No. 19 ASU football returns home for potential shootout vs. Oregon State
Three games remain in the regular season for No. 19 ASU football.
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Three games remain in the regular season for No. 19 ASU football.
On the opening possession of the ASU men’s basketball team’s game against Miami (Ohio) Tuesday night, redshirt sophomore point guard Jahii Carson nailed a deep 3-pointer at the top of the key.
Herb Sendek was all smiles when he was asked to reminisce about his coaching days at Miami (Ohio).
At this point of the year last season, ASU football had just lost its second road game in a row at USC, fell to a 5-5 record and had already abandoned hope of winning the Pac-12 South.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — What a difference one quarter makes in football.
All offseason, the ASU men’s basketball players talked about how their minds are set on making the NCAA Tournament this season. Beginning Friday, the Sun Devils will start their audition for a trip to the Big Dance when ASU hosts Maryland-Baltimore County in its season opener. ASU coach Herb Sendek is always wary of how long and gruesome a season can be. Still, his team can’t let up, as Sendek said there are “seasons within a season,” and that every part is important. “You have to understand that the college basketball season is a marathon,” Sendek said. “We’ll be talking about games here even next week, and you’ll hear people say, ‘Well, how is that going to affect our bid?’” To prepare for that, Sendek has challenged his players physically and mentally over preseason practice. “What we’re focusing our team on right now is just understanding what it takes to win and what constitutes winning plays,” he said. “It’s not just the spectacular, but it’s the simple, basic things, the fundamentals, the attention to great detail. Those are the things we’re really trying to zero in on as we approach Friday’s game.” UMBC finished with an 8-23 record last season. Senior forwards Brett Roseboro and Chase Plummer anchor the Retrievers from the frontcourt and averaged a combined 21.7 points and 12.7 rebounds per game in 2012-13. Sendek usually sets a game plan tailored to ASU’s opponent, but it’s difficult to do so for the first game of the season. “The one thing about the first game of the year is that you come in like blind mice,” Sendek said. “It’s difficult. You could watch last year’s tape but not everybody does the same thing as they did a year ago, and (there are) personnel changes. You could look at how different we are a year ago in terms of our personnel. Hopefully, you have a good enough fundamental base that you can adapt to whatever the opponent does.” ASU will use a lineup of redshirt sophomore guard Jahii Carson, senior guard Jermaine Marshall, junior wing Shaquielle McKissic, senior forward Jonathan Gilling and senior center Jordan Bachynski, Sendek said Wednesday. Marshall will be starting his first game as a Sun Devil, but he had a couple hurdles to jump through over the offseason. The transfer from Penn State didn’t arrive until August, because he needed to graduate from his previous school. Marshall also battled valley fever last month and sat out an entire week of practice, setting him back in his conditioning. Marshall said the final practices before the opener have been great for him and he assured the media he should be fine on Friday. “My wind is getting back, but right now, I would say I’m around 85 percent,” he said. “I’m never going to be comfortable where I am, period, but I’m not comfortable with where my wind is. Come game day, I won’t be thinking about that.” All eyes will most likely be on Carson in the last season opener of his ASU career, but he said he feels more excited than anything. “It’s just the start of the season for me,” Carson said. “I’m ready. I’m ready to get things jumping off. Friday’s just going to kick off just more of a bigger excitement for us, for me and the whole coaching staff. We have a new team, so we’re ready to see what we can really show.” Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
Redshirt junior quarterback Taylor Kelly and senior running back Marion Grice have emerged as an effective duo in the ASU football backfield as of late. For the month of October, Grice picked up 394 rushing yards in four games and averaged 6.1 yards per carry, up 2.2 yards from September. Kelly has scored five touchdowns in the past three games and has recorded 209 rushing yards. He didn’t run the ball as effectively in the first half of the season, but he believes he’s now riding a groove. “I’m confident,” Kelly said. “I don’t know why. It’s kind of starting to hit me. I guess I kind of just went away from (running) from the beginning, and now that I’ve done it, it’s starting to become second nature." Both have been getting it done largely due to running the zone read. The zone read is an option play that is decided in the “mesh,” or the area when the quarterback motions a handoff to the running back after a snap in the shotgun formation. The quarterback reacts to how the opponent’s