Head coach Kenny Dillingham’s Arizona State (1-1) squad has shown flashes of competence in the first halves of its first two games. The problem is that there are two halves.
Before falling 27-15 to Oklahoma State Saturday night, the Sun Devils walked into the locker room at the half leading 15-10.
They were shut out in the second half. On the season, ASU has scored three points in second halves. Only three points.
“At the end of the day, we have to be more consistent in the second half,” Dillingham said. “We didn’t put together a drive.”
A plethora of direct-snap looks seemed to be the answer to Oklahoma State’s different three-safety defense in the first half.
However, shaky offensive line play and the inability of junior tailbacks Cam Skattebo and DeCarlos Brooks to break explosive runs caused problems in the second half.
“I think we need to get [sophomore tailback Tevin White] more involved,” Dillingham said. “I think there were a few that we’d like to have back, but both [Skattebo and Brooks] fared well tonight.”
Dillingham’s “risk it for the biscuit” mindset from last week came back to haunt the Sun Devils against the Cowboys. In the fourth quarter, the Sun Devils turned it over on downs twice.
In one crucial play, the team opted to pass with freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada with just over seven minutes left in the game. Rashada overthrew Skattebo by about seven yards on a wheel route.
Dillingham said the decision came because of Oklahoma State’s tape. Oklahoma State was more aggressive with its press coverage against Central Arkansas but historically played more of a Tampa-two formation on third and medium downs.
A huge momentum swing that could have changed the trajectory of the game and the season came on a third down at the start of the fourth quarter. Trailing 17-15, Rashada threw a rope over the middle to junior wideout Xavier Guillory.
Guillory had green grass ahead and would have had a chance to score. The junior just dropped the ball. Normally sure-handed, Guillory ended a crucial drive.
The offense simply put too much pressure on a defense that performed admirably despite being on the field far too much.
“Offense could have had the defense’s back more,” Rashada said. “There’s a lot of things I could have done better.”
After getting three sacks and holding Oklahoma State to a net zero rushing yards in the first half, the defense was worn down by the Cowboys in the second half.
“We’ve obviously got to be better. You see the points on the board, we lost,” graduate linebacker Tre Brown said. “We played hard, we played with effort, we played with a good respect.”
With some surprisingly impressive teams in the Pac-12 through two weeks, ASU’s second-half performances need to improve massively if the team has aspirations to finish higher on the standings than last year.
“It’s our job to adjust if things aren’t working,” Dillingham said. “We have to be more creative to find a way to be more successful throughout the entire football game and I take responsibility for that.”
The week three matchup against an underrated Fresno State squad led by veteran head coach Jeff Tedford will be a bar-setting tilt for the Sun Devils.
Leave a Reply