The difference between a good team and a great team can be a very fine line.
The old adage suggests that good teams find a way to win, but the ASU football team is doing the opposite. It is finding ways to lose.
There isn’t much separating the Sun Devils from being 4-0 and ranked somewhere in the top 25 with marquee wins over Wisconsin and Oregon.
The problem lies in the mistakes that have been made. From penalties to turnovers and lack of execution in the red zone, mistakes have prevented ASU from taking the jump to being a great team.
On Saturday, it was turnovers that cost the Sun Devils.
“We can’t turn it over seven times in the football game and expect to win,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “People can ask you anything about that football game but that’s it right there.”
Against UO, the turnovers aided in ASU’s already anemic performance in the red zone and gave the Sun Devils too many empty drives that started out promising.
“We were down in the red zone nine times,” Erickson said. “We turned it over three times down there. That’s almost half the times down there.”
Four of the seven total turnovers came on interceptions thrown by redshirt junior quarterback Steven Threet.
At times during Saturday’s loss, Threet looked like a great quarterback, threading the needle, standing in the pocket and extending the play with his feet.
Then there were times where he tried to do too much or missed an open receiver and was intercepted.
“It definitely made for a miserable Saturday,” Threet said. “On Sunday, you have to come in and watch film and learn from it. There are lessons to be learned, and you have to wake up early Monday morning and start working on the next game. You can’t let the previous game affect preparation for the next game.”
On the positive side of things, ASU can take solace in knowing that they hung with two teams that are now ranked in the top 10. While both losses were frustrating, ASU has to know it is close.
“I think it’s frustrating and exciting,” Threet said. “If we correct these mistakes then we are right there.”
Despite the costly interceptions, Erickson hasn’t lost faith in Threet and rightfully so. The junior has displayed the ability to run the ASU offense effectively and currently leads the Pac-10 in passing yards and total offense.
“I don’t have any loss of confidence in Steven Threet at all,” Erickson said. “He had a bad game and made some mental mistakes. That’s what comes with that position. With our offense, every time the football is snapped he has to make a decision, and that’s a lot to put on the quarterback.”
With a young team, there is the question of whether it hasn’t learned how to win football games yet, something Erickson doesn’t believe to be true.
Instead, Erickson feels it is about having the confidence to know that they can win without mistakes. Once that happens, ASU could get on a roll.
“I don’t think it’s learning to win, but earning and getting the win,” Erickson said. “Once you get that and know that you can win, then it makes it easy in the fourth quarter.”
The mistakes the Sun Devils have made are correctable; there is no doubt about that. Now it is just a matter of doing so.
“When we start finishing, we’re going to be the top team,” wide receiver Mike Willie said. “We have to all come together and just do it. You can’t just talk about it, you have to do it.”
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
