Jordan HammThe near misses continue with Arizona State in Kenny Dillingham’s first year.
They hung with USC for most of the game. They were close but couldn’t overtake the Cal Bears in a winnable game. This week, the high-powered Colorado Buffaloes came to Tempe. The most talked about team in college sports are no longer the floor-mat of the Pac-12, but an exciting contender under Deion Sanders.
ASU didn’t blink, scoring on the opening drive and limiting Shedeur Sanders, who entered Saturday second in the NCAA in passing yards and fourth in touchdowns, to 239 passing yards and two total touchdowns. The defense sacked him five times along the way.
Trenton Bourguet moved the ball well, accumulating 335 yards and two scores including the game-tying touchdown to Troy Omeire. The Sun Devils have had its highest two yardage outputs the past two weeks, but they only found the end zone three times.
ASU also went 6/17 on third down, though the Devils converted on all three fourth downs they tried to convert.
While Dillingham isn’t happy with the losses piling up, he sees the growth happening behind the scenes. Arizona State looks much different from the team that got shut out 29-0 to Fresno State, but it hasn’t clicked yet for the Devils.
“The last two weeks, we’ve played winning football,” Dillingham said. “We’ve won every (statistical) category but we haven’t won the game, and we really have to look at why and what guys should be on the field when the game is on the line.”
The bye couldn’t come at a better time for Arizona State. Most teams can give an exhale when they get to their off-week, but it would be more of a labored breath for the Sun Devils.
Dillingham’s main priority over these 14 days before their game against Washington is to get as many players who have missed time back. There’s also a laundry list of players playing hurt who would benefit from a week off.
“I think we’re out nine or 10 starters that we were projecting at the beginning of the year and our guys are battling,” Dillingham said.
Getting a win over a good Colorado team in front of a sellout crowd and heading into the bye would have been a wave ASU would have happily rode as they face a gauntlet of a second half.
But Dillingham isn’t concerned that tough loss after tough loss would weigh on this team. He’s referenced his first year at Florida State multiple times the past few weeks. The Seminoles struggled early on in Dillingham’s and Mike Norvell’s tenure, but the improvement was evident.
After going through that foundation-building period, the Seminoles are a top-five team in the country. He’s hopeful the same course is being set in Tempe.
“You don’t know when it’s going to click, you don’t know,” Dillingham said. “But when it clicks, we’re ready for it because we’re playing significantly better football than we did at the start of the year. I think for the guys, it’s “Are you going to compete or are you going to quit?” And there’s really only one option. ”
With four of their final six opponents currently ranked in the top-25, the Sun Devils have plenty of chances to compete.
Let’s see if things will click.
