ASU can right the ship against Eastern Michigan

ASU can come back from a disappointing loss to #11 Oklahoma State

Arizona State entered the Sept. 10 matchup with a 28.8% chance of victory according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. The ASU offense moved the ball well through the first quarter and climbed up to a nearly 40% shot at winning the game after a Carter Brown field goal gave them a 3-0 advantage. This was before a small series of implosions allowed Oklahoma St. to take a lead they would never relinquish.

Mental errors were truly the demise of the Sun Devils on Saturday. There were opportunities in the 4Q to make defensive stops and regain the lead that were squandered by blown coverages on two 31 and 14-yard touchdown passes that sealed the loss.

ASU only turned the ball over once, but ten penalties resulted in a loss of 95 yards and was one of the largest contributing factors to the offensive breakdown after a promising start.

Sun Devils can’t allow EMU to be a trap game

Compared head-to-head ASU and EMU should be in different classes of collegiate competition. Arizona State competes in what is still considered a power conference, the Pac-12, and Eastern Michigan is in the relatively weaker Mid-American Conference.

However, the risk of a trap game is always there with “lesser” opponents particularly when the next games for ASU include #14 Utah and #7 USC. Looking ahead to either of these games could put the Sun Devils in a riskier spot than they need to be in a game that ESPN’s FPI gives them a 94.2% chance of winning.

In two games, EMU has held their opponents (Eastern Kentucky and Louisiana) scoreless in the first quarter. Head coach Chris Creighton has also led his teams to surprise Power Five wins in 2017, 2018, and 2019 against Rutgers, Purdue, and Illinois respectively.

The craziness of college football should be proof enough that no win is guaranteed and the EMU Eagles are certainly not entering the game with a defeated attitude, they will play ASU hard and it will be interesting to see how the Sun Devils respond.

As Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards put it:

“So that’s the last thing we can do is worry about (Utah and USC). We need to worry about right now, we need to get another win. We just lost a game. You don’t want to start doing that. You got to keep going. We’ll make them understand, now they have to go play. One thing I can’t do is play. I can give them all the information but I can’t play for them. All I can do is get them to the game and from there, we gotta go.” Herm Edwards – arizonasports.com

The ASU offense could put it together

Three players had their best games as Sun Devils on Saturday.

• Running back Xazavian Valladay broke out for 118 yards on 21 carries, including a 42-yarder, and got into the endzone.
• Wide receiver Giovanni Sanders surprised with a team-leading 94 yards on 3 receptions that included a huge 73-yard bomb
• Wide receiver Elijhah Badger had 91 yards on 6 receptions with a touchdown in the 4Q that got the Sun Devils within 3 points of the Cowboys

After so many wide receivers left the program during the offseason, there were a lot of question marks at that position. It seems like Sanders and Badger might be able to provide a spark there and give QB Emory Jones some reliable targets as the season progresses.

Transfer running back Xazavian Valladay has been living up to expectations and he looks like he is capable of carrying a bell-cow load and continue the long tradition of great Arizona State running backs.

Sun Devils need to look good this Saturday

With two big in-conference games coming up, ASU needs to look good on Saturday. This is a great opportunity to right the ship and get valuable reps in before facing what is probably the toughest pair of games in the 2022 season.

Coming out of this matchup feeling good and seeing offensive and defensive progress, as well as cleaning up mental errors, could go a long way toward potential upsets of Utah and USC in the coming weeks.