ASU's first pass right in between double coverage... we could have gotten an interception there, atleast swatted it down. We get that interception on their very first play & take away their spirits. Changes the whole game. Our first drive - sloppy. It was obvious that this was our first game. We had to get the rust off & alot of it came during this drive. Russell's throws were low & behind the receivers & the receivers weren't looking to sharp either dropping some catchable balls. The fake punt was brilliant. They didn't put anybody on Prude & he ran the route in order for the throw to be made. Our second drive - we dominated them for most of it. Ran all over them, threw all over them & our Oline just manhandled them throughout. This Oline domination is something I was counting on, not sure why it didn't continue through out the game. Vincent is looking better than he did last year, but not back to his 2003 form. He's got to gain some confidence back & quit stutter stepping. Is it just me or does it seem like the holes just aren't there as often for him? What's with that? JaMarcus's fumble was very Aaron Brooks-esque. I don't remember this ever happening to him before so I'm sure this isn't something we need to worry about happening alot. Outside of that little mishap, the drive was beautiful eating up almost 11 minutes of the play clock & showing dominance. ASU's Oline formations were set up very nicely against LSU. We've got a very strong Dline but weren't all that effective about pressuring Keller because of, not ASU's Oline stregth, but just their formations. You'd think with 5 guys on the line for them we'd be able to create some mismatches down field... ? We really could have been ahead at the half by 2 touchdowns if we weren't so rusty. Not having a warm up game really showed. We were playing good ball, just made lots of errors & didn't have it all together. ASU & LSU's stats were comparable at the half with LSU having the slight advantage (except on the score board). ASU made much better adjustments during half & it showed. Gotta love Miles' philosophy on special teams. It made a hell of an impact & is a very welcome difference. I know we had a lot of receiver trouble this game, but I hope once we get that settled we throw the ball more. We had alot of good runs, but I want us to be able to chunk it a little more efficiently. I think this was mostly due to the receiver troubles though... Bowe out for game, Davis out for half, Doucet & Carter making some drops. Why didn't we use Skyler more as a WR? Did anybody else think we didn't utilize him enough? There were some instances where we were giving their receivers to much room, but Keller was making some great throws in tight coverage. They are one of the best offenses in the country. He & a group of very talented receivers deserve alot of credit for their offensive success. Not all of the success - alot of it was our defense's fault. Our CB's deserve alot of the blame for our defense's inadaquacy, losing track of receivers, getting beat, staying off to far & generally not making plays. It wasn't as much Pellini as some here think. I'd much rather that because we can work on fixing Prude & crew's mistakes. I think our defense will be much, much better by the Tennessee game. In retrospect, the defense wasn't as bad as it seemed. The defensive schemes needed to adjusted, CBs needed some practice in their system & unit as a whole needed to be crisper; but it was a decent showing especially considering the circumstances. I thought Pellini's defenses being more simple would be a good thing, but Keller & ASU knew what we were doing every single time.. I think it's time to bump up the play book, maybe this is because it's the first game of the season and he hasn't had time to fully implement his system. LSU only managed 21 pts by our offense on a defense that isn't that good. That's got to improve.
Was it necessary to quote the whole thing? Also, what happened to LSU using the Tight End in our passing game!??!
For the 1st game I was very pleased with the offense. The coaches did a great job of rotating players and using all of our talents. I think we need to throw more quick screens or swing passes to Green, but giving him the ball on the end arounds were nice. Our running game is very very good. Off tackle to Whitworth's side is amazing. The recievers had a typical 1st game consisting of a lot of drops, but they are real clutch. O-line is really good at run blocking (minus a few miscues). Pass blocking is pretty good but RB's need to help more with pass blocking. For JR I couldn't be more pleased. His pocket presence was very good. It looked as if he was calm at all times. Overall a B+ considering the circumstances.
http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2005/Rankings/CFN_Rankings.htm Everyone agrees that ASU has a good team. I hope they do very well for the the remainder of their season. I would hate to see them end up like OSU last year after we won that one.
I agree. I'll be routing for ASU. They have one hell of a talented team & I think they can win the Pac 10 this year. They've got a good coaching staff there & some awesome players. It was a big dissapointment with OSU last year because they really were a very talented team, but the season just went down hill for em after losing the heart breaker to us. Not sure if this is what you were trying to say, but we face a couple other very talented teams this year as well, so I don't think my concerns are unfounded.
I think that it was good that we had such a tough test so soon. Facing this sort of opponent and adversity can only help the team in the long run. This gives us a big advantage going into conference play. We know now what areas need improvement heading into the big games. UF, by contrast, has played inferior opponents that give them no real idea where they could have trouble.
Reading those rankings I came across Iowa, who dropped to 23. This comment made me think: That sick Iowa defense last year got 44 dropped on them by ASU. Granted, Keller was not the QB, but I'm not so sure that was a downgrade for the Devils.
Hoisting ASU doesn't take away the sting of 560 yards of abuse given to LSU. The LSU defense was embarASSED for 60 minutes. Lucky win due to an unbelievable sequence of special teams miracles
