The media picked ASU to finish 9th in the conference in 2010.

In frustrating fashion, ASU has improved on that prediction, but not by much. ASU could finish as high as 5th in the conference depending on how it does against Arizona on Thursday. It won’t finish worse than 8th, but could also ring in its third consecutive losing season—something Sun Devil faithful haven’t borne in their lifetimes.

My preseason prediction was pretty close—we’ll end the season with either 5 or 6 victories and fall just short of a bowl game. It’s another disappointing record for a team that was supposed to be on the cusp of competing annually for conference championships by firing Dirk Koetter.

Instead, the team has seen unprecedented losing streaks and the first back-to-back losing seasons since WWII. While the team clearly has upgraded its talent—particularly its speed—in the last few years and shared a conference championship in 2008, it’s also suffered from its share of near-misses.

In 2009, the Sun Devils lost 4 games by a combined 13 points without its Lou Groza Award-winning kicker. Thus far in 2010, ASU has lost 4 games by a combined 9 points with a suddenly-mediocre Lou Groza Award-winning kicker. Adding to frustration of fans, ASU had a chance to pull off upsets of Wisconsin, Oregon and Stanford but came up just short, often on weird or unusual plays.

In spite of the reassurances from the athletic department, Dennis Erickson is on the hot seat of fans. Many believe that he’ll need at least an 8-win season in the new PAC-12 next year to retain his job. Given the youth of the team (how many teams have you heard of that only start one senior?), the close-but-not-quite losses, and the resulting turmoil a coaching change can have, I’m willing to give him another year. But he has no excuses for next year.

My 24th year of season tickets

It’s early fall in Phoenix, and that means another season of ASU football is upon us. After a shared PAC-10 championship in his first year, fan approval of Dennis Erickson was off the charts. Following two disappointing seasons — the first back-to-back losing seasons in 60+ years — there’s open discussion amongst fans of who ASU should pursue for the head coaching job in 2011. In what is otherwise a wide-open year for the Rose Bowl, the media has picked ASU to finish ninth in the conference.

What to expect

While the team will be returning what is expected to be a stellar defense, the questions all center around the offense. New offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone has installed an up tempo, spread ‘em out and throw offense. That’s excited some fans, even though it resembles the quick strike offense so many of them came to despise about Dirk Koetter. However, this defense just may have enough depth for this philosophy to work. That is, however, if the offensive line stays healthy and manages to play above expectations, the quarterback position remains stable, and the wide receivers make consistent plays.

My prediction

The offense will be improved, but not stellar. The lack of offensive line depth will remain a problem. The defense will not be quite as good as last year, but will be a solid and formidable force. After losing 4 games by a combined 13 points, we should see far better special teams play with Weber’s return. Erickson will pull out the stops when necessary; he’d better, his job is on the line.

This will be a better team than the 2009 team. Will it be enough?

Unfortunately, I think we’ll still end up a game or two short from a bowl game. We’ll win 5-6 games, but unless the offense improves significantly, I don’t think that we’ll be bowling again this year. There are still too many questions on offense, a challenging schedule, and a disinterested fan base. However, if the offense can get it going, this team will not finish 9th in the conference and will remain in the bowl mix.

Go Devils!

Another week, another disappointing Sun Devil loss.

It’s getting tough to figure out what’s wrong here, except that things have simply gotten progressively worse with this team since Erickson took over. He had a great 8-0 start to his ASU coaching career, but it’s been downright atrocious since then. I refuse to believe that it’s the talent.

Two stats tell the tale:

ASU will have its first back-to-back losing seasons since 1946-47. That was the third longest streak in major college football.

ASU set a school record last year of 6 consecutive losses. It could match that again this year.

Boy has it been frustrating.

The program squandered a great opportunity this season. It had a winnable schedule. It had a great defense. And there isn’t a truly dominate team in the conference this year. This was a great year for an above average team to make a run for the Roses.

Sure, there have been injuries. Many, many injuries. But, it’s not the injuries that have spelled doom for the Devils.

It’s been the coaching.

