In preparation for this Saturday’s matchup between No. 23 Stanford and No. 17 Arizona State, The Daily’s Winston Shi chatted with Evan Webeck, one of the football writers for The State Press, to get an inside look at the Sun Devils.
Winston Shi (WS): Has Arizona State’s season been a success so far? Going forward, what benchmarks will Todd Graham and company have to reach in order for ASU fans to consider the season a great one? Are ASU fans happy with the direction the program is taking under Graham?
Evan Webeck (EW): With only one loss so far, I’d be doing ASU an injustice if I said the results haven’t been a success. Digging deeper, though, the Sun Devils clearly haven’t played — defensively, at least — as well as the last two years under Todd Graham. Graham wants a Pac-12 title, a Rose Bowl and a national championship. I don’t think he gets any of those this season, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be considered a success. Fans love what Graham has done so far, and I think they’ll be satisfied with eight to nine wins in what has to be considered a bit of a rebuilding year.
WS: David Shaw has said that he isn’t banking on either Taylor Kelly or Mike Bercovici starting on Saturday. ASU leads the country in yards per play despite Kelly’s injury — so will the identity of the starting quarterback even matter? Does either quarterback bring unique strengths to the table? Weaknesses?
EW: In the big picture, no, the quarterback probably won’t matter much. Schematically, it probably will. ASU has seriously struggled to run the ball with Bercovici at quarterback. The team blames this on USC and UCLA scheming against the run and forcing Bercovici to throw the ball. Kelly also brings a little bit more of a threat to run the ball and keep it on read options. The lack of a run game has hardly hurt ASU due to Bercovici’s unreal passing numbers, but having a multifaceted offense surely will be of importance against a defense like Stanford’s.
WS: The big storyline for ASU was supposed to be how it adapted to the loss of nine starters from last year. ASU’s defense is giving up 31.4 points per game, 91st in the country. Is this just a case of a young unit experiencing growing pains? A byproduct of fast-paced games giving opponents more chances to score? Or is there something in the stat sheet that we’re all missing?
EW: It’s no secret that the defense hasn’t been good. It’s difficult to place the blame on any one reason. Communication between the coaching staff and the players during the game has been horrendous, resulting in way too many plays with 10 or 12 guys on the field, which forces Graham to waste timeouts early in the game. Tackling hasn’t been any better. The amount of missed tackles each game is staggering. And then there’s the theory that the young defense simply hasn’t been able to pick up the complicated schemes of Graham’s defense yet. Really, it’s been a combination of all three. The talent is there, but it’s not ready yet. Both sides of the ball should be really, really good in a year or two.
WS: Stanford beat the Sun Devils twice last year, once in Stanford and once in Tempe. Did the Cardinal just match up well with Arizona State? Do you think that ASU has a better shot at Stanford this time around?
EW: That’s a difficult question. David Shaw has simply done a better job at preparing his squad than Graham has his. Defensive lineman Jaxon Hood said the team was too pumped for the last two Stanford games, and that the Sun Devils are “over the hump” now. I guess we’ll see about that, but with both teams on somewhat down years, I still think Stanford is more talented and more disciplined.
WS: Finally, do you have a prediction for the game? What does ASU need to do in order to win? What about the Cardinal?
EW: I’ve got Stanford, 24-17. ASU’s offense should be able to at least score some points. Mike Bercovici was a little more confident, predicting they score 30, 40 or 50 points. If they do that, the Sun Devils will absolutely win the game. But I just can’t see that happening. Stanford’s defense is going to have to play like it has all year, but the Cardinal offense is going to be the key. If Kevin Hogan and company can’t take advantage of ASU’s inexperienced defense and score at least three or four touchdowns, I don’t think Stanford walks away victorious. A key for ASU will be getting its run game going, though that might not be the determining factor, as it rushed for less than 100 yards against USC and still won that game (despite getting thoroughly outplayed for about 57 minutes of it).
Contact Winston Shi at wshi94 ‘at’ stanford.edu.