Junior defensive tackle Jaxon Hood tips a pass on a 3rd down to force a Stanford punt in the 4th quarter of the game against Stanford on Oct. 18. ASU defeated Stanford 26-10. (Photo by Andrew Ybanez)It's no secret the ASU defense hadn't performed in its first up to the standards set in the previous two seasons under coach Todd Graham.
The Sun Devils were giving up 31.4 points and more than 450 yards per game. Graham knew that needed to change. Even before the USC game, the third-year ASU head coach was thinking about making changes to his defense.
However, Graham had been switching things up all season. But most of those came early on and in the secondary and at Devilbacker. In the two weeks prior to Stanford, Graham began to make changes in the front seven.
"I kind of felt like something clicked in last week," Graham said. "I feel like we made some good adjustments over the bye week."
Many were schematic shake ups specifically designed for the Cardinal's power attack. ASU worked in redshirt junior Mo Latu at defensive tackle, next to junior Jaxon Hood, giving ASU two 300-plus pound players in the middle of its line. Redshirt junior Demetrius Cherry took the place of sophomore Ami Latu.
Perhaps the most important move was that of redshirt junior Antonio Longino to Will linebacker, though. Longino wasn't able to separate himself from the rest of the mediocre crop of Devilbackers, a position Graham used sparingly against Stanford, instead opting for an additional lineman.
"We just went with a bigger lineup, a more physical lineup," Graham said. "Trying to take some pressure off the backend."
And not only did it help take pressure off the secondary, the backend helped create pressure up front, too. Both redshirt junior Lloyd Carrington and redshirt senior Damarious Randall recorded sacks of Stanford senior quarterback Kevin Hogan.
The Stanford gunslinger was under duress more than any other quarterback the Sun Devils have faced, despite facing the best offensive line to date.
Somewhat ironically, Longino got into the backfield more against Stanford than he did in any other game, despite playing at Will, rather than the natural rushing position of Devilbacker. The JuCo transfer also closed well on runs, resulting in him leading the team in tackles, with eight, including one for loss.
Although freshman Kweishi Brown wasn't a new addition to the starting lineup, lining up as usual opposite Carrington, it'd be doing him and the Sun Devils a disservice not mentioning his play. The freshman corner played outstanding defense -- much of it against dangerous senior receiver Ty Montgomery -- and broke up five passes, which accounted for a quarter of Hogan's incompletions.
As he should have, Graham loved what he saw from Brown, whom Graham works closely with in practice. Graham is closest with his cornerbacks because that's the position group he coaches the most on the defense, but he's seemed to be especially close with Brown, the way he's talked about him. If he didn't already have the No. 2 corner spot locked down, he does now.
Brown and Longino were just a part of the Sun Devils' dominating performance on Saturday. ASU beat Stanford at its own game, and it outplayed the Cardinal in every aspect of it. Redshirt junior Mike Bercovici was better than Hogan. ASU's receivers were better than Stanford's. Junior D.J. Foster nearly out-rushed Stanford on his own. The defense was more physical than Stanford's. And what was expected to be the largest discrepency was, though it was in the opposite direction. ASU's special teams not only held Montgomery in check, it also forced two turnovers, while getting solid returns from redshirt senior Kyle Middlebrooks.
"For us to go out tonight, and dominate and team that has dominated us," Graham said. "It's a great, great night to be a Sun Devil ...
"People came into tonight talking about their defense (and) left talking about ours; came in talking about their special teams (and) left talking about ours."
Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EvanWebeck
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