Erickson is a better coach than he’s shown at ASU thus far. But unless he makes some wholesale changes this offseason, which begins earlier than it should for a program like this, he should find himself on the hot seat in 2010. He knows that something is broken; let’s see if he can fix it.

And quick.

The State of ASU football in November 2009 is in disarray.

Sure, we know that we’re playing a ton of young players – for the second year in a row – and that Dennis Erickson has only been here for three seasons. That recruiting is generally better than it’s been and that we’re landing some players, like Vontaze Burfict, that this school hasn’t before. That Dennis Erickson is not a loser, and that he’s won everywhere he’s coached. Except for the pros, of course.

In short, we know that things won’t always be this way. Or at least, that’s what we’re told, and what we tell ourselves.

But it’s not clear that a better future is ensured. A few thoughts:

There is no way we will win with Rich Olsen

Since arriving on campus, offensive coordinator Rich Olsen has been downright offensive. Known for its proliferation under Dirk Koetter, ASU’s offensive has simply gotten worse and worse under Erickson’s tenure. I think we generally have better players than we did five years ago. Unfortunately, we just don’t have better coaches. Rich Olsen tops the list of duds.

The scheme the team is able to run continues to decline, and Erickson’s to the point that he needed to run down to Texas for a refresher course on being an offensive coordinator. Then he told Olsen go sit in the booth and pretend to do something. Of course, Erickson calling the plays hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire either, but then again, that’s not supposed to be his job. Olsen is simply dead weight.

Erickson needs to right this ship and fast – and the clear and obvious path towards that is firing Olsen and finding a young and innovative young coach to replace him. Or at least one that can recruit.

Dimitri Nance

I’ve never been much of a fan of Dimitri Nance, but I think he’s made some serious strides this year. He dances in the hole much less than he used, and his vision has been a pleasant surprise. At times, he can run very hard and pick up those extra yards. He’s done a fabulous job of blocking for a running back. But finally, he just has some balance troubles. He often goes down when there was only minor contact, and often mindboggingly easily. It’d be great if he could turn on some afterburners, too, as the tv looks like it’s on slo-mo while Nance is running the ball.

Penalties, penalties, penalties

It’s sickening how many penalties we get each game. You can’t beat the other team if you’re always beating yourselves. This needs to stop. Period.

Developing the younger players

The most annoying thing about this season is that we’re only half-heartedly playing the younger guys. Sure, we’re taking our lumps with their inexperience, but the problem is that the players we have been playing don’t seem to be getting any better. The only two players on the team that seem to have gotten better since Erickson has arrived are Trevor Hankins and Mike Nixon. Nance and others have made some minor strides, but it’s clear that few of them are developing in line with their potential. Some other coaches in the conference (I’m looking at you, Mike Riley and Jim Harbaugh) routinely get more from their players. Our coaching staff seems to get far far less.

The coaching hot seat?

So is Dennis Erickson on the coaching hot seat? No.

But fans are getting very concerned, and while Lisa Love may not be considering a change, she definitely knows that fans aren’t happy. Ticket sales are way down, there’s little excitement around the program and the boos rain freely down in the first quarter of home games.

To survive and prosper, Erickson needs to make some serious changes. And before a third straight disappointing season begins.

It was one of the most baffling plays to win a game. Embattled quarterback Danny Sullivan, who was booed by the home crowd during the video introductions, connected with flu-stricken but wide open Chris McGaha for a 50-yard touchdown to take the lead with only :05 seconds left to play.

What a night of elation Danny Sullivan must have had. It’s not redemption, at least not in the eyes of the fans, but it sure must have felt good to celebrate with the stadium and hear the “Dan-Ny, Sulli-Van” chant from the student section.

