Opponent Q&A: Arizona State
It’s time for Pac-12 play, as the University of Utah finished their preseason schedule at 2-1, with a No. 13 ranking. The Utes head to Tempe to take on the Herm Edwards-less Arizona State Sun Devils at 8:30 PM MST. To go in-depth about ASU, UteNation spent some time with our friend and Rivals.com ASU publisher, Hod Rabino.
I could ask you so many questions about the end of the Herm Edwards Era, so let’s just hear your thoughts…
You’re absolutely right there is a lot anybody can say about the Herm Edwards era in Tempe. In a nutshell it's been damned disappointing.. it was a higher that was met with tons of criticism, but the first couple of years were not horrible and you could see a good foundation being laid. Problem is that Edwards and his staff thought that treating kids as adults without them actually earning the right to be treated as adults really came back to bite them. It's nice to have an NFL model as your team culture but you still have to modify that approach to college kids and that never got done. Edwards delegating so many duties had some assistance obviously running wild which resulted in the ongoing NCAA investigation into alleged recruiting violations. So when you don't have a great win loss record you're constantly looked at and underachiever and undisciplined team and on top of everything you're about to get some severe sanctions that are going to further set back your program for the next couple of years I would say that clearly qualifies as disastrous 10 year. And again the saddest thing of it all is how all the critics from 5 years ago get to smile today and say I told you so.
How do you expect the psyche of the team to be on Saturday night?
I have no doubt that they are going to be very hyped up and it's something they usually does come with a territory when you have a head coaching change. Everybody seems rejuvenated having an extra pep in their step practices have been much more up-tempo this week. So I don't think his team is throwing itself a pity party and just like they have been the entire off season They are eager to defy the naysayers and those who think that Utah is easily a two touchdown or more favorite at Sun Devil stadium. I'm not saying that psyche guarantees ASU a win or truly making this a much harder contest than you to expected but I do feel that this is going to be ASU's mentality and mindset going into the game.
Despite a mass exodus of players in the offseason, the Sun Devils still have plenty of talent. Who are the guys to pay attention to?
On offense Florida quarterback transfer Emory Jones who's been somewhat inconsistent along with the rest of the team so far. Running back and Wyoming transfer Xazavian Valladay has rushed for over a hundred yards each game so far and while he may not be the bona fide playmaker that Rachaad White was last year I still think he minimized the drop off more than some would probably expect it. Tight end Messiah Swinson is a tall 67 Target that hasn't even come close to being utilized as you should be in ASU's passing game and with the stellar tight ends for Utah I'm sure he would like to prove a point if the game plan allowed it. Wide receiver Elijhah Badger has easily been the best wide receiver for Arizona State and against a quality secondary I'm curious to see how well he can do in his first crew challenging test of the year.
On defense the pair of senior linebackers Kyle Soelle and Merlin Robertson are the harder than soul of The entire defense and they obviously have one hell of a challenge on Saturday not only stopping a formidable running game but also trying to cover the two best tight ends in the conference.. both ASU players are proven contributors and in what should be their last game against Utah You know they want to make a statement. Khoury Bethley is a safety transfer from Hawaii who is a physical player which much like the linebackers could really have a lot to do with the outcome of the game.
ASU has played two lackluster teams—one beat them and one the Sun Devils destroyed—to go along with a talented Oklahoma State team. What do you feel are the key “knowns” and the “unknowns” of this Sun Devil team?
I don't know if they're really a bunch of unknowns about the team and that's not to say that the known aspects are all positive. I failed that the passing game could be suspect coming in through the year and that's so far has beared out with a wide receiver group that is largely underwhelming and an offensive scheme that hasn't really brought out the best of this group. The defensive performance especially last week has been disappointing because this was the side of the ball which I expected to see a much better effort so far. I knew that the interior of the defensive line may be a little shallow in depth but I did not expect a team like Eastern Michigan to Tally over 300 yards and in the second half contend to abandon the passing game and just run it down ASU's throat. The undisciplined identity of this defense from last year has unfortunately for the team spilled over this year so even when this group has a chance to get off the field they continue to be their own worst enemies.
I guess if there's any unknown about this team is does the new fresh attitude so to speak that a new head coach can bring will truly cause all these adverse elements to do a 180 degree turn? We'll see on Saturday.
If you’re an opposing defensive coordinator, how would you stop the ASU offense?
Until this ASU passing game can prove to even be a moderate threat I would definitely crowd the line of scrimmage because the running game is the only part of the offense that is somewhat consistent with its success. Needless to say that Jones is one of the better dual thread quarterbacks in the conference so Utah's definitely going to have to designate a spy on him. And specific for this game the Utah staff is going really have to learn from all the mistakes that committed against Jones Old Florida teammate Anthony Richardson to make sure that he is not going to inflict the same damage this Saturday night.
If you were drawing up a game plan, how would you attack the ASU defense?
It's pretty much the same story with this side of the ball exploit the deficiencies You saw last Saturday and see if the Sun Devils have actually been able to implement the painful lessons the endured against these in Michigan. More specifically the physicality of this defensive line especially in the middle is a huge question mark and Utah definitely has the running game to inflict some damage. And even better defenses than the 2022 one have yet to contain the stellar tight end duo for Utah in the passing game so I would go to that avenue early and often unless ASU has proven that they have a better game plan this year to stop it.
Arizona State pulls off the upset, if…? What’s your game prediction? Why?
It seems as if Utah is prone to slow starts this year, So if this weekend is more of the same ASU is absolutely going to have to exploit that which means that they're offense is going to have to be much more explosive than it's been so far. Not to overstate the level of excitement the program has right now but a highly motivated Arizona state squad could really feed off that emotion if you to come stumbling out of the gates especially Saturday night at home which often times brings the best out of this team. As the game goes on the emotion will subside in the talon gap between both programs is going to reveal itself more and more.
I don't see this game being decided early but Utah should have a fairly comfortable win of 28-17.