He had been sacked just once in two games heading into Illinois.
But Saturday, the Illini defensive line caused massive problems for ASU junior quarterback Brock Osweiler and the protection in front of him.
No. 24 Illinois sacked Osweiler six times and forced three turnovers from the penetration its defensive front caused.
Now with No. 23 Southern California (3-0, 1-0 Pac-12) coming into town, the Trojans will likely try to mimic some of the same looks Illinois shot at Osweiler and the offensive line.
“To me it was inexperience,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “He saw some different things that he hasn't seen live. Next time he'll react to it. He did some good things, don't get me wrong. But part of it is seeing what's happening and understanding the blitzes.”
The adjustments Osweiler and the line make over this week’s practices will show itself Saturday in the outcome of ASU’s first conference game.
“I’ve looked over the game film three times now,” Osweiler said. “We’ve looked at the mistakes and I can’t go out and guarantee that they won’t happen again but I have a strong feeling we will clean them up.”
Defensive silver lining
What the ASU defense accomplished in the second half against Illinois was pretty impressive. The unit didn’t allow an Illini first down in the third quarter, and only gave up a touchdown after the ASU offense turned the ball over in its own territory.
The Sun Devils forced four three-and-outs and officially allowed Illinois to gain just 45 yards in the second half, even though that’s a little misleading since the last play of the game was a 27 yard loss for Illinois to run out the clock.
Overall, the Sun Devils allowed Illinois to accumulate 240 yards of total offense, less than half as much as the 501 yards they gave up to Missouri a week earlier.
Even though the ASU offense couldn’t capitalize on most of its opportunities to score points, it’s a step in the right direction for a defensive unit riddled with injuries, but still loaded with talent.
“The defense has been resilient,” Erickson said. “The defensive coaches have done a tremendous job of making the plan with the guys that we have on defense. I saw great improvement from our second to our third game defensively. We tackled much better.”
ASU senior safety Eddie Elder led the team in tackles with 10, while sophomore cornerback Osahon Irabor and junior linebacker Vontaze Burfict had nine each.
Injury update
The ASU defense holding the Illinois offense at bay for much of the game was made even more remarkable by the absence of one its best players.
2010 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Junior Onyeali went down very early Saturday with an apparent knee injury and didn’t return.
The sophomore defensive end had two tackles for loss and one sack in the first two games of 2011.
Onyeali will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury.
Erickson said the ASU trainers don’t believe it’s an ACL tear, but that Onyeali will definitely miss this week’s game against Southern California and probably the following game versus Oregon State.
Eddie Elder suffered a concussion late against Illinois but still might play Saturday.
“You go through the season and you're going to have injuries,” Erickson said. “But it seems like we've had them all early … obviously it affects your football team but those things happen. You just have to adjust.”
ASU junior running back Cameron Marshall hurt his ankle in the game, but came back later and is expected to play versus USC.
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
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