2011 Arizona State Sun Devils Football Preview

Could this be the year of Devil? With 11 returning starters on offense and nine on the defensive side of the ball, Arizona State is a team to watch in this year’s Pac-12.

Wait a minute, though: Arizona State is one of those programs which rarely, if ever, manage to meet high expectations. Many times before, the locals in the Valley of the Sun have been led to believe that their football team will win 10 games and play in a premier bowl. Is this team really ready to exhibit the consistency that has proven to be so elusive for this suburban Phoenix school’s gridiron gang?

Arizona State has to be able to pull close games out of the fire and avoid the letdowns that invariably occur after tough losses or wrenching in-game turnabouts with decidedly negative effects. Is it any different in any season in Tempe? The Sun Devils played three top 10 teams very competitively last season. Arizona State missed an extra-point in a 20-19 loss at Wisconsin; was within a score late in the fourth quarter against eventual national runner-up Oregon despite seven turnovers; and fumbled on the goal line in a 17-14 loss to Stanford. In the Oregon game, Arizona State bolted to a 24-14 lead but, as has happened before in the desert, the Devils couldn’t sustain a high level of play; a 17-point second quarter was followed by a seven-point second half marred by a parade of interceptions.

Close games and frustrating almost-there-but-not-quite heartbreakers, as commonplace as they are in Tempe, don’t constitute the only ways in which the Sun Devils lose. This always-maddening team was blown out 50-17 by California. The searing nature of some setbacks leads to no-shows in other games. Can 2011, at long last, be different? With quarterback Brock Osweiler returning to lead the offense after relieving interception-prone Steven Threet last season, the new-look Devils, who will sport new uniforms this season, are hoping for a fresh start at quarterback. In Osweiler’s first season as a starter, ball security will be the overwhelming first concern.

On the defensive side, the Sun Devils were hit with a tough injury during spring ball. All-Pac 10 cornerback Omar Bolden went down with a knee injury. The Sun Devils have sufficient depth at the position, however, and are looking for Deveron Carr to step up. Vontaze Burfict will continue to roam the middle of the Sun Devil defense and is a pretty good player when not committing a dumb unsportsmanlike conduct or personal foul penalty. Again, consistency – the cousin of maturity - will be the key for the Sun Devils. If that can be achieved, there isn’t anything that would prevent Arizona State from returning to its first Rose Bowl since the days of Jake Plummer in 1996.

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Then again, asking for consistency from Arizona State is like expecting a service academy football team to throw the ball 50 times a game: It’s just not likely to amount to much of anything.

The schedule has its pluses and minuses. On the plus side, the Sun Devils will not be playing Stanford during the regular season. On a negative note in terms of pure win-loss calculations, Arizona State must travel to Oregon and will play just one non-BCS team during the regular season. No matter, though: Coach Dennis Erickson – rightly under fire for failing to turn this program around – won’t deliver the goods unless his players acquire the attitude and focus that have been lacking in Tempe for far too long.