The ASU football team heard it all before Saturday’s face off with Georgia: They hadn’t beaten a real opponent, they didn’t have a chance against an SEC power and Danny Sullivan just wasn’t a good enough quarterback to get the job done.

Basically, there was plenty of the ASU Kool-Aid to go around and nobody seemed as if they wanted a drink.

But something tells me that will not be the case for too much longer.

And if freshman Bobby Wenzig’s kick in the fourth quarter had a little more loft on it, who knows what the outcome could have been?

The bottom line is: Nobody gave this team a chance in a hostile environment against a formidable opponent, especially not with conditions as unfavorable as they were.

However, this ASU team never doubted its ability or chances in Athens.

Unfortunately, some costly miscues on offense were the only thing stopping this train from leaving the station.

Senior quarterback Danny Sullivan had a chance to cement his name in ASU lore, but he came up empty.

And his receivers came up empty too, right when Sullivan seemed to find his groove in the second half.

They just could not get on the same page.

But following the game, Sullivan blamed the loss on his poor performance with the class and dignity that makes him such a great leader.

Once the Sun Devils can get the offense firing on all cylinders, they have the ability to beat everyone left on the schedule – especially if senior running back Dimitri Nance goes into beast mode like he did on Saturday night, putting up 139 yards of total offense.

Obviously, people are going to continue to doubt this team and scoff at that previous statement.

But the way this defense keeps them in games, it’s not like they have to do much on offense.

It is only the fourth week of the season and I already feel like a broken record, describing how good they are.

The Bulldogs put up 334 yards of offense but turned the ball over three times, which pushed the turnover margin to plus 10 for ASU this season.

That is about the only positive trend for the Sun Devils, though.

They have to stop committing penalties at such an alarming clip – 28 in three games.

The dropped balls are piling up and finally showed how troublesome they can be against a team that takes advantage of mistakes.

And the last big issue that ASU has to address before they have a shot at beating the Pac-10 elite is scoring touchdowns when they get into opponents territory.

Often times the Sun Devils are settling for field goals or just sputter out when they cross midfield and have to punt.

With only one week to get these problems ironed out, the season may hinge on how ASU responds against Oregon State next Saturday.

Reach Erik at emschimm@asu.edu