defensive line (typically focusing on a certain defensive end) attacks the run. If the defensive line commits to stopping the running back, the quarterback can pull the ball and run the open lane. If the quarterback sees the defensive line containing him from the outside, he can give the ball to the running back to the inside. In offensive coordinator Mike Norvell’s scheme, Kelly also has the option to throw a quick pass to an outside receiver if he decides to keep the ball. In the game against Washington State last Thursday, the Cougars crashed inside and chased after Grice in several instances, leaving Kelly open. Grice didn’t score, but Kelly had two touchdowns from running the option. “For the defensive end to make that split-second decision on who is he going to take between me or Marion, it’s a hard one,” Kelly said. Sometimes, the zone read is so potent that Grice often jokes with Kelly for not giving him the touchdown. He expects to take the ball near the goal line every time, but he has full trust in Kelly if he decides to pull the ball away. “It’s great that I have a quarterback that basically can do almost the same thing I can do and run,” Grice said. “It puts pressure on the defense. They don’t know which one of us is going to run the ball. If they’re going to take me, Taylor is going to make them pay. If they take Taylor, I can make them pay.” Grice and Kelly both said they’ve been working every day on their chemistry in the zone read since the summer. “Every day has been good development,” Grice said. “In our skill development, we work together going full speed, and we just now got a knack for it.” Additional notes: – Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jaelen Strong missed Wednesday’s practice because of a personal matter. Coach Todd Graham said Strong will return to the team tonight to make up for the work he missed in practice. – Graham said the team is intending to redshirt freshman safety Marcus Ball, who has not played yet this season because of a shoulder injury he sustained at Camp Tontozona in August. – Graham called Wednesday’s practice the best Wednesday practice the team has had all season. – Interim athletic director Dr. James Rund informally chatted with the media after Wednesday’s practice, a day after it was announced Steve Patterson is leaving ASU for Texas. Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
To this day, Todd Graham remains gracious of how Dennis Erickson passed on the ASU head football coaching job back in December of 2011.
Richard Smith couldn’t afford to drop another pass. He wasn’t going to let it happen again last Thursday against Washington State.
If there was a costume to describe ASU football on Halloween night, it’d be that it looked like a home team outside of Sun Devil Stadium.
There’s a new sense of urgency going around the ASU men’s basketball program.
As ASU football heads into the bottom half of the season, three of its next five games are on the road.
Really, ESPN? Your NBA writers ranked Kobe Bryant as the 25th-best player in the league?
The Sun Devil football team finally has a bye week after six toiling weeks against opponents who have a combined record of 27-14.
A look back at ASU’s 53-24 win over Washington Saturday afternoon:
With as many offensive weapons as No. 20 Washington has, most people expected the Huskies to challenge ASU to a shootout on the gridiron.
Quarterbacks: B Redshirt junior Taylor Kelly ranks sixth in the nation in passing yards this season with 327.5, but he hasn’t been as efficient as he was last year. Kelly’s quarterback rating, which was 159.9 in 2012, is down to 148.9 in 2013. His completion percentage is down to 62 percent after throwing 67.1 percent last year. Still, Kelly has 16 passing touchdowns for the season and has been hurting secondaries with the back-shoulder fade. ASU has yet to come up with a win on the road, and it’s imperative that Kelly replicates his comfortable performances at home to games played on the road. Running Backs: B Senior Marion Grice may lead the nation in scoring with 15 touchdowns, but the running backs overall have struggled getting a rhythm going on the ground. ASU is averaging almost 50 yards less this year in rushing yards per game with 154.3. Sophomore D.J. Foster has just 100 rushing yards on 21 carries, but he has the second-most receiving yards on the team with 334 on 32 catches and a touchdown. ASU is also getting a nice contribution from redshirt junior Deantre Lewis, who has been finding more playing time with the first team as the season progresses. The running backs have still been a vital part of the offense, but they must pick up more yards on the ground to keep the offense on the field. Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: B+ There’s no doubt about it, Jaelen Strong has given the offense a huge boost in the first half of the season. The redshirt sophomore is averaging 113 receiving yards per game and has four touchdowns on the season. He’s drawn several defensive pass interference penalties so far and single coverage seems to be futile against him. Outside Strong, the team is still looking for other receivers to step up. Redshirt senior Kevin Ozier and redshirt sophomore Richard Smith, the team’s expected strongest returning wideouts, have been quiet so far. However, freshman Cameron Smith has slowly worked his way into the starting lineup after going through fall camp with a foot injury. Senior tight end Chris Coyle and redshirt junior De’Marieya Nelson have a pair of touchdowns as tight ends, but Coyle admitted this week that his chemistry with Kelly hasn’t been spot-on lately. Offensive Line: C Some games the offensive line shows up, other games it doesn’t. It had a solid performance against USC and didn’t allow the Trojans to sack Kelly, but the Fighting Irish got to him six times the next week. To the offensive line’s credit, it went up against some of the most physical defensive lines in the country in Stanford, Wisconsin, USC and Notre Dame. Still, the line has been the weakest part of ASU’s high-powered offense and must improve in giving Kelly more time in the pocket and opening gaps for the running backs. Defensive Line: B- This group hasn’t been a complete disappointment, but ASU fans haven’t seen as many sacks as they wanted to see in the first six games. Not including redshirt junior linebacker Carl Bradford (who often lines up at the line of scrimmage), the defensive line only has 3.5 sacks on the season. Stopping the run also still seems like a problem this season, as the defensive line is partially responsible for giving up 168.8 rushing yards per game. In his six games, redshirt senior defensive tackle Will Sutton still hasn’t found a way to overcome double teams and come up with a signature performance. Redshirt senior defensive end Davon Coleman stepped up nicely when sophomore nose tackle Jaxon Hood was injured for several games, but the rest of the defensive line as a unit struggled without Hood. Linebackers: B- Senior linebacker Chris Young leads the team in tackles with 41 from the Will position and Bradford has been finding his groove recently with eight tackles in the last two games and 1.5 sacks against Colorado last week. Other than that, the Sun Devils haven’t had any consistency at the other two linebacker positions and continue to rotate a number of players, most recently redshirt freshman safety Laiu Moeakiola. The linebackers need to improve in tackling and help the defensive line in sealing gaps and stopping the run. Secondary: A- The secondary has been the clear bright spot on defense. Whenever ASU has needed a critical stop, the “No Fly Zone” has consistently delivered by getting big interceptions and giving the Sun Devils their momentum back. The only game in which the secondary’s pass coverage looked vulnerable was against Notre Dame. But even then, redshirt senior defensive back Osahon Irabor came up with a pick-six that put ASU back in the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Redshirt junior safety Damarious Randall has emerged as a factor at field safety, getting 17 tackles against the Fighting Irish alone.This group still needs to send more help on stopping big runs, though. Special Teams: D+ This has been ASU’s Achilles' heel, and coach Todd Graham knows it. The only reasons why it’s not failing completely is because freshman kicker Zane Gonzalez has hit seven-straight field goals and redshirt junior kicker Alex Garoutte’s ability to boot kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks has helped limit opponents' starting position. Other than that, everything else on special teams has been a mess. The Sun Devils sit dead last in the nation in punting with an average of 34.4 yards per punt. Junior punter Dom Vizzare muffed a snap against Wisconsin and freshman punter Matt Haack got a punt blocked against Stanford. The kickoff coverage has been spotty and is fortunate a return hasn’t been taken back for a touchdown so far. Overall Grade: B The Sun Devils end the first half with a decent 4-2 (2-1 Pac-12) record and stand second in the Pac-12 South. Although they’ve faced elite competition early, their record could be at least one win better had they not made some fatal mistakes against Notre Dame. Their talent is still there, but so are the questions. Like can the Sun Devils limit their recurring mistakes as they head into six games of conference play? And can ASU finally come up with some road wins? Offensive MVP: Jaelen Strong Defensive MVP: Osahon Irabor Most Improved: Damarious Randall Satisfactory: Causing turnovers, pass coverage, winning at home, playing a quick tempo style on offense and field goal kicking. Unsatisfactory: Special teams (other than field goal kicking), stopping the run, special teams, ability to win on the road, special teams, depth at wide receiver, special teams, open-field tackling and special teams.Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
It didn’t take long for ASU football to face another elite team after its tough four-game stretch.
Eight weeks into the college football season, the carousel at ASU football’s linebacker spots continues.
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