Arizona State Football: Grading the Sun Devils Game vs Colorado

With a 31-point spread on the game, no one expected the No. 21 Arizona State Sun Devils to fall to the Colorado Buffaloes. Week 9 was no different than many weeks for the Sun Devils as they moved to 6-2 on the season and 4-1 in the Pac-12. The Sun Devils will be looking to continue their move through the BCS rankings, while also building confidence heading into their likely Pac-12 Championship game.

The Buffaloes, along with Utah, are the new kids in the Pac-12. Neither team has started out their Pac-12 era with a good start, as both have been dominated by the Sun Devils. On Saturday, Arizona State gave the Buffaloes a 48-14 whooping, confirming what many believed going into the game.

The Sun Devils have a long road ahead of them, but with this victory and many upsets on the day, the Sun Devils will be looking to move up in the BCS rankings. Here are the grades for the Sun Devils' win over Colorado in Week 9.

Quarterback Brock Osweiler

Stats: 18-for-28, 307 passing yards, two touchdowns and one fumble

What He Did Well

In Sunday's game, quarterback Brock Osweiler handled the Buffaloes defense extremely well. He started out the game hot, tossing two touchdown passes in the first quarter—his second time doing so in two games. Osweiler also kept the offense riding high the entire game, as well as keeping their composure high despite the huge landslide victory.

Where He Struggled

Osweiler didn't really struggle in Saturday's game, but one could say that his performance dropped off after the first quarter. Osweiler kept the team going, but he only threw two touchdown passes and that ended with the first quarter. Still, many won't complain about his performance. Osweiler did fumble the ball once, but he has been relatively quiet on the turnover front this season.

Grade: A

Running Back Cameron Marshall

Stats: 15 carries, 114 yards and three touchdowns

What He Did Well

Cameron Marshall tore up the Colorado Buffaloes defense. The Arizona State running back didn't struggle all game, averaging 7.1 yards per carry. Although the Sun Devils looked to pass the ball more in this game, Marshall had the majority of the Sun Devil touchdowns. It was just another great game in what Marshall has been displaying since overcoming injuries dating back to Week 2. Backup running back Jamal Miles also came in to play garbage minutes, gaining 30 yards on three carries. One of those was for a touchdown as well.

Where He Struggled

Marshall really didn't struggle anywhere. He did what he was supposed to do in the rushing game. The only place where he perhaps struggled was in the receiving game, but that is another slide.

Grade: A+

Receivers

Combined Stats: 19 receptions, 315 yards and two touchdowns

Who Did Well

No Sun Devil receiver had over five receptions, but leading receiver Gerell Robinson managed to bring in four catches for 89 yards. None of those receptions were touchdowns. The two receivers who caught the Arizona State touchdowns were Jamal Miles and Kevin Ozier. Both receivers totaled about 40 yards on receptions on the day. Most of their yards though came on their touchdown reception as Miles' was for 24 yards and Ozier's was for 33 yards.

Who Struggled

After becoming big receivers the last few weeks for the Sun Devils, Mike Willie and George Bell seemed to have disappeared in Saturday's game. Willie did have one reception for 28 yards, but outside of that he was relatively ineffective. Bell also was silent on the day, only catching one ball for eight yards. The biggest issue of all was that not one receiver topped 90 yards. So while the Sun Devils spread the wealth, no one really came through huge.

Overall Grade: B+

Offensive Line

What They Did Well

The Sun Devils didn't have much difficulty handling the Colorado Buffaloes defensive line. Quarterback Brock Osweiler was only sacked twice, which was very low considering Arizona State's track record. While protecting Osweiler well, the Sun Devils were able to gain huge amounts of yards through the air and on the ground.

The other impressive result of Arizona State's offensive line was that they only committed one false start penalty and two holding calls. The o-line is made up of mostly veterans, but they have been pretty consistent on committing false start and holding penalties throughout the season.

Where They Struggled

There really wasn't much to complain here. This offensive line played like a top 5 team on Saturday.

Overall Grade: A

Defensive Line

What They Did Well

The Arizona State Sun Devils defensive line did a great job in stopping the Colorado Buffaloes offense. They had eight tackles for a loss, two of them being sacks on Buffaloes' quarterback Tyler Hansen. They also held Colorado to a total of 83 yards on the ground on 30 carries. They were able to get into the backfield relatively easily, increasing the pressure on Hansen and the Buffaloes offense. The Sun Devils also forced two fumbles in the game.

