Last Thursday night was rough for ASU football in its 49-26 loss to Utah, but it's likely that no player had a worse Friday morning than redshirt sophomore quarterback Manny Wilkins.
In his first start in three weeks, Wilkins was bruised and battered as he was sacked nine times by the Utes behind another new combination on the offensive line.
With redshirt senior Stephon McCray out of the lineup, redshirt freshman Steven Miller stepped into his place for his first career start.
So, how would Miller grade the group's performance against Utah?
"I think we did pretty good," Miller said.
Come again?
"We were playing against a good d-line and we were expecting to have some mistakes," Miller said. "There's going to be some times when you get beat, but overall, I think we did a good job."
The stat sheet might argue. Utah recorded a total of 11 sacks and 22 tackles for loss, keeping the Sun Devils behind schedule for much of the game.
Impressive: Hunter Dimick is tied for national lead in sacks (12) and his five sacks on Thursday set a school record. #goutes #SackLakeCity pic.twitter.com/AvIkZx6d1o
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) November 14, 2016
Wilkins was hit throughout the night and the Sun Devils were held to under one yard per rush, which includes a 31-yard run by freshman receiver N'Keal Harry.
"There's always things we've got to clean up all together as an offensive line," Miller said. "We can always make things better, but we had a fairly good game."
All season, the line has preached having a short memory, and redshirt senior Evan Goodman did the same Tuesday, saying that Utah was last week and there's no sense looking back on the game.
"I feel like we've just got to trust our technique and our prep," Goodman said.
And it doesn't get any easier for the front five with Washington due up Saturday and a defense that has no trouble getting after quarterbacks. The unit will, however, be without junior linebacker Azeem Victor and senior linebacker Joe Mathis on Saturday.
In four full games since Mathis went down, the Huskies have recorded just four sacks — one in each game — and have allowed 23.5 points per game, compared to 24 sacks and 14.2 points per game before the injury.
While it would appear Washington has taken a hit, Goodman is unfazed by the difference.
"We still have to go out and play as if they're 100 percent," Goodman said. "No pressures."
And according to Miller, ASU has a good chance at that.
"It's going to be like this last week," Miller said. "We're just going to have to be physical and be grimy this week. I think we'll be alright."
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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