Other notes:

• Chris McGaha is the only person I want making that catch. The ball hung up there for days, long enough for fans to imagine Chris tripping on the goalline or some other calamity before returning to reality – this is Chris McGaha. He makes the impossible catch look routine. Touchdown.
• Vontaze Burfict is a beast, but an uncontrolled beast. Mike Nixon needs to mentor him on being a leader on the field. Burfict’s penalties really hurt the team. His post-play rowdiness and antics get old quickly. And his cheap shot against Locker was, dare I say it, classless.
• The Devils allowed an inferior team to hang around, even when they clearly seemed to be dominating. This team lacks a killer instinct. Nonetheless, a win is a win.
• The referees continue to amaze. Several horrendous calls out there, including a defensive pass interference call that was beyond ridiculous.
• Dennis Erickson is the king of quotes after a game like this.

To say it was a frustrating, disappointing and ultimately futile night is a substantial understatement. The first half was one of the most tragic of recent memory, the officiating downright mind-boggling, and the quarterback play saddening.

Danny Sullivan has worked hard. He’s does all that he can. But it’s just not enough. Sullivan simply doesn’t have the accuracy necessary to make this offense go, and the defense can’t be expected to carry the team game in and game out. He doesn’t make costly mistakes, but he also doesn’t make the plays that you need him to. The quarterback position is clearly the weakest link on the team and unless we can play small out-of-conference schools like Louisiana-Monroe every week, Erickson’s going to have back-to-back losing seasons. He needs to give Brock Osweiller a shot – and at least get him some experience for the future.

Nonetheless Erickson manages to land a highly touted five star JC defensive end, Bruce Irvin. Irvin switched his commitment from Tennessee to ASU during the weekend – the only piece of good news to come out of the weekend.

After the Georgia game, I was cautiously optimistic that we might be able to exceed my 5-7 prediction for the season, but after the performance on Saturday, I’m just hoping we can attain that low bar.

Another lower tier opponent, another win.

There wasn’t much drama in this one. ASU’s Omar Bolden returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and there wasn’t any looking back. That’s probably a good thing, because it wasn’t much closer to halftime that the Devils had actually put the game out of reach.

It wasn’t as clear of a victory as Idaho State had been, but ASU did what it needed to in what could have been a dangerous trap game. Danny Sullivan looked much crisper, the running game – especially Dimitri Nance – was effective, and the defense continued to show that they can be something special.

Nonetheless, the stands were pretty empty and there’s still very little buzz about the Sun Devils this year. I’m still predicting a season ending record around .500, but given the two victories and a first-ever roadtrip to Georgia on the horizon, you’d expect a bit more from fans.

Hell, they should be showing up just to see true freshman phenom Vontaze Burfict step onto the field. He’s been stellar – better than advertised, actually, which is pretty amazing feat given the hype that surrounded his signing.

Dennis Erickson seems to be doing fine calling plays, with what’s seemed like a slow rollout of the playbook. Chris McGaha is back to making his circus catches. It’s hard to tell given the competition level thus far, but the offensive line hasn’t been overly offensive, an improvement over the previous two years.

That being said, the pass rush needs to improve. With such a heralded defense, and plenty of depth in the line, you’d expect ASU to have been setting sack records against the likes of ISU and UML. The pass protection still needs to improve. And while Sully has done a great job of managing the game – throwing the ball away and failing to turn the ball – he still has some growing to do. I’d especially like to see him connect on the deep ball with one of the talented receivers.

All in all, it’s about what you’d expect from an ASU team that’s likely to finish in the middle of the pack.

1. This incredibly frustrating season is finally done. Thank goodness.
2. Dennis Erickson has even more pressure on him to replace Offensive Coordinator Rich Olson.
3. Recruiting starts tomorrow. The coaches need the time this year to land some of the players they’re seeking and their calendar was just cleared.
4. The Vegas Bowl, while I would have enjoyed going and it’s a shame we’re not going, does not provide the same level of benefits as other bowls. First, you’re playing a tough BYU team that will probably score a ton of points on you (have fun UA!). Second, it’s so early in the bowl season–and the rivalry game so late–that you probably only get 6-8 additional practices scheduled, far below the 15 you’re allowed.
5. Stoops’ job at Arizona is safe for another season, and might even get another contract extension (fingers crossed!).

And, finally, Kim and I can plan a better national park roadtrip this winter.