. There are no four- or five-star recruits signed and no signs that we are leading for any recruits of this magnitude. It starts with recruiting – this program will never beat USC (or Cal or Oregon or Oregon State or Georgia or BYU) without better recruting. Does anyone really think that Sullivan or Scaszy or Stangel or Elway is the answer at QB? Does anyone really think that Dmitri Nance or Shaun DeWitty is the answer at running back? Does anyone really think that Kerry Taylor or TJ Simpson is the answer at wide receiver?
12 – Punter; for goodness sakes how hard can it be to sign a freaking punter. You are wasting one of the best kickers in the country by making him do double duty.
13. 2009 – Here is my prediction, which assumes that one of the QBs on the roster steps up and is able to play decent football (i.e., better than Kevin Craft at UCLA):
W – Idaho State
L – BYU
L – Georgia
L – Oregon State
W – Washington State
W – Washington
W – Stanford
L – Cal
L – USC
L – Oregon
W – UCLA (but this could go either way)
T – UA
Given that talent (lack thereof) and coaching (lack thereof) ASU will probably be 5-7 again, and there will be serious grumbling about DE. If one of the QBs doesn’t step up then ASU will be luck to finish 3-9.