Seven games down, possibly seven more to go.
Limping into a bye after a loss creates plenty of time to second-guess the season to date.
There’s no question the ASU football team has a bitter taste in its mouth after Saturday’s 41-27 loss to then-No. 9 Oregon.
But it’s not all bad. Not by a long shot.
Even if the No. 24 Sun Devils (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12) would’ve defeated the Ducks, they still needed to win out, plus have UO beat No. 7 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. to host the Pac-12 title game.
In other words, ASU’s loss Saturday didn’t change much.
If anything, it gave the team motivation and experience if the Ducks do end up winning the North and host the conference championship game in December.
“Obviously we weren’t happy with the result,” junior quarterback Brock Osweiler said. “But our goals haven’t changed. We want to win every single game. That is our absolute focus, to win the South.”
And that objective is very attainable.
The Sun Devils will be favored in each of their remaining five regular season games, with a chance to tack on two postseason games.
Their only two away games left are against UCLA and Washington State, teams ASU outscored 97-34 last season, although both programs are much improved.
“We have a lot to play for,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “We got to get back and correct some of those things next week. Then, get ready to play our last five football games.”
Obviously the bye week will be devoted to improve some of the areas ASU has struggled in.
The most noticeable item from Saturday was the ongoing struggle to play disciplined.
The Sun Devils were flagged eight times for 95 yards, and are currently ranked No. 119 in the nation in penalty yards per game at 76.4. Erickson admitted after the game that ASU can’t beat elite opponents like UO with so many self-inflicted mistakes like that.
The Sun Devils had the lead in the third quarter Saturday with the Ducks’ starting quarterback and running back out, but allowed UO to drive 68 yards in a minute and 50 seconds on its next possession to regain an advantage it wouldn’t surrender the rest of the night.
On ASU’s next three drives after the Ducks went up 28-24, the offense ran 11 plays and gained a net total of three yards.
Taking advantage of golden opportunities against upper-echelon foes like UO is a must.
But the most critical part of the next 11 days without a game for the Sun Devils will be getting healthier.
After suffering an injury on the first play against Illinois, sophomore defensive end Junior Onyeali hasn’t played since.
He practiced individually last week and is expected to be ready for the next matchup with Colorado.
Sophomore left tackle Evan Finkenberg hurt his knee against Oregon State but is getting closer as well.
And then there’s the always talked-about question of if and when ASU redshirt senior cornerback Omar Bolden could make a return.
“We have a lot of guys banged up,” senior linebacker Shelly Lyons said. “We have to make sure that we really utilize this week off. We have to make sure that we get healthy because we need the full team to finish the final games.”
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
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