Only two weeks ago ASU coach Dennis Erickson fielded light-hearted questions regarding his team’s bowl-eligibility so early in the season.
Fourteen days and two disappointing losses later, he responded Monday to questions about his job security.
“I can’t worry about that,” Erickson said. “The administration has been very supportive. We’re all trying to accomplish the same thing right now, and that’s to beat the University of Arizona more than anything.”
The bright side for the fifth-year coach is the Sun Devils can still conceivably reach the Rose Bowl with three straight victories. They just need to wake up from their November snooze.
“I still look at the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “It’s not totally gone but we have to worry about ourselves, that’s the most important thing.”
Helping Erickson’s cause is the maintained support from his players, which hasn’t wavered despite the rough waters.
“Obviously, you read things and hear things and for us, as a group, that's not what we want,” ASU senior defensive tackle Bo Moos said. “We don't feel that way at all. We feel as though we have to take responsibility for what happened last weekend.”
The tricky part for ASU is to not get caught up in the speculation. Bouncing back from two unexpected losses to play an in-state rival with the season on the line is tough enough.
“I’d be lying if I said we weren’t aware of it, because we are,” ASU junior quarterback Brock Osweiler said. “We’re aware but that’s not the major concern. You can’t have things like that on your mind.”
Road doesn’t rule
When the Sun Devils traveled to Salt Lake City in early October and defeated a quality Utah opponent in decisive fashion, the team seemed to assert it could win consistently on the road.
Since that 35-14 victory, ASU has played three games away from Sun Devil Stadium and it’s lost all of them with plenty of self-inflicted mistakes in each.
The defeats came to then-No. 9 Oregon 41-27, UCLA 29-28 and Washington State 37-27.
“To me it’s more of a mental thing than anything,” Erickson said. “We just have to find a way to be more focused. We’ve been there. We just can’t get over the top and win those football games.”
On the other hand, ASU is a perfect 5-0 at home, beating the visitors by a combined score of 211-100. The lowest amount of points the Sun Devils scored at home this season was 35.
“There’s something to say for just being at home,” Osweiler said. “It’s the normal home field advantage stuff, you have the crowd behind you and you’re playing on a field you know. Hopefully we can continue to do that and protect our house.”
Injury update
ASU freshman cornerback Rashad Wadood tore his ACL Saturday and will be sidelined the rest of the reason. Erickson said that was the only significant injury suffered against the Cougars.
Even though the loss of Wadood hurts the depth of the already thinly lined Sun Devil defense, Erickson isn’t using injuries as an explanation for the unit’s poor play against UCLA and WSU.
“That’s an excuse,” he said. “We’ve had the injuries and guys have stepped up and played, but we just haven’t played very well the last couple of weeks on defense. That’s the bottom line.”
Practice closed
Media availability for the week leading up to the Territorial Cup game is typically different than any other week in the season. This year, however, ASU decided to close its practices for the first time since Erickson has been coach for the rivalry game.
“We need to focus and do the things that we need to do, that’s the only reason for doing it,” Erickson said.
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
