Maybe the ASU offense had its coming out party on Saturday.
Maybe it took advantage of a defense that played pretty basic football.
Or maybe the offense was just plain tired of being pushed around.
Whatever the case, junior quarterback Brock Osweiler and the first offensive unit dominated play in the annual spring game in front of a crowd of 6,400 at Sun Devil Stadium.
Frankly, they couldn’t be stopped.
The Sun Devils’ first team offense scored touchdowns on each of its first four possessions and five of its six total possessions to dominate the defense 92-26.
The game featured different ways to accumulate points, but they didn’t even need to keep score to know that the offense was the clear-cut winner.
“It’s probably as good of performance offensively we’ve had since I've been the coach here,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “So that's good. That’s a real, real positive.”
While it doesn’t count for a win in the standings, it gives Osweiler and the offense a huge shot in the arm heading into offseason workouts.
“Anytime you can leave spring ball on a high note, that can carry you all the way through summer and into fall camp,” Osweiler said. “The Arizona game, I carried that through winter workout sessions and into spring ball. Now we have something to build upon, keep getting better and we'll be alright next year.”
Osweiler hooked up with junior running back Cameron Marshall for a touchdown pass on the game’s opening possession. A drive later, Osweiler delivered a strike to senior wide receiver Gerell Robinson for another score.
Then it was Kyle Middlebrooks catching a touchdown, then a beautiful throw and catch from Osweiler to senior wide receiver George Bell for a score.
Finally, senior wide receiver Aaron Pflugrad joined the fun, catching touchdown pass number five from Osweiler.
In all, ASU accumulated 601 yards of total offense.
Osweiler played terrifically, completing 17-of-22 passes for 237 yards and the five touchdowns, all without a single turnover.
“I'm really proud of Brock,” Marshall said. “He always does a great job and always amazes me. He goes above and beyond what he's supposed to do. I just think we're going to be great and he's going to lead this team to where we need to be.”
All this was accomplished without two of the offense’s biggest playmakers, in wide receiver Mike Willie and running back Deantre Lewis, who won’t return until the fall.
It’s another encouraging sign, but Osweiler took it a step further and said ASU is going to have the top offense in the Pac-12.
“Defenses are going to have a lot of trouble this year,” he said. “They can try to stop one guy or maybe two guys, but we have three or four more to throw at them. I couldn't be more happy with how the offense came out and performed today.”
“It's a group that has worked their butt off the entire offseason and into spring ball. I'm so proud of those guys and I'm looking forward to the season.”
While the offense dominated play, the normally dominant defense played poorly.
The offense changed up its signals so that the defense didn’t know what was coming and Erickson admitted they played very “vanilla” and didn’t blitz.
Regardless, Erickson thinks it can be a wake-up call for the defense.
“The other thing it tells you is be ready to play when you line up,” Erickson said. “If you're not ready to play, I don't care if it's a scrimmage or a game, you better be ready to play. The game is about emotion.”
Erickson did get exactly what he wanted out of the spring game, an encouraging performance from his offense, something that has been few and far between in recent spring scrimmages.
The Sun Devils had high expectations entering spring practice and despite a few key injuries, there should be no reason to lower them.
“[I learned] we have a chance to be really good,” Erickson said. “We have a lot of talent out there. We missed a lot of guys because of injuries on both sides of the football. If we just keep improving and we keep doing the things that we're supposed to over the summer, if we have a good fall camp, there is no reason we shouldn't have a good year.”
“It is a group that has been through a lot together. It's their time. Getting this program turned around and in the right direction is their number one goal.”
Injury Update
ASU suffered just two injuries of note during the spring game.
Redshirt freshman cornerback Devan Spann suffered a partially separated shoulder on Bell’s touchdown catch and did not return. It is not expected to be anything major.
Junior running back James Morrison left the scrimmage after a hard hit from sophomore cornerback Osahon Irabor along the sidelines. He suffered a right knee sprain, which is also not believed to be serious.
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
