Arizona State Football: Week 5 Report Card Against Oregon State

The Arizona State Sun Devils had a shaky game against the Oregon State Beavers. In the end, the Sun Devils pulled out a 35-20 victory, but one could argue it was not well executed.

Arizona State struggled in all areas despite the win.

After coming off of a huge win against USC, the Sun Devils knew they were poised to win the Pac-12 South as long as they kept things going.

The Sun Devils, now 4-1, are still heading into the right direction with road games against Utah and Oregon next up for coach Dennis Erickson and crew.

The Sun Devils moved up to No. 22 in the rankings, so they will need to patch up a few things to keep it up and have more efficient winning games for them to make a solid bowl bid.

Here are the Arizona State Sun Devils grades for Week 5 against Oregon State.

Brock Osweiler

Brock Osweiler quite possibly had his worst game of the 2011 season against his worst opponent.

Over the course of the game, Osweiler went 24-for-37 for 258 yards with two touchdowns. Sure that looks great, but that wasn't the full story.

Osweiler also was responsible for all four Arizona State turnovers, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble.

On a positive note, Osweiler did seem to spread the offense once again, connecting with seven different receivers.

Osweiler was also ineffective on the ground, rushing for -28 yards. Those yards were mostly lost with his four sacks.

Grades: D+

Cameron Marshall and the Run Game

After Cameron Marshall ran for 140 yards and three touchdowns against USC, expectations were nothing but high.

Marshall seemed to struggle against the Beavers from the beginning.

The run game just couldn't get it going, and it made the Sun Devils go back to an uneven attack.

The Sun Devils threw the ball 37 times versus 25 carries (Osweiler ran for another seven but those were not designated run plays).

Marshall ran the ball 14 times for 80 times and two touchdowns.

Still, Marshall just didn't look as smooth as he did against USC. He did average 5.7 yards per carry, but that could be credited to one giant 37 yard touchdown run.

All the blame can't be put on Marshall though, as ASU seemed to just ditch the run game for about two quarters.

Grades: B+

Defense

Well, Arizona State allowed 20 points to quite possibly the worst team in the Pac-12.

That being said, many of Oregon State's scores were off of the Arizona State's turnovers which gave OSU a nice short field.

The Beavers gained a total of 388 yards on the game, but was only able to convert two touchdowns.

Sean Mannion threw for 344 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions.

Arizona State could have had a few more interceptions, as they failed to catch many easy passes thrown into their direction.

Oregon State was relatively one dimensional, throwing the ball 40 times versus 14 times rushing. Arizona State though just had a hard time stopping the pass, even though it was pretty much the only way Oregon State was moving the ball.

The Beavers only ran for 47 total yards, so Arizona State did their job in the stopping the run. They only sacked Mannion twice though.

Holding OSU to only 4-for-15 on third down attempts was able to keep the Beavers out of the end zone more then they could have been.

Still, the Sun Devils defense looked to be playing down to the Beavers' level, and it allowed OSU to make some serious strides to possibly winning this game.

Grade: B

Offensive Line

The offensive line seemed as if they left everything at the USC game, as Osweiler was constantly being rushed.

After they protected Osweiler well against USC allowing only one sack, the offensive line allowed Osweiler to be sacked four times.

The offensive line also struggled to protect, as Cameron Marshall and the running/screen pass game was pretty much ineffective.

The rushing game gained only 109 yards on 32 carries. Seven of those carries were Osweiler's, which totaled for a loss of 28 yards.

The offensive line just seemed to not be all there Saturday night, and it certainly gave Arizona State and their fans a serious scare.

Grade: D

Coaching

After what seemed to be a well thought out game against USC in the previous week, Arizona State looked a bit like its old self against Oregon State.

On a positive note, Arizona State only received six penalties for 74 yards. The penalties have been decreasing with each game, so apparently the coaching has taken stand on this issue.

Besides for the fallen number in penalties, Arizona State didn't look too great elsewhere.

For one, the offense had four turnovers. Once again, the Sun Devils fell to an unbalanced attack, heavily focusing on the pass (37 to 25). This was unacceptable, and it looked like Illinois all over again.

When Arizona State balances their attack, they have their most success. Instead, they focused entirely on the running game in the first quarter, and then moved to the passing game from there on out. Instead, they should know to balance it, otherwise they become too predictable.

Teams know that ASU has a electrifying pass game, so they know to watch for that.

The other part where the coaching seemed to fail was keeping the defense mentally strong. They seemed to fall to Oregon State's level, playing way below their abilities.

Arizona State, if they want to be a winner, needs to continue to play smart and to their fullest every week. Otherwise, they will continue to have scares and will fail easily to teams like Oregon.

Grade: C-

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