USC vs. ASU

[AsUpRoDiGy]

On a side note: Illinois barely beat a horrible Western Michigan team 23-20. We should've owned them...

 

[Mathew81]

it wasn't pretty at times, they were owning our D for awhile there in the 2nd half. But ASU made plays when they had to.

 

[ajcardfan]

I was at the game tonight and the atmosphere was great. You could cut the nervousness with a knife when USC took the lead. But, it was great to see our guys make a bunch of big plays to win this one going away.

It's been way too long since we beat USC. This one was sweeter than most wins.

Now, hopefully we don't overlook Oregon St. next week.

 

[sundevilscott]

FU SC and FU Matt Barkley, It appeared your #7 on D was the dirty player tonight and our #7 owned you.

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[Mulli]

This was a great game to watch. Reminded me a tiny bit of the game ASU made Ryan leaf look really bad back in the day...

 

[Cheesebeef]

Matt Barkley is the most overrated QB I think I've ever seen in college football. that kid is continually talked about as a bona-fide NFL stud and he hasn't done jack squat on SC.

nice win for the Devils. They could probably be top 15 right now if they hadn't **** the bed against the Illini.

 

[wilycoyote24]

You completely took what he said out of context. Enjoy getting destroyed by Oregon...and enjoy going 1-4 after you guys lose to USC.

1) It was a joke.

2) I grew up in Phoenix so I not only watched the ASU game, but I cheered for them. Now, when they play UA again, I will gladly watch as something similar to the last UA-ASU game that I went to happens. I don't remember the year (within three years?), but it was in Tempe and the game pretty much ended due to a fumbled punt by someone named Williams maybe? That was a fun walk out of the stadium. Heard soooooo much taunting going in and NOTHING going out.

3) Unfortunately, when it comes to UA, only their top-10 basketball program is worth watching.

 

[crisper57]

Did anyone else have this thought?

Okay, we're up by 3 scores with two minutes left, and I still can't bring myself to believing the lead is safe.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Is it a pre-requisite to get recruited to play QB at USC that you have to be a giant douche? Todd Marinovich, Rob Johnson, Brad Otton, Leinart, Sanchez, now Barkley. I kind of figured ASU would win this game after USC ran their mouths all week. That's the last thing you want to do to a team like ASU that is generally pretty unfocused.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Did anyone else have this thought?

Okay, we're up by 3 scores with two minutes left, and I still can't bring myself to believing the lead is safe.

I felt the same way.

Bray, the defensive coordinator, plays the most vanilla defense I've ever seen. His cover 2 "prevent" is beyond frustrating, especially when you have a fast team. When this team does blitz, they are usually very effective (Watch Vontaze Int), but even against running teams, Bray will consistently run the cover 2, which makes it extremely easy for this teams to march down the field with no trouble whatsoever. When you watch LSU vs Oregon, they stacked the LOS and run blitzed them practically every play, and also disguised their coverages. Bray doesn't have the mental capacity to even come close to that, and that's why we always get stomped by Oregon.

 

[Gaddabout]

I felt the same way.

Bray, the defensive coordinator, plays the most vanilla defense I've ever seen. His cover 2 "prevent" is beyond frustrating, especially when you have a fast team. When this team does blitz, they are usually very effective (Watch Vontaze Int), but even against running teams, Bray will consistently run the cover 2, which makes it extremely easy for this teams to march down the field with no trouble whatsoever. When you watch LSU vs Oregon, they stacked the LOS and run blitzed them practically every play, and also disguised their coverages. Bray doesn't have the mental capacity to even come close to that, and that's why we always get stomped by Oregon.

Considering under Bray ASU has been consistently respectable on D for the first time since the 90s, it's unclear to me why anyone would complain about him. I don't get your criticism. Yeah, ASU gets run on because they often only have six guys in the box and the linebackers line up deep. So what. Even with six starters out, ASU is still playing generally sound defense when it comes to the scoreboard.

I think if Bolden and Magee hadn't been hurt, you would have seen more of the blitz packages they installed in August. Without Bolden, especially, he went back to more Cover 2, Quarters, and mixed nickel coverage schemes to hide gaping holes on the depth chart.

FWIW, ASU blitzed a LOT against Missouri and got burned quite a bit. Everything got simplified against Illinois and suddenly things started clicking for the defense. Instead, I think you should be giving Bray credit for making a bad decision better by not being a stubborn coach who forces his schemes on a defense that probably isn't capable of pulling them off.

One more thing: The fact you think this is "prevent" defense is revealing when it comes to your credibility criticizing an experienced college coordinator. I mean nothing personal by that. Just suggesting you should really reconsider how strong an opinion you think you should have on the subject.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Considering under Bray ASU has been consistently respectable on D for the first time since the 90s, it's unclear to me why anyone would complain about him. I don't get your criticism. Yeah, ASU gets run on because they often only have six guys in the box and the linebackers line up deep. So what. Even with six starters out, ASU is still playing generally sound defense when it comes to the scoreboard.

I think if Bolden and Magee hadn't been hurt, you would have seen more of the blitz packages they installed in August. Without Bolden, especially, he went back to more Cover 2, Quarters, and mixed nickel coverage schemes to hide gaping holes on the depth chart.

FWIW, ASU blitzed a LOT against Missouri and got burned quite a bit. Everything got simplified against Illinois and suddenly things started clicking for the defense. Instead, I think you should be giving Bray credit for making a bad decision better by not being a stubborn coach who forces his schemes on a defense that probably isn't capable of pulling them off.

One more thing: The fact you think this is "prevent" defense is revealing when it comes to your credibility criticizing an experienced college coordinator. I mean nothing personal by that. Just suggesting you should really reconsider how strong an opinion you think you should have on the subject.

You should also take into consideration that this is the most talent on Defense that we've had in a long time. Koetter was horrible at recruiting in general, but more so on defense.

I quoted "prevent" purposely, because obviously they aren't playing true prevent defense, but when you rush 4 and drop everyone into coverage over and over, it's pretty similar to playing 'not to lose', which is exactly what the prevent defense is. How often do you see LSU or Alabama drop into coverage practically every play? Not very often. And that's my point, winning teams play to win, and not to lose.

While I think our D is good, and could've been even better with Magee and Bolden, I think they could be more successful if they played aggressive. Obviously I'm not a college coordinator, but Bray isn't exactly known for being a defensive 'guru'. Certainly I do agree with you on simplifying the defense, seeing as how our best cover corner is out, and I'm sure Bray doesn't want to expose the secondary so much. However, dropping into zone every play and allowing easy 10 yard completions, or 5-10 yard runs isn't the way to compete at the top level.

 

[AzStevenCal]

You should also take into consideration that this is the most talent on Defense that we've had in a long time. Koetter was horrible at recruiting in general, but more so on defense.

I quoted "prevent" purposely, because obviously they aren't playing true prevent defense, but when you rush 4 and drop everyone into coverage over and over, it's pretty similar to playing 'not to lose', which is exactly what the prevent defense is. How often do you see LSU or Alabama drop into coverage practically every play? Not very often. And that's my point, winning teams play to win, and not to lose.

While I think our D is good, and could've been even better with Magee and Bolden, I think they could be more successful if they played aggressive. Obviously I'm not a college coordinator, but Bray isn't exactly known for being a defensive 'guru'. Certainly I do agree with you on simplifying the defense, seeing as how our best cover corner is out, and I'm sure Bray doesn't want to expose the secondary so much. However, dropping into zone every play and allowing easy 10 yard completions, or 5-10 yard runs isn't the way to compete at the top level.

We're missing 5 or 6 starters on defense, I just don't see how that makes this the most talented defense we've had for a long time. We're not one of the football factories that recruits blue chip players 3 deep at every position. We still have some talent but, for me, losing Junior was a game changer.

Steve

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

We're missing 5 or 6 starters on defense, I just don't see how that makes this the most talented defense we've had for a long time. We're not one of the football factories that recruits blue chip players 3 deep at every position. We still have some talent but, for me, losing Junior was a game changer.

Steve

I meant in general. I do agree, those injuries really hurt us and probably changed the entire aspect of the defense. With Vontaze, Lyons, Magee, Bolden, Onyeali, Moos, Jarrett etc.. That's the making of a really good D

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I quoted "prevent" purposely, because obviously they aren't playing true prevent defense, but when you rush 4 and drop everyone into coverage over and over, it's pretty similar to playing 'not to lose', which is exactly what the prevent defense is. How often do you see LSU or Alabama drop into coverage practically every play? Not very often. And that's my point, winning teams play to win, and not to lose.

LSU and Alabama have at least ten guys on each of their two deeps on defense that will play in the NFL. ASU has maybe five or six. You can't really compare the two and ASU's defense is just fine for the Pac-12 South.

While I think our D is good, and could've been even better with Magee and Bolden, I think they could be more successful if they played aggressive. Obviously I'm not a college coordinator, but Bray isn't exactly known for being a defensive 'guru'. Certainly I do agree with you on simplifying the defense, seeing as how our best cover corner is out, and I'm sure Bray doesn't want to expose the secondary so much. However, dropping into zone every play and allowing easy 10 yard completions, or 5-10 yard runs isn't the way to compete at the top level.

Alabama and LSU also pay their defensive coordinators base salaries that exceed 700k annually so if there is a schematic difference between the coordinators there and at ASU look no further than how much you guys can pay for that position. Every Pac-12 school not named USC and maybe Oregon/Washington can't afford any sort of gurus at the assistant level over the long haul. So even if you get this hypothetical guy that you're referring to he'd be gone in a year or two. Just how it works.

 

[Gaddabout]

ASU is 3rd in the nation in defensive 3rd-down conversion. That's always an impressive defensive stat.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

ASU is 3rd in the nation in defensive 3rd-down conversion. That's always an impressive defensive stat.

That's a great accomplishment thus far, I hope they can sustain that type of consistency. I know USC really struggled against us on 3rd down