Five weeks ago, No. 18 ASU sat at 5-1 and was locked in 21-17 battle with No. 9 Oregon after one half of play in Eugene. I was upbeat, optimistic and, in retrospect, filled with delusions of grandeur as the Sun Devils forced a three-and-out to begin the third quarter.
The rosy feeling I had on that night of Oct. 15 is now a cold, distant memory, as the Ducks’ second half domination began to disintegrate my hopes for ASU to earn its first Rose Bowl appearance since 1997.
Three weeks later, the defeat to UCLA in Pasadena made me doubt the Sun Devils even more, and the Nov. 12 upset at the hands of lowly WSU reduced my confidence to shambles. Of course, the final blow came in Saturday’s heartbreaking loss to the rival ‘Cats, a defeat that left me feeling empty, confused and betrayed.
ASU Athletic Director Lisa Love, I didn’t think I would say it this year, but “It’s Time.” It’s time to end the DE Era.
Let me preface this head-calling by saying this: Erickson is a damn good coach. You don’t win two national titles, six conference coach of the year awards and 179 collegiate games with a mediocre football mind.
And I have always maintained that the players, not the coaching staff, should be held responsible for any lack of execution out on the gridiron. Both quarterback Brock Osweiler and defensive end Bo Moos echoed this players’ burden of responsibility at last weekend’s post-game press conference, admitting that the blame for ASU’s downward spiral in the second half of 2011 rests on the guys wearing the shoulder pads.
But the bottom line is that this whole DE-ASU relationship isn’t working out all to well for either the program’s win column or the traumatized fan base.
Erickson’s contract is good through next season, but Saturday’s showdown against Cal needs to be his last game roaming the sidelines at Sun Devil Stadium. It will cost the university half of the coach’s $1.5 million annual salary to fire him, but it’s a loss that Love & Co. must concede.
Consider: The Sun Devils have zero (0) bowl wins under Erickson, and in his one successful year in Tempe, the Sun Devils were waxed by Texas in the Holiday Bowl. Since that 10-3 season in 2007 (Erickson’s first year in Tempe), ASU is 21-26 and wallowing in mediocrity, not to mention a three-year postseason drought. Granted, the 6-5 Sun Devils are guaranteed to snap that streak, but this was the year that ASU was supposed to make a legitimate run for roses, not settle for some scrub Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
I do concede that this year’s team is much improved in a number of aspects, and that’s what makes their second-half stumble all the more gut wrenching. There’s more talent and leadership (24 seniors), and even in the wake of the recent skid, this is a group that clearly wants — and most importantly, expects — to win when they step on the football field, an intangible that ASU has lacked over the past several years.
Similarities between the 2011 Sun Devils and underachieving teams of the past persist, however, much to the chagrin of ASU fans. Erickson’s Sun Devil teams, including his current one, have been characterized by a lack of discipline (ASU is the most penalized FBS team at 81.4 YPG), an inability to close out ballgames (Illinois, UCLA, Wash. St., Arizona) and an overall inconsistency on both sides of the football.
ASU has all the tools to produce an elite D-1 football program, including, but not limited to, warm weather, nice facilities, and the big-school atmosphere and palm-tree laden campus necessary to attract recruits. And the university’s recent rebranding campaign as well as the debut of the dazzling new digs are sure giving me the impression that ASU is indeed looking to move up to the front of the college football landscape along with the Oregons, the Stanfords, and the LSUs.
The question then becomes: Would a Chip Kelley, a David Shaw or a Les Miles still be at the helm after three consecutive bowl-less seasons and a disappointing fourth? No way. So can ASU, who is striving to belong to this top tier of teams, allow Erickson to return in 2012?
No way.
Reach the columnist at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
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