Don’t let the 61-36 final score fool you — there wasn’t much offense in the ASU football team’s annual spring game at Sun Devil Stadium.
The scoring system used awarded points to the offense for first downs and plays over 30 yards, as well as the normal point values for scoring touchdowns and field goals. The defense scored by forcing three-and-outs, forcing turnovers, forcing punts and stopping the offense on fourth down.
There were quite a few points accumulated for each and every one of those categories for the defense, as they rolled past the stagnant offense.
It seemed as if the defense knew exactly what the offense was going to do on almost every play, and on the rare occasion that the defense was caught out of position, the offense made mistakes.
“Our execution wasn’t very good,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “We dropped too many balls. We threw too many interceptions. [We gave up] too many sacks. You name it, we did it. Obviously, we have to clean that stuff up. When you only score one touchdown in a 48-minute scrimmage, you have to be better than that”
With no clear-cut leader in the starting quarterback race, neither junior Steven Threet nor sophomore Brock Osweiler gave Erickson any reason to put either of them ahead heading into fall camp.
“It was an opportunity for one of them to emerge, and neither one of them emerged,” Erickson said. “We are going to take this into the fall.”
In all, the offense scored just one touchdown in 22 drives that started from their own 35-yard line. The only other actual scoring came from three field goals by senior Thomas Weber.
The lone touchdown came on the very first drive of the game. The opening series started out with a little trickery, as Osweiler flipped to sophomore running back Jamal Miles, who connected with senior receiver Kerry Taylor for a 39-yard gain.
Later on that drive on fourth down, Osweiler tossed a six-yard touchdown pass to junior receiver George Bell.
That would be the only highlight for the offense all day.
Osweiler finished 17-of-33 for 151 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
His competitor Threet struggled, completing nine-of-27 passes for 117 yards and throwing three interceptions.
“For me personally, too many mistakes,” Threet said. “I threw three turnovers. We’re not going to be able to move the ball consistently when there are that many mistakes. Those have to be taken care of, which they will.”
Something has to be said for the defense they were squaring off against, too. The speed, quickness and physicality were shown in full force.
“We have one of the best defenses in the country,” Threet said. “I think they showed that today.”
With the Sun Devil running game struggling, the ball was in the air the majority of the time. The secondary was more than up to the test, especially juniors Eddie Elder and Omar Bolden.
“Our corners played well, but I thought our safeties played really well, [too],” Erickson said. “They’ve done that all spring. They’ve emerged. They’re playing the run [well]. I couldn’t be happier with them.”
But Osweiler said the offense is pleased with the progress it has made during the spring while implanting first-year coordinator Noel Mazzone’s system.
“I’m really happy,” Osweiler said of the offense’s overall spring. “From where we started this spring and where we ended today, it was a great note for our offense.”
The Sun Devils will next break for the summer, with fall camp beginning in August.
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
