Overshadowed by a certain 6-foot-8 inch two-sport athlete who had one of the best games in recent years from the quarterback position for ASU football, sophomore running back Cameron Marshall had one of his biggest games of the season on Friday, rushing for 147 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown.
Marshall is averaging nearly six yards per carry on the season, and along with freshman Deantre Lewis, has given the Sun Devils offense a complementary threat to its passing game.
“[Marshall] is just getting better all the time, and he has been a pleasant surprise for us this year,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “The more opportunities he gets, the better he gets. The thing about Cameron is that he is pretty big, 215-220 pounds and he is very strong in there.
“And then again he has good feet and he can run fast. He does have that speed and you probably saw that against UCLA on that long run that he made. He is just getting the feel of catching the ball and becoming a better player [and] a better pass protector now that he has been playing quite a bit.”
The Sun Devils rank 79th in the country in rushing and 12th in passing, though much of their passing game functions as the run. According to Erickson, in Noel Mazzone’s offensive design, the passing game opens up holes for the running game.
“We do it a little differently,” Erickson said. “We throw it first and when they take people out of the box we try to run it. We don’t have to run it for a lot of yards, but you have to be effective so people have to worry about it.”
Special circumstances
Erickson addressed the state of the special teams on Monday, a unit that has been both spectacular and dreadful during the 2010 campaign.
“Actually, I think we have played fairly well on special teams if you look at the overall view,” Erickson said. “We have had a couple punts blocked, which you never want to have happen. Probably the biggest thing that jumps out at you is the two [point after attempts] we have had blocked. That kind of trumps everything when you look at the outcome of a couple football games because of it. They jump out at you more than the three kick-off returns for touchdowns just because they have come at critical times during critical games.”
Sophomore wide receiver Jamal Miles was the third ASU returner on the season to take a kick to the house when he went 99 yards against UCLA. For his efforts, Miles was named Pac-10 Conference special teams Player of the Week.
Getting Attention
Sophomore quarterback Brock Osweiler was named the FBS National Performer of the Week by the College Football Performance Awards ahead of Heisman Trophy-hopefuls Cam Newton of Auburn and Andrew Luck of Stanford. Osweiler, who came off the bench in relief of a concussed redshirt junior Steven Threet, was also named Pac-10 offensive Player of the Week.
Osweiler, who was named starter for the team’s Thursday season finale against UA, completed 27 of 36 passes with four touchdowns and led ASU to a 55-34 comeback win against UCLA.
“One of the best relief performances I have had and you never know until you see it,” Erickson said during Monday’s press conference. “He came in and made throws that were probably more accurate than you make when you are thinking about making throws. He got rid of the football and did everything that we have been asking him to do. Like I said before, coming off the bench and starting now, it is a little different game. It will be very interesting to see what he does.”
Erickson said that it was Osweiler’s preparedness as a back up that was key in his performance.
“The thing that he has done more than anything is that he has stayed on top of things when he was a backup,” Erickson said. “Coming off that back injury he had, he has really focused on what he needed to do and it really paid off.”
Erickson indicated that Threet, who suffered his second concussion of the season and who missed practice Saturday and Monday, might not be available for action on Thursday. Erickson planned to speak to doctors about Threet’s condition.
Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu
