Isu @ Asu

[O]

Sullivan benched to start the 2nd half.
Now that's a short leash!

 

[Brian in Mesa]

 

[Brian in Mesa]

He didn't throw that last pass from the bench.

 

[O]

He didn't throw that last pass from the bench.

Yeah, yeah.
My bad.
I'm an idiot!

 

[O]

I do like the new uniforms.
They look sharp.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Sullivan is horrendous... Looks like he plays in slow motion.

Bass has legit speed however!

 

[O]

This D is going to be very good!

 

[82CardsGrad]

This D is going to be very good!

They look extremely quick and athletic... 'course, this is ISU. We'll see what happens when they play the PAC 10.
The offense is going to really hurt them though.

 

[O]

They look extremely quick and athletic... 'course, this is ISU. We'll see what happens when they play the PAC 10.
The offense is going to really hurt them though.

They have a week off.
Then they play Louisiana Monroe.
Then they travel to Georgia.
The Georgia game will let us know what kind of team we have.

 

[82CardsGrad]

They have a week off.
Then they play Louisiana Monroe.
Then they travel to Georgia.
The Georgia game will let us know what kind of team we have.

Wasn't all that impressed with Georgia today. They will be a solid test though - and it's a big road game in a hostile environment. But their freshman QB is gonna hold them back this year.

 

[O]

They will be a solid test though - and it's a big road game in a hostile environment.

Exactly.

 

[TheKid_1]

Osi and Taze both looked great. All aboard the OSI wagon.

 

[AsUdUdE]

ok.. here it goes again... Our Defense looks better than anything we have had in a decade... (against ISU, but it look nasty, something that I am notuse to seeing with an ASU D)

Danny sucks though, it will be interesting to see just how long Erickson stays with the senior, IMO, we won't end the season with Sully, atleast I hope not...

Last and most importantly... Burfict looked LIKE A COMPLETE STUD... very rare when someone with so much hype lives up to every word the first time you see them, Burfict surpassed everything I had hoped for...

Granted it was against ISU, but I can honestly say 8-4 is not that unrealistc anymore

 

[HooverDam]

ASUs offense was amazingly embarrassing tonight. 4-14 on third downs is pathetic but so is having 14 3rd downs against this team! ASU couldn't pick up the simples and most obvious blitz packages from ISU. Sullivan was sailing balls high all over the place and when he wasn't ASUs wideouts were dropping the good ones, just a mess. If they don't get it together it'll take a miracle to go 6-6.

On the bright side the defense looked terrific. A lot of that was of course due to playing ISU but you could tell some of it was ASU playing solid, they took good lines, stayed in their lanes, etc. Mike Nixon had a hell of a game as did Burfict, that kid is the real deal. Every time he was on the field #7 had his nose in the play.

Its too bad Weber missed his first FG, him getting the ASU record for FGs in a game would've been a nice highlight of an otherwise worrisome game.

 

[Nasser22]

I love being in the student section now! I believe our receivers are better than they showed tonight. We should not have had so many dropped passes. I think Osweiler needs to start over Sullivan. That touchdown pass and the overall play of the defense were great to see.

 

[Nasser22]

Someone really screwed up their job though...The scoreboard said that UA was losing 23-0 at the half and that obviously wasn't the case. That was annoying

 

[Mathew81]

Someone really screwed up their job though...The scoreboard said that UA was losing 23-0 at the half and that obviously wasn't the case. That was annoying

They also had the Cal-Maryland game score backwards. I went home thinking Cal had been blown out. And it's happened on numerous occasions the last few years. How hard is it to enter scores right?

 

[TucsonDevil]

Sullivan looked terrible... actually, he looked like he always has in the past. That is to say, he has very little pocket presence. He throws decent passes, but when there is even a little pressure, he panics and throws the ball away. I liked how he scrambled a couple of times, but he rarely kept reading his routes if he had pressure.

Osweiller was the opposite. He stood in the pocket with much more authority. That strike he threw for a TD was the best pass I have seen from an ASU quarterback since Andrew Walters. Osweiller is much better than Sullivan, it's not even close. And, you can't see that difference until its a game situation and the pressure rush is coming in.

Bench Sullivan now for a chance at a winning record. The offense seemed to settle down with Osweiller; he needs to own the starting position.

And the Defense. Wow. It's exciting to see the defense do EXACTLY what is was supposed to do against an inferior opponent. We have a REAL chance to win in Georgia with that type of defense.

 

[HooverDam]

^You're way over stating your case. Did Sullivan look great? No, but he was far from 'terrible.' He forced ASU to call a few timeouts to avoid delays of game, he didn't read the defense even when it was painfully obvious a blitz was coming (he should've called an audible), he sailed some passes high and needed to put more touch on others. However Osweiler only threw like 5 passes against a completely worn down ISU defense, if thats all you needed to see to anoint him then I think you're letting a bias you came into the game with color your opinion.

