The feeling is all too familiar at ASU.
It’s a feeling of having been tricked. A feeling that you should have known better. A feeling of constant disappointment and misplaced optimism.
It is the feeling of defeat faced again and again by ASU football fans.
We’ll admit, we bought into this team. Earlier in the year, we said we were skeptical but confident that the team could turn things around and return to the postseason.
We were further inspired to believe in this team by two solid wins to open the season and a should-have-won game against Wisconsin. Even after losing to Oregon, another game the team should have won, we were hopeful that this team could finish strong.
But as has become too common at ASU, we were let down. It’s natural to be optimistic about your school’s team when a new season begins with rays of hope like a seemingly game-changing quarterback and a new offense, but still, we feel we should have known better.
Not all hope is lost for the 2010-2011 season, as the Sun Devils could reach a bowl game by winning four of their last five games. But after Saturday’s embarrassing loss to California, combined with the fact that three of the team’s next five opponents are ranked in the top 25, we aren’t falling for it again.
Our optimism was crushed in Berkeley, and the way we see it, it will take a miracle for the Sun Devils to win the needed four games.
Sometimes teams just aren’t very good. But this one should be. There is too much talent and too much potential on the roster to be a 3-4 team that continually hurts itself with penalties and stupid mistakes.
Where does the blame fall for the latest let down? Some would say it falls on coach Dennis Erickson. Maybe Erickson isn’t doing enough to create a disciplined atmosphere. Maybe he isn’t calling the right plays. Or maybe he isn’t lighting a fire under his players enough to close out wins.
Others would say it falls on the players, some of whom seem at times to not care if they win or lose.
Others still would say it’s just bad luck. That might be believable for a few games, but not when a repeated pattern of undisciplined play and sloppiness characterizes a team with all the pieces to compete in one of the nation’s most talented conferences.
Ultimately, who’s to blame doesn’t matter. Finding the source of continued losing and unfulfilled potential wouldn’t fix what’s happened this season — or the two before that.
What makes such a frustrating season even worse is the affect it has on the program. ASU is doing a lot in its effort to establish a tradition around athletics, and this kind of season is simply counterproductive to that end.
We’ve said it before, though, that tradition isn’t something that is built on money, free tailgates or pep rallies. It’s built on winning.
With the implementation of the Pac-12 and a new atmosphere of opportunities coming next season, the ASU football team would be well served to figure out what kind of team it is right now: one that wins games or one that could win games.
