Five questions for Arizona State ahead of Hawaii

Andrew Hayslett

4 days ago

2 min read

Last week, the Sun Devils struggled across the board in a shocking blowout loss to Baylor. The Sun Devils got dominated on offense and defense, and they could now potentially be a bottom feeder in the Big 12.

The Sun Devils need a good response in their last non-conference game of the regular season against Hawaii. Under current head coach Timmy Chang, the Rainbow Warriors often keep it close against power-four conference teams. This season, they are 1-4.

1. How will the team respond?

The last two times the Sun Devils lost a regular-season game where the opponent scored over 40 points, they won the next week. That has happened once this season after the Texas A&M loss.

2. How much will the defense improve?

Last week’s article mentioned how the run defense struggled against Kansas. Its performance against Baylor was worse. The pass defense was abysmal too. Sixth-year defensive back Lyrik Rawls is out for some time with a leg injury, testing the Sun Devils’ depth.

3. How will the playcalling change affect the offense?

Offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo took over the offensive playcalling in practice this week. The Sun Devils scored a decent number of points in the first three weeks of the season, before they only mustered 19 last week against the Bears.

4. Who can perform consistently on offense?

Outside of senior wide receiver Reed Harris, nobody has performed consistently on offense. When the Sun Devils have gone to their best weapons consistently, they have become predictable. Outside of the Morgan State game, when they have spread the ball, nobody has had a breakout game.

5. How will the tight ends be used?

Through the first four games, the tight ends have 57 yards this season. That puts them on pace for 171 yards. Last year, top tight end Chamon Metayer caught 375 yards worth of balls, more than double the pace of this year's group.

Senior Khamari Anderson is out for the year, and he was expected to be the tight end. Sophomore AJ Ia has the most receiving yards of tight ends this season.