Coming off an emotionally intense win last week against No. 13 Texas Tech, ASU was unable to continue its momentum in a demoralizing loss to Houston Saturday night.
The Sun Devils were penalized a season-high of 12 times for 76 yards in a loss that encapsulated much of the Devils' struggles all season.
"The facts are: We lost the turnover battle, we had too many penalties, we lost field position and we couldn't stop the plus-one run game," head coach Kenny Dillingham said.
One of the more impactful penalties was a touchdown caught by redshirt senior tight end Chamon Metayer that would've cut ASU's deficit to 10, but the play was called back due to an illegal shift on ASU.
A missed field goal by redshirt senior Jesus Gomez later in the drive would hold the Sun Devils scoreless and the Cougars with all of the momentum.
"Just unfortunate, we can't have it," Dillingham said. "That's on myself to not let those things happen."
After crediting last week's win to an increase in intensity and physicality, the Sun Devils remained largely stagnant all night on both sides of the ball.
"There are some things we (have) to fix as players," senior linebacker Keyshaun Elliott said. "Play violent, play physical and people all being on the same page and being in the right gaps."
The bulk of the penalties came on the defensive side of the ball, with nine total for 56 yards, allowing Houston to continue long drives and kill the clock. Three of the defensive penalties came on punts and kickoffs, handicapping the maroon and gold offense with poor field position.
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Special teams have been a nagging problem all season for ASU, and the trend continued against Houston.
"It's a combination of everything ... We're moving people around, but in season, there's only so much you can do from that standpoint," Dillingham said on the struggles with special teams.
With poor field position and negative plays, the Sun Devil offense struggled to move the ball and was shut out for the first three quarters.
"It was a multitude of things," redshirt senior wide receiver Malik McClain said. "We need to stay on the field on third downs, and we have to score in the red zone. That's our Achilles' heel right now."
McClain was one of the lone standouts for ASU, going for 159 yards on seven receptions, stepping up in place of the injured Jordyn Tyson.
To add insult to an already banged-up Sun Devil team, senior defensive back Myles Rowser was ejected due to targeting in the third quarter on a bang-bang play in the red zone.
Rowser will be ineligible to play in the first half of next week's game against Iowa State as ASU travels to Ames, Iowa to try and turn its season back around.
Edited by Jack McCarthy, Senna James and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at eapache3@asu.edu.
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