ASU Football: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly at Stanford

In a year where it feels like nothing is normal here in Tempe, for a two week stretch, things felt…good. A big win against Washington had everybody breathing a heavy sigh of relief, and a bye week gave the Sun Devil faithful a weekend, to enjoy a college football slate with no stress tied up in the Sun Devils.

The bliss ended on Saturday.

The Good-At least nobody was there to see that embarrassment right?

Stanfords crowd made Sun Devil Stadium look like Neyland on a perfect fall afternoon against a ranked opponent. God that was sad. Neither team played well, and there were no fans to celebrate the win for the Cardinal (or mourn depending on how you look at it).

On a separate note, do people see why the death of the Pac-12 is inevitable? Look at every other conference, and the crowds they draw and the excitement they elicit, then look at the west coast. I get neither team is good, and that Stanford fans have little reason to care, but the fact that I could count the fans in the stands is sad.

On the bright side, nobody saw us lose, so did it really happen?

The Good-uniforms and defense

Defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson’s group is playing at an on-again, off-again pace that looks like world-beaters in some games, but is ineffective in others. On Saturday, it was the former. Kyle Soelle continues to crack pads at all levels of the defense, the sacks came and the defensive backs held their own. This loss is not on the defense.

And hey, at least we looked good.

The Bad-Shaun Aguano

Like a lot of Sun Devil fans, I like coach Aguano. I think he’s a good man, who cares about the well-being of his players and team. The harsh reality is, being a good man doesn’t make you a good football coach.

I commend Aguano for trying to do right by Emory Jones, but by doing that Aguano failed his team. Trenton Bourguet ignited a team that was dying like a students cell phone after a long night on Mill. Jones had his flashes, and didn’t get a lot of help from play calling, but Bourguet gives this team a better chance to win. Aguano’s decision to start Jones was a bad one, and his game management made it worse. Unofficially, any chance of Aguano being the full time guy is gone after last Saturday, and more change is on the horizon.

The Ugly-The State of the Program

This is nothing knew, and I’m beating a dead horse, but Sun Devil football is in a pitiful state. The University doesn’t seem to care about the program falling into an abyss. Change, change, and more change has happened and will continue to happen, and then there is the uncertainty of the conference. Uncertainty is a brutal thing, and the fact that the Sun Devils are wallowing in it isn’t fun. It feels gross, and it feels like the worst is yet to come.