Arizona State football and Michigan State played in a super ugly game, and somehow, college football’s new overlord, Herm Edwards, came out on top.
When Arizona State hired Herm Edwards, I, like everyone else, laughed at them. I thought that the Sun Devils hiring an old man with no college football coaching experience was an awful idea, and questioned if Arizona State was actually aware of who Herm Edwards was.
Saturday night, we were all proven wrong, as Herm and the Sun Devils flipped our doubts back on us, and upset Michigan State in probably the dumbest football game I’ve ever watched.
It was messy, slow-paced, extremely bad to watch and just generally upsetting, but Arizona State got the job done at home, toppling Michigan State 16-13 on a last-second field goal. That last second field goal came after two minutes of Arizona State burning clock, because they were super close to the endzone, and they knew that making the kick would be easier than scoring a touchdown and trying to stop Michigan State. It’s absolutely baffling that Arizona State knew this, and did the correct thing in this situation.
Michigan State, on the other hand, seemed completely shocked by another team doing to them what they’ve been doing to their opponents for years. Has Mark Dantonio finally met his intellectual equal? Is Herm Edwards too powerful? It’s time to let the takes fly.
1. Michigan State has some serious issues
No matter how funny it is to joke about, this loss was not entirely a result of Herm Edwards’ genius. The truth of the matter is that Michigan State is a far more flawed football team than we thought coming into the season. Having so much returning production is a big deal, and their defense seems pretty great still, but this offense is really, really bad right now.
The offensive line struggled a ton with Arizona State’s front seven. Michigan State’s receivers really struggled to get separation, and rarely made big plays when they did get the ball. This offense has no real explosiveness, and while Brian Lewerke is really good, he can only do so much. The passing game seems to be the best part of this offense, and it just doesn’t have the consistency to be a huge threat.
On top of that, Mark Dantonio isn’t exactly known for his offensive prowess. What we see now is probably what this team is going to look like all year, and that’s a huge problem. Against top teams like Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan, I don’t see any way for Michigan State to grab yards in tough spots. That leads me to my second takeaway.
2. Michigan State can’t run at all
We’ve seen plenty of dumb, inefficient offenses under Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. His thing has never been to score a bunch of points, and usually, their clock management, grind it out style is still good for double-digit wins just about every year. However, unlike usual, the grinding it out really isn’t working this season. The rushing attack was bad against Utah State, and it was dreadful against Arizona State.
LJ Scott seems to just not be all that good. Connor Heyward doesn’t seem capable of playing every down, or picking up tough yards in the trenches. There really doesn’t seem to be a great back on this roster, and it’s really hurting the offensive production. This dumb offense calls for a lot of early down runs, and they just aren’t getting any kind of yardage on that right now.
That puts Lewerke in bad situations, and more often than not, leads to more punts than it does points. Michigan State’s defense is good, but as we saw tonight, they can only handle so much. To successfully run that clock management game, Michigan State needs to be able to run. That means finding a new answer at running back, or fixing the offensive line. I don’t see that happening.
3. Arizona State might be the Pac-12 South favorite
As strange as it is to say, Arizona State is in an extremely good spot right now. The Sun Devils are 2-0 on the season, and while they’re off being Michigan State, their Pac-12 South counterparts USC and Arizona both took losses, to Stanford and Houston respectively. While the rest of the division looked pretty good, Arizona State seems to actually be the best of the bunch right now.
Obviously, it’s impossible to say that for sure right now. USC lost to a great team, and is probably still going to be the South representative in the Pac-12. However, Arizona State seems like at least number two right now, and based on their first two performances, they could be the top team outright very soon.
They’ll have plenty of chances to prove that, with San Diego State on the schedule next week, followed by Washington, Oregon State and Colorado before a bye week. If Arizona State emerges from that stretch with five wins, they’d be in awesome shape to start the second half of the season.
If the Sun Devils can evolve past their “throw it up for N’Keal Harry” offense as Manny Wilkins finds his way again, they look to be a seriously dangerous team, especially with what seems to be a pretty great defense. Are you ready for Herm Edwards: head coach of a top 25 team? Can anyone stop Herm Edwards?