(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
With seven seconds left in a 30-20 loss to San Diego State on Saturday, ASU head coach Todd Graham called a timeout, forcing the Aztecs to kneel again. What was left of a thin crowd booed relentlessly as gold shirts flooded the exits.
This wasn’t how the Sun Devils envisioned a night honoring the memory of legendary coach Frank Kush.
“We wanted to do a lot better job of honoring Frank,” Graham said. “It was very disappointing.”
Graham mentioned earlier in the week that Coach Kush wouldn’t hold back if one of Graham’s teams was struggling or had a bad game. Brutal honesty was one of his most admirable traits.
There’s no doubt that Kush would’ve had choice words for this Sun Devil team after an uninspiring home loss.
The ASU offensive line turned in a dreadful performance for the second week in a row. Manny Wilkins had no time to go through his progressions and Kalen Ballage couldn’t find the holes he needed.
Rashaad Penny finished with 353 all-purpose yards against the Sun Devil defense and special teams units. He scored on a 95-yard run, a 99-yard kickoff return and a 33-yard reception on 3rd and 21.
ASU fans are trapped in a three-year-long recurring nightmare of big plays and blown assignments. If the Sun Devils don’t remedy the issues they have on both sides of the ball, they may never wake up.
“We’ve just got to execute better,” Wilkins said. “When the ball gets put in your hands, you’ve got to make a play. When the ball gets put in my hands I’ve got to throw it and make good decisions.”
The blame for ASU’s struggles can’t rest on Wilkins’s shoulders. Given the circumstances in these first two games, he’s played better than his team.
This season, Wilkins is completing 70 percent of his passes, has thrown for 598 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. He’s been sacked 12 times.
A young offensive line lacking in talent is the source of the Sun Devils’ offensive woes. It’s a challenging problem to have — one that doesn’t have a clear, quick or likely fix. Young players can learn from adverse experiences, but talent is only realized through proper development.
It’s evident that young and inexperienced players on the defensive side are progressing, albeit slowly, as they’re thrust into their newfound roles. The same will have to happen along the offensive line — at a much quicker pace — if any improvement is to be made in 2017.
The direction this season goes is dependent on both development of inexperienced players and personnel management by the coaching staff. Rob Sale has to find the right combination up front, Sean Slocum has to steady a shaky special teams unit, and Phil Bennett can’t keep his starters on the field for the entire game.
If ASU wants a shot at being bowl eligible, drastic improvement is needed across the board. It’s not all the quarterback’s fault, as much as fans want to make him the scapegoat. It’s not all the head coach’s fault, as vociferously as he was booed and criticized on Saturday night.
“We did a poor job of coaching and a poor job of executing and playing,” Graham said. “We’ve got to be better than that.”
Football is a team sport in the truest sense. One area of weakness can drag the whole team down with it. If multiple weaknesses are exposed and mistakes are repeated, it can send a season into a tailspin.
This is the crossroads in the 2017 season for Arizona State.
