Game Thread: Arizona State @ Stanford

[legendsincrimson]

I'm getting my betting picks ready for this weekend. Question, will ASU be taking their referees to Stanford?

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

I'm getting my betting picks ready for this weekend. Question, will ASU be taking their referees to Stanford?

After all the bad refs we have had it was good to get a break for once, even though they got away with a few calls as well.

 

[Doctor Krieger]

After all the bad refs we have had it was good to get a break for once, and we even got away with a few more calls too.

fify

 

[Not Neutral]

Quote from Dennis Dodd, CBS, in reference to the Stanford-ASU match: "Arizona State has no business playing this game right now."

 

[SUBuddha]

Since I am the lone Stanford fan here and only get to come on every so often (slow afternoon at work) I guess I will field this.

Smart, why the hate? Is it the LSJUMB? Yes they piss people off (including many Stanford fans).

As to the game. I am a concerned Stanford fan. The TE's caught no passes last week for the first time in almost 3 years. The D took quite a bit of time to catch on to the triple option, though they got it in the second half, and Army's last score came in garbage time against the second's and thirds on D.

Here is how I see it.
Defensively: Anderson is hurt which hurts Stanford's size on the DL, though Mauro impressed a lot of people last week. Skov has looked good, but Tarpley has missed a few tackles in space. Against the running game ASU is capable of that is never a good sign. Richards and Reynolds can make up for that at the second level, but if they start cheating up to the line Stanford may get burned over the middle on the intermediate routes. The real key will be Murphy and Vaughters keeping containment on the edges and turning the plays back up the middle. They did that against Army for the most part, but often tackled 2 players without the ball, leaving the last pitch guy to get the edge. Once the DB's cheated up and the OLB's pushed the edges the middle got gashed a couple times. All in all if the D plays to ability and holds their assignments and lanes, I do not see the ASU O going off big. But they will give up some big plays, so I see ASU scoring at least 24.

Offensively: Hogan has a tendency to stare down his receivers, and has overthrown a few deep routes this year. He has not run as much, and I think that is, in part, due to Shaw keeping him on a leash (learnign to play in the pocket) until PAC12 play starts. He had a tendency to flush early and try to do to much with his feet last year (see quarters 2 and 3 of the Rose Bowl as evidence). Stanford for the first time in about 6 years has dual deep threats on the outside with Rector and Montgomery. Stanford has thrown enough deep balls in the first two games that the ASU corners will have to stay honest (at least at first). I look for Kaumatule at TE to have bit more action in the game, and Cajuste to really work the seams and dink routes in the middle. Shaw will start out with a couple of big plays wide but stick to the bread and butter runs off guard. The O-line play has been overall the strongest part of the season so far, Sutton and Bradford will get their plays, but will face a bunch of stunts and jumbo packages in the first half to try and tire them out. If ASU stacks the box early and often, look for Young to come on the Jet sweep and wheel routes that have worked this season. I would also expect to see more of Wilkerson at RB following either Gaffney or Hewitt off tackle where he does his best running.

All in all, I am concerned for the game, but I know Shaw keeps a large portion of the playbook off the table for the first 2-3 weeks, and slowly pulls it out as the season goes on. He wants to have enough new material to throw 3-5 unexpected plays at a team each week.

I honestly do not think LSJU covers. I see it at 31-27 Stanford.

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

As the season goes on ASUs defense will only get better, we only lost 2 core players last year Brandon Magee and Keelan Johnson, both have quality replacements.

 

[OregonDucks]

ASU wins.

 

[WABLTY]

Great point. Too many times did we get caught with an OLB Kelly against a back in the slot or out of the backfield....don't understand that personnel one bit, we stuck in our base a bit too much..guess it's a double edged sword with trying to stop the run vs pass, but I didn't even see us try to get into strictly nickel for a prolonged period of time.

I don't think it'll be a real problem for you going forward unless teams try to mimic ASU. As far as I know, there aren't any Big Ten teams that throw to their running backs anywhere close to as frequently as ASU does.

 

[asu_08]

The offensive drives we put together in the 2nd half weren't impressive? Taylor Kelly, Foster, Grice and Strong it was only the 2nd game of the season We have nfl talent on defense Bradford and Sutton need to show up.