I think Osweiler may end up starting a game or multiple games for ASU this season but nothing has happened yet to cause Sullivan to lose the job or for Osweiler to earn it.

If we're going to talk about starters who need to be benched and replaced its Dmitri Nance. Id like to see him get far fewer touches and for ASU to use the Marshall and Bass combo more. Bass only had 2 carries but showed he was obviously the fastest, most elusive and most naturally talented back ASU has.

 

[Gaddabout]

Did we watch the same game? Sullivan had a strong game. FIVE DROPPED PASSES. Three of them in the end zone. Good footwork, strong pocket presence, no stupid mistakes.

And it was package of less than 10 plays for the whole game.

BTW, Sullivan wasn't benched. Osweiller's entrance was in the game plan because he's the official No. 2. Erickson said he doesn't want his No. 2 to get thrown into a situation without some official snaps under his belt.

 

[HooverDam]

Did we watch the same game? Sullivan had a strong game.

Well thats not really true either. He wasn't 'terrible' nor was he 'strong' just mediocre. What would make one think he was 'strong'? How many times did he hang receivers out to dry by throwing balls above their heads? It happened at least 3 times. How did he do recognizing the blitz and call an audible or throw to a quick hot route? It looked like about 0 times to me. How many times did he have to call a timeout because ASU was about to get a delay? 3 times. Im really confused about 'strong pocket presence' from Sullivan, he was under constant duress (not his fault) but only did a mediocre job handling it, he had some nice scampers, but he's such a slug it didn't ever result in a 1st.

He wasn't horrible, not solid, just mediocre. Which is what we should expect, he was a mediocre recruit, a multi year backup and will always likely be a mediocre QB at the Pac 10 level.

Obviously ASU wasn't going to open up the playbook versus ISU, but I am a bit concerned about the play calling, I saw no difference from last year. Heck look at the first play, run up the gut, stuffed for nothing. How many times are we going to see pass plays that take forever to develop when we have an awful offensive line that can't keep the QB protected long enough? How about some more short, quick passes?

 

[AsUdUdE]

I personally thought he was somewhere in between medicore and poor... At times he just looked uncomfortable out there, it was not a good sign...

Though to his credit he was missing Kerry Taylor who should be the #2 reciever, along with a bland playbook, maybe he just was not trying very hard...

IMO, Brock had a CANNON of an arm, and seemed to command the huddle.. granted it was in the 3-4 quarters against a beat-up ISU D, but IMO, he passed the eye test while Sully did not....

Eventually Brock will start for the 2009 sun devils (my guess and mark it down, first start is @home against Oregon St.)

who wants some of that action?

 

[CatBoxBackFan]

Did we watch the same game? Sullivan had a strong game. FIVE DROPPED PASSES. Three of them in the end zone. Good footwork, strong pocket presence, no stupid mistakes.

And it was package of less than 10 plays for the whole game.

BTW, Sullivan wasn't benched. Osweiller's entrance was in the game plan because he's the official No. 2. Erickson said he doesn't want his No. 2 to get thrown into a situation without some official snaps under his belt.

First game with the new spread offence,give it time. patients

 

[HooverDam]

patients

Ok Doctor

 

[Gaddabout]

Well thats not really true either. He wasn't 'terrible' nor was he 'strong' just mediocre. What would make one think he was 'strong'? How many times did he hang receivers out to dry by throwing balls above their heads? It happened at least 3 times. How did he do recognizing the blitz and call an audible or throw to a quick hot route? It looked like about 0 times to me. How many times did he have to call a timeout because ASU was about to get a delay? 3 times. Im really confused about 'strong pocket presence' from Sullivan, he was under constant duress (not his fault) but only did a mediocre job handling it, he had some nice scampers, but he's such a slug it didn't ever result in a 1st.

Respectfully, there's no way you can know how he handled the blitz because you don't know what packages they had in or if they even had audibles and reads installed. Neither QB called any, not for protection, not for hot reads.

Give Sully just three of the five dropped passes back and he's over 60 percent completion with a couple of touchdowns. Every pass he threw with his feet set was on target, and couple of those would have been great passes at the NFL level because Sully was actually throwing to the proper shoulder in the seams, not just throwing to the numbers.

I liked Oz -- raved about him from the practices I've seen -- but he's not ready and he won't be ready this year. He may have to be ready if Sully gets hurt, but ASU won't be as successful with him starting this year. Just look at the TD pass he threw. That's a pick-six against a Pac-10 team. It's a hanging curveball. You don't throw loopty-loops into the teeth of two-deep coverage, not over the middle, and not into the back seam. Taylor Mays would've been in the other end zone before you or I could have said 'Hello Matsumoto.'

I think ASU fan base suffers far too much from 'backup QB' syndrome. The next guy is always the guy -- until he starts, then it's the NEXT guy. It's the worst reality series in Phoenix. At least give Sullivan four games before you start ripping him to shreds.