Well that was something last night wasn’t it? Let’s try and digest this one a little bit. Here are my thoughts from the game:
- Arizona State was a damn good football team. They had talent all over the field even with some guys being out. That being said UTSA looked bad last night. Maybe it was first game jitters, or the fact that 13 players were making their first career start. Honestly it was probably a combination of all of it. Breaking in a new offense, new starters, and new defensive coordinator all against a juggernaut like Arizona State. It was a bad matchup for the get go.
- Cordale Grundy looked like the starting quarterback even when he struggled. That pick during his first drive was yikes but besides that he looked okay in my opinion. He did hold on to the ball a little too long in some spots and he could’ve made some better decisions here or there but overall not terrible. Taking him out of the game was puzzling to me but I am not the head coach. He will get better from this and from the rest of the out of conference games.
- The defense has some serious talent gaps. We knew they were there but I just didn’t think it was that bad. Again, measuring this them against a Power 5 opponent is probably unfair but is what we have to judge them on. Get the idea of this being a top defense out of your head. The depth is not there. Can they get there again? Of course just not now.
- Let’s start at linebacker. Josiah Tauaefa is the best player on this team hands down. You get pass him though and it gets rough in a hurry. Les Maruo did not have a good game by any stretch. He struggled in all aspects of the game. Behind him was Tyler Mahnke who allowed a touchdown the moment he replaced Maruo. The young guys need to grow up and fast. Perkins, Guidry, and Mahnke need reps in order to get ready for CUSA play.
- The secondary struggled as whole. There were some bright spots but as a collective unit they were subpar. Tackling was lacking all night long, from seniors to freshman. Carl Austin being out hurt last night. Godfrey had some lapses that I noticed. It was unfair watching Stanley Dye going up against N’Keal Harry. Brenndan Johnson did well I thought. Levine missed some tackles but overall the best defensive back last night.
- The defensive line did not show up last night. There wasn’t one quarterback hurry let alone a sack. Manny Wilkins had all day to do what he wanted. Baylor will pick UTSA apart if they give their quarterback that much time. Solomon Wise had the lone tackle for a loss for the group.
- There were some bright spots for the wide receivers. Woolen, K. Johnson, Campbell, Kellogg stood out to me. There were some dropped passes but they did okay as unit. Marquez McNair being out hurt with the lack of senior leadership on this team. Hopefully they are at full strength next week.
- So I guess it’s B.J. Daniels show now at running back. Daniels had a team leading 9 carries, while Rhodes only had 3. We will see how this plays out moving forward. I will tell you that Daniels needs to improve in pass protection. The reason Grundy fumbled is because he got picked up (literally) and pushed back into the quarterback. If he wants to be the starting running back this need to get better in a hurry.
- The offensive line was bad not other way to put it. They allowed 9 sacks, while only getting UTSA 2 net rushing yards. Frank Wilson alluded to communication as to why this group struggled. And he is probably right. This is a brand new offensive line that has not played together. They will get better as the season progresses.
- The season is not over after yesterday’s loss. It wasn’t great and there are little positives to take from it but to say this season is over or that this team can’t win games in CUSA is premature. If you expected UTSA to win any of their first three games you had some unreal expectations. Let’s see how this team progresses these next few weeks before making broad assumptions.
