Arizona State Football: Week 7 Report Card for Loss Against Oregon

Well, the Sun Devils couldn't pull out the upset over the Oregon Ducks. They needed to make a splash when the initial BCS rankings came out.

Following the loss to Oregon, it appears the Sun Devils are on the outside looking in at the initial BCS rankings. This is quite upsetting for a team that was coming into Saturday night's game with much hype around them, but that is what happens when you lose two games before the initial rankings come out.

Oregon is a great team, so it was no surprise that they won in the end. But many fans and media types saw the Sun Devils as having a chance to make some noise against an Oregon team without its star running back LaMichael James. Ultimately, we know that didn't happen.

We saw things across the board from all different aspects of the Sun Devils' team. Here are the grades for Saturday night's loss at Oregon.

Brock Osweiler

Brock Osweiler looked like he was ready for the biggest stage of his college career at first. The ASU quarterback came out firing early, but sizzled out as the game went on.

Osweiler started out the game going 10-for-13 with two touchdowns on 123 yards. I mean, if anyone was watching this game, they saw the Sun Devils early 14-7 lead as the start to a potential upset at Autzen Stadium.

Ultimately, things didn't turn out so pretty as the game progressed.

That was it for the touchdown passes, as Osweiler ended up throwing for a total of 291 yards while tacking on two interceptions to his night's numbers.

One of the interceptions were arguably not Oswieler's fault, but still, Jamal Miles didn't catch the pass, and it tumbled into Cliff Harris' hand for an Oregon interception.

Grade: C+

Cameron Marshall

Cameron Marshall has been doing things as expected over the last four weeks. He did hit a snag at Utah in Week 6, but even then, he scored a touchdown.

On Saturday night, Arizona State ran the ball 19 times less than they threw it, so Marshall was able to produce when he was given the chance.

On 20 carries, Marshall ran for 97 yards and a touchdown. It wasn't Marshall's best performance on the season, but it was affective. Marshall possibly could have made more things happen for the Arizona State offense if he was given the opportunity, but Saturday night ultimately relied in the pass.

Grade: A-

Arizona State Defense

The Arizona State defense didn't look so scary on Saturday night. Sure, they kept up the turnover streak by forcing an interception and a fumble, but that just wasn't enough.

The Sun Devils were lucky to have LaMichael James out for the night's matchup because if he was in, they would have been greatly embarrassed.

Without James, the Ducks were still incredibly successful on the ground. "Backup" running back Kenjon Barner exploded for 170 yards and a touchdown. Imagine if James was healthy and played. I would rather not. It was only Barner, though, as the Sun Devils couldn't stop either quarterback.

Either? Yep, the Sun Devils even knocked out quarterback Darron Thomas towards the end of the third quarter. Before Thomas got knocked out, he gained 73 yards on the ground with two rushing touchdowns. He is a quarterback of course, so he also tacked on two touchdown passes on 13-of-17 passes for 187 yards. Thomas proved to be the total package Saturday night.

Desperate ASU fans begging for a break could only hope that Thomas would leave the game with an injury or something, and he did. That didn't make a difference, though, as backup quarterback Bryan Bennett kept the Ducks moving on the ground. He only threw the ball five times for 22 yards. Instead, he made his mark on the ground, gaining 65 yards on five carries.

It was embarrassing for Sun Devil fans. They had two of Oregon's top players knocked out, and they just couldn't capitalize on the opportunities given to them. For a great defense, there is still much work to be done.

Grade: D-

Exposing the X-Factor

It is no secret that the X-Factor in the Pac-12 South is running back Jamal Miles.

The Sun Devils have used Miles in many different situations, including return man, running back, wide receiver and even in one instance at quarterback. The Sun Devils didn't see their X-Factor being very affective Saturday night.

Miles did gain 68 yards on seven carries, but one of those was a 51-yard run. Besides for that, Miles was pretty much ineffective in the run game, and more notably the passing game.

The passing game failures can be highlighted by Miles' end-zone touchdown drop that fell into Oregon's Cliff Harris' hands. This turnover ultimately ended the Sun Devils' hopes of a comeback.

Miles is an extremely talented player, and the Sun Devils need to use him in the right situations. No one can blame Osweiler from making that pass, and it just happens to be Miles who dropped the pass. Still, a true x-factor of a team needs to complete those plays to keep up that label.

X-Factor: B-

Coaching

This season has been considered by many as a make-or-break season for Arizona State head coach Dennis Erickson.

Erickson has done a good enough job to be considered to be given another go next season, but this loss at Oregon really hurt the high hopes of many who follow the Sun Devils.

The coaching wasn't effective. After a great start in the first quarter, the Sun Devils just disappeared. Sure, they only lost by 14 points, but they just didn't look in it after the second half got underway.

The Sun Devils have done a good job of keeping their composure high, but Saturday night's effort didn't seem to be there.

The Sun Devils were ineffective on third down, going 5-for-16. This was not acceptable, especially for a team that has been pretty effective on third down this season.

On a positive note, Erickson's squad was relatively good on the penalty side of things. Autzen stadium is a difficult place to play for any team on the road, but the Sun Devils only committed eight penalties compared to Oregon's seven.

Grade: C+