The two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter show exactly what this team is capable of. The first drive we didn't let Wisconsin substitute until we got to the goal line and you could tell they where gassed. The second legitimized Strong as the playmaking WR that we desperately needed. Wisconsin was playing press coverage on him with no safety help and we were able to burn them for it which is something teams were able to get away with against us last year.

The problem though is we made uncharacteristic mistakes all game. The dropped passes have been beaten to death but Kelly didn't look very sharp either at least in the first half. Red zone offense is also a concern, and after that game I lost a little respect for Graham's decision making and ability to manage the clock. He's said he recognized those mistakes and won't do them again but against Stanford we have to take the points when they're given to us.

 

[asu_08]

Great point. Too many times did we get caught with an OLB Kelly against a back in the slot or out of the backfield....don't understand that personnel one bit, we stuck in our base a bit too much..guess it's a double edged sword with trying to stop the run vs pass, but I didn't even see us try to get into strictly nickel for a prolonged period of time.

Our offense is based around forcing those mismatches. Do you want to cover Foster and Coyle with LBs or do you want to bring in extra DBs and leave yourself vulnerable between the tackles. Like you I was surprised Wisconsin didn't elect to do the latter more often considering how much push their d-line was getting.

 

[WABLTY]

As the season goes on ASUs defense will only get better, we only lost 2 core players last year Brandon Magee and Keelan Johnson, both have quality replacements.

Carr was a significant loss. He was a 3 year starter (well 2 and 1/2 if you include the injury season) and spot starter as a freshman. Seems to be doing alright in the pros though as he went from UDFA to Practice Squad and just went active roster last weekend.

 

[WABLTY]

Our offense is based around forcing those mismatches. Do you want to cover Foster and Coyle with LBs or do you want to bring in extra DBs and leave yourself vulnerable between the tackles. Like you I was surprised Wisconsin didn't elect to do the latter more often considering how much push their d-line was getting.

It seemed like they went predominately nickel on ASU's last touch down drive, and that was probably the most efficient drive of the night.

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

Kelly would of had a much better night, that first pass to smith which he totally dropped would of probably be a touch down momentum goes to ASU. Smith almost lost us that game re watching this game I realized we would of had all the momentum if he would of caught his passes.

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

Thoughts on Chris Young at will for the first two games and Salamo Fiso.

 

[WABLTY]

Thoughts on Chris Young at will for the first two games and Salamo Fiso.

When Fiso's ready, move him back to Spur. I'm just not sure Fiso's there yet. Not enough for the full time job. The team will be better with Young back at Spur because he's their best cover LB as well as probably best tackler, but you can't just leave a hole inside. Not until the freshman is ready.

 

[asu_08]

It seemed like they went predominately nickel on ASU's last touch down drive, and that was probably the most efficient drive of the night.

I doesn't matter what personnel they're in though if they leave Strong one on one and can't cover him.

Carr was a significant loss. He was a 3 year starter (well 2 and 1/2 if you include the injury season) and spot starter as a freshman. Seems to be doing alright in the pros though as he went from UDFA to Practice Squad and just went active roster last weekend.

I was never a big fan of Carr. Just about every time we got beat deep last year it was on him. All of our corners behind Irabor are better at press coverage than Carr was but anytime you replace a 3 year starter there will be some growing pains.

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

I thought Carrington played well.

 

[WABLTY]

I doesn't matter what personnel they're in though if they leave Strong one on one and can't cover him.



I was never a big fan of Carr. Just about every time we got beat deep last year it was on him. All of our corners behind Irabor are better at press coverage than Carr was but anytime you replace a 3 year starter there will be some growing pains.

Irabor is/was better, but a lot of the reason ASU could blitz so much is because they left both of those guys on islands. I think he was a lot better than people realized.

 

[WABLTY]

I thought Carrington played well.

We haven't seen a scary passing attack yet. Wisconsin basically had 1 wide receiver. Too early to say. I suspect he and Nelson will be fine though.

 

[SUBuddha]

ASU returned a large quantity of tickets last week, which Stanford is selling fro 15$ each. For once our fans may not be outnumbered in our own stadium.