It’s a time to rest and re-focus this weekend for the Arizona State Sun Devils.
As sweet as the possible season-saving “Jael Mary” was under the LA Coliseum lights, October continues to be an unforgiving month with future tests against defending Pac-12 champion Stanford and Notre Dame in Tempe. A tough trip to Seattle to play Washington is sandwiched in-between the two ranked showdowns.
Regardless, there’s still plenty to play for and the Devils, like many teams in the Pac-12, control their own destiny moving forward.
“To get to this point to play two games without Taylor Kelly and only have one loss,” ESPN college football insider Brad Edwards explained to Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat in a phone interview earlier this week. “They’re in a good position still.”
Edwards believes the Sun Devils (4-1, 2-1) biggest concerns mirror most of the Pac-12. Can they make enough stops defensively to keep them in ballgames as the offense rounds back into form with Kelly expected back for the Stanford game on the 18th?
Todd Graham’s young defense performed better at times against the Trojans but was again bit by miss tackles and assignment errors which led to big plays in both the running and passing game. Safeties Jordan Simone and Damarious Randall combined for an eye-popping 33 tackles, 20 by Simone.
“Whoever plays a little bit of defense,” he said. “Is going to win that conference.”
Buckle your seat belts.
It’s going to quite a ride.
