Mountain America Stadium was rocking in the first two weeks of the season. The Sun Devils were lighting up the scoreboard in the first half and taking big leads going into halftime. The following two weeks on the road, the squad struggled to get the ball rolling in the first half.
Head coach Kenny Dillingham described football as "life or death" and that fuels the adrenaline for many on the field. But, ASU has still found themselves trailing early in their last two outings, 21-7 against Texas State and 14-0 against Texas Tech, both were road games.
Meanwhile, in their first two home games of the season, they found early leads, 10-0 against Mississippi State and 27-0 against Wyoming.
After their loss against Texas Tech, junior linebacker Keyshaun Elliott gave props to the other team but also said the Sun Devils need to mesh more defensively.
"We did come out slowly, credit to them they ran some good things and they executed the plays that they needed to," Elliott said per SunDevilSource. "Defensively we got to play together and trust each other and trust the run fits. And come out hot, and not wait until the second half to come out."
The energy of the team was felt earlier on in the season. The offensive line was winning the line of scrimmage, the defense was flying around the field with confidence. But in the past two weeks, the noise surrounding the team hasn't been the same and the Sun Devils have a chance to get that noise buzzing again.
“Week two and week three opponents, their coach went into their press conference and talked about how hard we played,” Dillingham said. “The last two coaches have not said anything about how hard we played. That tells us everything we know about how we've let that slip away. But we got to get back to it.”
The hostile environment on the road also plays a huge factor. In this first half of games, ASU has found a +51 point differential while in Tempe, while being on the road they have a -7 point differential.
"Can't get caught up in the emotions being on the road, the crowd, all the non-factors," redshirt junior defensive back Xavion Alford said per SunDevilSource. "So we just got to play snap by snap. Lock into the details, lock into our keys so we can be successful."
The home-field advantage has been felt early on in the season, with the student section selling 10,000 tickets in each of the team's first two games. The trend suggests that the next game will have a completely full student section as well. At the next game, it will be easier for the Sun Devils to hear the electric roars of their fans.
The crowd noise was real in the Pac-12 a season ago, but with joining a new conference the team has to adjust to what the Big 12 brings in terms of the stadium environment. The coaching staff understands the challenges the change has had.
“The home-field advantages of this league are real,” Dillingham said. “They're absolutely real. And if you're a team that doesn't have a distinct home-field advantage, your football team is at a disadvantage in this league because there are real, real home-field advantages. That environment we played in at (Texas) Tech was a real environment.”
The stadium environments change with every game the same way the defensive schemes do. For the Sun Devils in their last two games, the offense has had to deal with a lot of intriguing but confusing defenses.
“Week one we face a four-down team,” Dillingham said. “Week two we face an odd five, three high safety. Week three we face a team that blitzes more than any other team I've played in the past five or seven years on base-downs with two-trap, good scheme, good for them. Week four odd weak side overhang. Those are the four core defenses in college football.”
The biggest teacher is experience and that's been the case for the Sun Devil offense. Seeing how Big 12 play is on the road and seeing different looks all four weeks, the team now possesses the ability to draw back and take examples from previous games.
Oct. 19 is the next chance to see if the Sun Devils can find some rhythm early in the game. For now, ASU has a two-game homestand where they can hope to get back into the win column and get back to their fast starting ways.
“The best teams get better throughout the season,” Dillingham said. “Our toughest opponents are still ahead of us. Everybody knows that. So we have to continue to improve.”
Edited by Henry Smardo, Sophia Ramirez and Madeline Schmitke.
Reach the reporter at danielr1102@gmail.com and follow @daniel_rios72 on X.
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Daniel is a senior studying sports journalism. This is his first semester with The State Press. He has also worked at WCSN, OC Riptide, 1550 Sports and AZPreps365.
