ASU Football: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly vs. Utah

I don’t know where to start. Same issues different game. Let’s get into the good, bad, and ugly.

The Good - That one play by LV Bunkley-Shelton and The first half

That 59-yarder by Shelton was great! A good catch, then coupled with broken tackles and a nice run made for a solid play by the wide receiver.

On top of that, the first half was solid. Not perfect, but the Sun Devils looked creative and moved the ball decently well. Anyway, moving on.

The Bad - The Receivers, play calling, and defense

I feel like a broken record. Over and over again, I keep tapping the same thing over and over and over again: The receivers on this team have been and are downright horrendous and the coaching hasn’t developed anybody or made anyone better.

The receivers don’t make anybody’s life easier, especially Jayden Daniels. Daniels is forced to make up for every single receiving deficiency, which included seven drops on Saturday.

When does it get easier? How many of these guys were four-star recruits who were touted as the wideouts that would unleash Zak Hill’s offensive plans? I can count five on my finger. The only one who made an impact yesterday was Shelton, and he had two catches. Not good.

The defense…Oh boy. Going into the game the Sun Devils were second in the country in second half defense only to top ranked Georgia. So once the second half started, with a 14-point lead, the ASU faithful thought they had their fourth straight victory locked up right? Right!?

Utah scored on every possession of the second half, and the defense got no help from the offense, but also looked like Swiss cheese instead of the stalwart unit that they have looked like in 2021. The Devils looked good in half one, but it’s so disheartening to see the defense struggle so badly in a game that they should have put away.

Finally, I’m looking at you Mr.Hill. I’ve watched enough football to make the educated guess that when you have a two-score lead that you got because you portrayed an arsenal of creativity and play calling to get your playmakers in position to make plays, it is not a good idea to get conservative but what do I know. What adjustments did you make at halftime that made you think it was a good idea to run the ball down their throats when that was literally the one thing that was not working. Hill has proved that he’s a suspect play caller and that he turtles when it matters most. Come on man.

The Ugly - The Coaching Staff

Every time I watch the Devils, I wonder how good a lot of these players actually are. This coaching staff confuses me, because at every level of this roster I am unsure what their positions of strength are.

How good is Jayden Daniels? I have no clue. Every game has the feel that Daniels is restrained and limited, and this coaching staff treats him like a back-up in during garbage time. Why haven’t any of these receivers developed? Why are Rachaad White and Chip Trayanum the only players who look dangerous on offense? Why does this roster and team always look so hard pressed in everything they do?

Long story short, ASU had a clear shot to win the Pac-12 South and threw it away in one dreary night at Rice-Eccles stadium.

Same old Devils.