(Tempe, AZ) Arizona State came back home after losing to eleventh ranked Oklahoma State last Saturday basically intact with the exception of Ro Torrence starting cornerback missing the the game with an injury.
Installed as a twenty point favorite, Herm Edwards squad just needed to take care of business against Eastern Michigan and then get ready for PAC-12 play with South Division co-favorite Utah coming to the desert on the 24th.
As soon as the opening kickoff, you could already tell things weren’t as they were supposed to be.
The Eastern Michigan Eagles came in with a game plan and energy that would befuddle the Devils all night long.
the Eagles took the opening kickoff and drove down to the ASU ten yard line and hit a chip-shot field goal to take a 3-0 lead with less than four minutes gone.
What transpired in that first drive would set the standard for the entire game. The EMU offensive line created huge holes for the running game to pick up large chunks of yardage that Arizona State would never adjust to all game.
EMU’s starting quarterback Taylor Powell left the game early with a left shoulder strain and would not return. Normally that should have given the Devils an advantage.
Insert backup Austin Smith, a running quarterback who along with tailback Samson Evans made the ASU defense look helpless.
Rarely in the first half did the Eagles have a third down and long. Evans, who is in his final year chewed up over a hundred yards in the first half. The glaring takeaway is that he had never rushed for one hundred yards before in his career.
Still at halftime, the Sun Devils were only trailing by ten 24-14. With their lackluster performance in the opening half, it seemed that some halftime adjustments could steer the ship back on course, especially getting the second half kickoff.
Photo – Sun Devil Athletics
One factor the Devils never adjusted to, was the no-huddle offense that EMU ran the entire game. This prevented ASU’s defense from making in-game substitutions and the quick offense had them on their heels throughout the contest.
Eastern Michigan didn’t punt until 12:52 left in the fourth quarter. Further proof of the inept defensive effort by the Devils.
The tackling, or lack of tackling gave Eagle ball carriers both of rushing and receiving extra yards when they would slip out of the grasps of ASU defenders.
When the Devils had the ball on offense, quarterback Emory Jones, would overthrow his intended receivers or make passes that weren’t even close to be completed.
In spite of everything, ASU got within one score in the fourth quarter, only to see Evans continue to shred the defense to the tune of 259 yards. The Eagles as a team ran for a total of 316 yards.
Another major concern is still the amount of penalties Arizona State commits. Most coming at in opportune times that killed drives all night. This is completely falls on the coaches who seemed to have not prepared this team for the game.
Could the seat be getting hotter under Edwards? It was expected that ASU would have difficulty repeating their eight win season from a year ago, but the obvious lack of effort displayed by the team caused the fans to go ballistic. The crowd booed them as they left field at halftime and when the game was over. Patience seems short with Devil Nation and is expected to boil over during the upcoming week.
Now with their record at 1-2 with only a win over Big Sky Conference NAU, thing look to go from bad to worse entering conference play. Utah comes in next week after disposing of San Diego State 35-7.
At times, the ASU offense showed glimpses of big play ability, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the effort by Eastern Michigan.
Fans took to social media to vent their frustrations and called for the immediate firings of Ray Anderson and Herm Edwards.
After losing 30-21, Sun Devils now find themselves as a team without an identity and with Utah up next on the schedule, things in Tempe aren’t looking up.
Attendance 43,788.