Where They Struggled

Like most of the Sun Devils squad, the defensive line didn't struggle much anywhere. They didn't commit any penalties all game. The only place that one could complain is that they didn't sack Hansen or freshman quarterback Nick Hirschman more than two times.

Overall Grade: A

Linebackers

Vontaze Burfict

Arizona State's standout middle linebacker was relatively quiet once again. He did have nine total tackles for the game, but his aggressive impact seemed to be absent. Burfict has the ability to beat up any offense in college football, but his fear of being penalized has held him back. His roughing the passer call sure didn't help this cause. We will have to see how Burfict does following a slight injury in Saturday's game.

What They Did Well

What the Sun Devil linebackers did well in this game was they kept the pressure on the Colorado quarterbacks, as well as assisting in stopping the run and pass. Colorado was held to just 7-for-17 on third down attempts, making them ineffective almost all game. This linebacker group is important, being led by Burfict, Shelly Lyons and Oliver Aaron. Speaking of Aaron, he was effective in getting into the backfield, tallying one sack on quarterback Tyler Hansen.

Where They Struggled

It wasn't so much where they struggled on Saturday, but rather who struggled. Shelly Lyons has been a huge impact player this entire season, but this game he was relatively quiet. It really depends on where the ball ends up, but Lyons only had three tackles in this game. Against a team like Colorado, one would expect Arizona State's stud linebacker would have put up some bigger numbers.

Overall Grade: A-

Secondary

What They Well

The Sun Devils held the Buffaloes to just one passing touchdown. They also only committed two penalties. What was mostly impressive was that the Sun Devils continued their interception streak, forcing two more in this game. The first came on a Clint Floyd pick in the second quarter. That didn't lead to anything, though. Keelan Johnson forced the second turnover in the beginning of the third quarter, one that resulted in a Sun Devil field goal.

Where They Struggled

Holding the offense to only 14 points, the defense did relatively well all around. They did allow one passing touchdown, but that wasn't terrible. The problem was that the Sun Devils allowed 337 total passing yards. That number is just too large for such a terrible offense. If the Sun Devils can't fix this gap in their secondary, they will likely struggle in their rematch against Oregon or first battle with Stanford.

The only player that could be said to struggle was Osahon Irabor. In the second quarter, Irabor committed a stupid pass interference call. Luckily that drive resulted in a Colorado turnover. Irabor wasn't done there. He also committed another pass interference call in the fourth quarter that resulted in a Buffalo touchdown. At this point in the game it didn't matter, but it wasn't necessary.

Overall Grade: B

Special Teams

Field Goals: 2/2 at 38, 46 yards

What They Did Well

While the special teams has always been a strong suit of Arizona State, they did a solid job on Saturday of holding the Buffaloes to no big run backs or return touchdowns. The Sun Devils were successful, though, in other ways, forcing a fumble and recovering it. That resulted in a Cameron Marshall touchdown. Kicker Alex Gourette also didn't miss a field goal or extra point.

Where They Struggled

The special teams did a solid job on Saturday. Their forced fumble topped off the day and showed how strong the Sun Devil defense and special teams are this year.

Overall Grade: A

Coach Dennis Erickson

Where Did He Succeed

Coach Dennis Erickson did a great job in having his team keep its composure. Following a huge loss at Oregon and a bye week, some feared that the Sun Devils may fall off. Instead, they came in and continued to dominate in games they were supposed to. He also called an excellent game, scoring a total of five offensive touchdowns.

Where Did He Fail

For a few weeks it disappeared, but on Saturday the Sun Devils' penalties had returned. The Sun Devils committed 11 penalties for 101 yards. That is just too many. Against any other team, Arizona State would have likely struggled. While Erickson had the team under great composure, he failed to have them disciplined. Luckily, the Sun Devils have a few more games to work these issues out.

Grade: B

Intangible: Sun Devil Crowd

It was homecoming at Arizona State this weekend, and the crowd was strong as ever. The stadium was filled at all corners with the Sun Devil faithful cheering on their team. The game was a blowout, but still, many fans stuck around for the entire game.

It has been a few years since the Sun Devils have been playing as well as they are now, and Sun Devil Stadium has been filled up quite well this season. The fans have become a force in the games, being extremely loud and passionate about the game.

Grade: B+ (due to fans leaving early)