If you’re a Sun Devil fan, ASU’s 41-27 loss in Oregon on Saturday probably shook your confidence a little bit. The second half in particular might have caused you to have flashbacks to a few of last year’s gut-wrenching, we-were-in-it-for-a-while losses.
But I implore you — don’t give up hope now. Don’t desert the ASU bandwagon. Don’t write off this 2011 Sun Devil football squad just yet.
No doubt, ASU failed their biggest test of the season so far by extending their losing steak to seven in a row against Oregon. But Sun Devil fans shouldn’t forget the “It’s Time” mantra quite so quickly, because this team has still has a great opportunity to seize a birth in the Pac-12 Championship game on Dec. 2 and a subsequent spot in the Rose Bowl.
Let’s just think of Saturday’s unraveling as a test run. Sure, ASU went into Utah and dispatched the Utes with ease two weeks ago, but let’s be honest: Even if Utah didn’t turn the ball over five times, they are not even in the same realm of competition as Oregon.
The Ducks have won 20 straight games at Autzen Stadium, not to mention 15 consecutive victories over conference opponents. Everyone knew this was going to be the Sun Devil’s toughest game of 2011, yet ironically, ASU could afford to lose this contest with the way the Pac-12 divisions (as well as their schedule) are set up.
We can only hope that the Sun Devils atrocious second half was a one-time thing. If they’re truly a good team, the ASU players and coaches will build off this loss.
ASU still has a commanding lead atop the Pac-12 South, too, and the remainder of their schedule is an absolute cakewalk.
The Homecoming weekend showdown against Colorado (0-3, 1-6) on Oct. 29 should serve as a good chance for the Sun Devil benchwarmers to get some second-half reps.
Only in the Nov. 5 match-up against UCLA (2-1, 3-3) in Los Angles will the Sun Devils be challenged. The Bruins are the closest eligible school to the Sun Devils in the South division standings (thank you, Reggie Bush and other Trojan delinquents) and a win at the Rose Bowl should catapult ASU down the final leg of the season to, hopefully, the very same Rose Bowl on Jan. 2.
After UCLA, it’s the home stretch toward the Pac-12 title game, as Washington State (1-2, 3-3), Arizona (0-4, 1-5) and Cal (0-3, 3-3) all are vastly inferior to ASU. Should the Sun Devils manage to squander one of those games, then I will finally concede that they aren’t deserving of Rose Bowl hype.
The bottom line is, as much as I would have liked to see the Sun Devils topple Oregon, it was clear that they just aren’t on the Ducks’ level yet. ASU played them solid for nearly two full quarters, but then, as Oregon always seems to do, the Ducks ran away with the game. On top of that, the Ducks were missing their two top playmakers in LaMichael James and Darron Thomas, yet they still wiped the floor with ASU in the second half.
It’s back to the drawing board for the Sun Devils. While smaller enemies lurk on the near horizon, a second crack at the conference’s biggest dragon — whether that be Oregon or equally-as-dangerous Stanford — awaits on Dec. 2.
Reach the columnist at kjnewma2@asu.edu
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