The ASU football team arguably could have finished the 2010 season with seven, eight or maybe even nine wins.
The Sun Devils were a few plays here and there away from a potential trip to the Alamo Bowl.
Five of ASU’s six losses were by a combined 20 points, with three coming to teams that will be playing in BCS bowl games.
However, close didn’t cut it.
The Sun Devils were forced to play two Football Championship Subdivision teams when San Jose State backed out of their contracted matchup for a bigger financial gain from another school. That meant ASU needed seven wins to get to a bowl game.
With six wins, a waiver was filed with the NCAA to cite playing two FCS teams as circumstances outside of ASU’s control.
In the end, the NCAA wasn’t buying it and denied ASU bowl eligibility meaning the Sun Devils will be home for bowl season for the third consecutive year.
While there won’t be a bowl game to look forward to, the Sun Devils finished their season with a double overtime win over UA in Tucson.
“We would have liked to have played another game, but we didn't win seven games, that's the bottom line,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “We did finish the season like we wanted. I'll take [the UA game] over any bowl game."
After a long competition that dragged into fall camp, redshirt junior Steven Threet was eventually named the starting quarterback over sophomore Brock Osweiler.
Threet ended up starting 11 of the team’s 12 contests and finished with 18 touchdown passes. However, his inconsistency also led to 16 interceptions, the most by an ASU quarterback since 1978.
Threet suffered a concussion early in the second-to-last game of the season against UCLA, opening the door for Osweiler.
Osweiler took advantage, tossing four touchdowns in a career day. When Threet wasn’t ready to return against UA, Osweiler led the Sun Devils to victory, earning game MVP honors.
All this does is open up another, probably more heated quarterback competition heading into next season.
Look for this one to be determined much earlier. Erickson recently stated he wants to have a starting quarterback in place by the end of spring practice.
While the quarterback position will be up in the air again, ASU is set for the future at tailback.
The duo of sophomore Cameron Marshall and freshman Deantre Lewis combined to rush for 1,326 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Marshall improved greatly as the season wore on, becoming much more of a complete back. Lewis had three straight 100-yard games, but his production tailed off as the season wore on.
Having both back is a major reason for optimism for the Sun Devils. Lewis is a dynamic playmaker that will only improve from his freshman season. The same can be said for Marshall, who is a big back that has tremendous speed.
In the new spread offense, the ball was distributed to many different targets, with nobody dominating the stat sheet.
ASU will have to replace their leading receiver in catches and yards in senior Kerry Taylor. The Chandler Hamilton product caught 54 passes for 699 yards and three touchdowns.
Taylor had his best season and made a habit of getting open and catching crucial first down passes. While he will be missed, ASU returns seven players that caught more than 20 passes in 2010.
Leading that group will be seniors-to-be Mike Willie, Gerell Robinson, T.J. Simpson and Aaron Pflugrad.
The targets will be familiar with not only the new offense, but whoever will be at quarterback in 2011. ASU should feature one of the best passing games in the new Pac-12.
For the first time in quite some time, the Sun Devils found a steady group of offensive lineman and all of them will be returning.
Junior center Garth Gerhart anchored the line and had himself an All-Pac-10 caliber season. Junior Mike Marcisz and sophomore Andrew Sampson grabbed hold of the guard positions and had solid seasons.
Redshirt freshman Evan Finkenberg eventually settled in at left tackle and held his own in his first season of action.
With everyone returning, along with a few reserves, ASU’s offensive line is set to improve in 2011. With a solid core of returners all along the offense, offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone’s system could be in for a big season.
On defense, ASU didn’t live up to the giant expectations placed on its shoulders.
Some of the Sun Devils’ players set goals to be the best defense in the nation in 2010, but ASU fell to fifth in the Pac-10 Conference in total defense.
A lot of the struggles came from a lack of pass rush and some inconsistency in the secondary.
On the defensive line, true freshman Junior Onyeali helped solve some of the problems and shined in his debut season, finishing fifth in the conference with 6.5 sacks.
Junior Jamaar Jarrett broke out in 2010 and had his best season. Sophomore defensive tackle Lawrence Guy had an all-conference type season on the interior and was one of the main reasons the Sun Devils were stout against the run.
With Onyeali, Jarrett and Guy returning on the defensive line, ASU will have a solid nucleus.
At linebacker, sophomore Vontaze Burfict finished with 90 tackles, good for eighth in the Pac-10. While he battled more penalty issues, Burfict had another outstanding season and will likely be a First Team All-Pac-10 selection.
Junior Colin Parker had a break-out season in 2010 and junior Brandon Magee was his steady self. ASU doesn’t lose a thing at linebacker with Burfict, Parker, Magee returning and Shelley Lyons coming back from injury.
Sophomore Deveron Carr was having an outstanding season when he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. That opened the door for senior LeQuan Lewis and redshirt freshman Osahon Irabor to see playing time.
While Lewis is graduating, Irabor gained valuable experience and improved as the season went on. With Carr and Irabor returning, along with junior Omar Bolden, who earned second team All-Pac-10 honors from Phil Steele, ASU will have three experienced corners heading into next season.
The two safety positions were a revolving door between senior Max Tabach, junior Eddie Elder, junior Clint Floyd and sophomore Keelan Johnson.
Eventually Tabach and Elder settled into the starting roles, but both had their ups and downs.
With Tabach graduating, Elder and Floyd appear to be the favorites to start next season, but along with Johnson, all three must make improvements in order to prevent the coverage breakdowns that occurred in 2010 from happening again.
On special teams, ASU must replace kicker Thomas Weber and punter Trevor Hankins.
Weber missed seven field goals and struggled in his senior season, but shined in his finale going 5-for-5 on field goals against UA.
Freshman Alex Garoutte redshirted this season, but is the favorite to take the kicking duties.
There may not be a bigger loss on the team than Hankins. The former walk-on was one of the top punters in the nation and there is not a player on the roster ready to take over.
When you look at the names coming back next season, ASU’s future looks bright. After one of the smallest senior classes in history, a large senior class will be present next year.
Erickson will return for his fifth season in Tempe, but there will be much higher expectations with tremendous talent back on the roster.
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
