Two games on the national stage against the other top teams in the Pac-10 (I'm omitting Cal because they are just not that good) and ASU both times gets embarrassed. The Oregon game was excusable. Rudy had the bad thumb and Dennis Dixon was playing out of his head. Getting thumped by USC at home by 20 is not. Talent gap aside, there's no excuse for the poor tackling and overall shoddy defense displayed on Thanksgiving. How many times can one defense bite on a simple play action, naked bootleg? USC is getting a lot of credit for their recruiting prowess and getting their swagger back as to why they put on the clinic they did the other night but frankly some of that is attributable to ASU just not executing like they should.
Now on to the University of Tucson where I'm sure the Stoops brothers are sitting around inventing new blitz packages to throw at the Devils sorry excuse for an offensive line. I was a bit worried after Thursday night that the Devils would not be motivated for the Kitties but then I saw this quote from Erickson this morning:
"This game has nothing to do with the BCS, nothing to do with bowls, nothing to do with anything," coach Dennis Erickson said Friday. "Winning this game is more important than any bowl game. It's the University of Arizona. It's the most important game of the year."
Glad to see DE is publicly acknowledging the importance of this game. I just hope his team is better prepared to play this time around. This one also has the potential to get ugly real quick. If this team finishes 9-3 with a loss to Tucson, all the good things that happened during this season will be overshadowed by the last two weeks.
1 comment:
Here here. The Sun Devils must win on Saturday. I am ecstatic that it is showing on ESPN/ESPN2. It is about time that the PAC10 gets some national coverage. Notre Dame at 1-8 getting prime time coverage was a joke, and I am so tired of the SEC!
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