In many ways, ASU football's bye week came at the perfect time.
It gave an injury-ridden group a chance to recover after achieving their best conference start since 2012, and it allowed the coaching staff extra time to address the team's struggles in red zone and short yardage situations before continuing Big 12 play on the road.
However, even with the extra week, not all Sun Devils were able to make a full recovery — namely, redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt and junior running back Kyson Brown — and ASU's offense still failed to execute on several crucial plays against No. 23 Utah.
READ MORE: ASU football falls to Utah 42-10 in one-sided affair
The Sun Devils got inside the 21-yard line twice in their first three drives against the Utes, but both resulted in field goal attempts. If they had finished those two drives the way they'd started them, the score likely would have been tied approaching halftime.
"We couldn't finish in the red zone again, which was catastrophic, and then (Utah) did and they finished with scores," head coach Kenny Dillingham said, per Sun Devil Source. "That just can't happen versus a team that is good with the lead."
This issue has become more apparent in recent weeks, but it spans much further than the Sun Devils' last two games. Over the course of the season so far, ASU's offense has only converted about 33% of third downs and just 12 of 26 their red zone drives have resulted in touchdowns.
In the upset loss to Mississippi State (MSU), what should've been the offense's last drive of the game ended on the Bulldog's one-yard line with three points instead of seven. A touchdown there would have matched the one MSU scored a minute later, keeping the game alive past regulation.
Two weeks later, against Baylor, ASU had to rely on the left leg of redshirt senior kicker Jesus Gomez on three separate drives that stalled out inside the Bears' red zone.
The story against TCU was much the same.
Two failed fourth-down attempts, one of which was on TCU's 3-yard line, saw the momentum shift right back to the Horned Frogs during the second and fourth quarters. The Sun Devils also came up short deep in the red zone twice, and once again had to settle for two field goal attempts.
Leavitt acknowledged the offense's issues with execution after the game against TCU, highlighting the Sun Devils' potential if they can figure out a way around it.
"We've got to come up with some better points," Leavitt said, per Sun Devil Athletics. "I've got to play back line more and understand window throws more in the red zone. But once it pops, it's going to be pretty fun because we should've probably put up over 45 points that game."
As the New York Giants have recently discovered, there are certain luxuries an offense can take advantage of with a player like Cam Skattebo in the backfield. Thanks to Skattebo, short yardage situations had been more of an afterthought for the Sun Devils over the last few years, but without him, it's become one of their biggest challenges.
When asked about utilizing different personnel to address the problem following the bye week, Dillingham mentioned they are looking at a variety of people, including freshman linebacker Tristan "The Baconator" Bacon, who stands at 6 feet, 1 inch tall and 240 pounds.
Dillingham stressed that the team is continuously working on a plan to improve offensive execution, and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo followed up on that with some of the fundamentals the offense needs to focus on.
"We've put ourselves in some positions that are un-advantageous to put yourselves in and (we've been) ineffective in that area," Arroyo said. "Got to win your one-on-ones, got to get creative in some ways that maybe we thought we can take advantage of."
To begin the second half of the regular season, ASU prepares to take on No. 7 Texas Tech on Oct. 18.
Edited by Alan Deutschendorf, Senna James and Pippa Fung.
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Ethan Holtzinger is a sports reporter for The State Press who has previously worked for Cronkite News and the Arizona Interscholastic Association. He is in his 2nd semester with The State Press and 5th semester at ASU.
