Win or lose, ASU coach Herm Edwards doesn’t find sleep easy to come by

For the second weekend in a row, Herm Edwards had a sleepless night after watching his team play a football game. The second time assuredly wasn’t as pleasant as the first, however, as it came after his Arizona State squad lost on the road at San Diego State, 28-21.

Edwards couldn’t rest after being inundated with congratulations following the Sun Devils’ Sept. 8 win over No. 15 Michigan State, but losing is more of a solitary endeavor.

“I didn’t go to bed Saturday night,” ASU’s first-year head coach said. “Got off the bus at 3:30 (a.m.) and started watching the (game) tape. Watched all three phases like I always do.”

The Sun Devils’ loss at the hands of the Aztecs Saturday night was their first road contest of the season. ASU struggled to stop SDSU’s potent rushing attack and failed to garner any sort of offensive momentum in the second half, allowing the Aztecs to complete a sweep of their home-and-home series with the Sun Devils.

Edwards wasted no time — literally — before reviewing ASU’s overall performance during its first lost of the season.

“See we got in so late that it didn’t make any sense for me to go home since I get here so early in the morning,” Edwards said. “So I just got in and watched all the tape. Watched all three phases of it, did that so when the coaches came in and they were watching the tape, having a discussion about how we played.”

Edwards says he’s “good” if he gets five hours of sleep a day. To him, being awake and alert for nearly the entire day is just one of the responsibilities of his job.

“You don’t get a lot of sleep,” Edwards said. “You’re always thinking of stuff. You wake up and just start writing things down. That’s the life of a coach.”

At previous jobs, Edwards admits he got more rest every night, but that isn’t the case with his current employer. There are too many thoughts about his football team constantly swirling around in his head to shut his brain off for too long.

“You’re thinking of things to improve on, you’re thinking about your players,” Edwards said. “All those things come through your mind, there’s always things you can do.”

To Edwards, there’s more to being alert all day than analyzing his team’s performance and preparing for practices and the next opponent. It’s about cultivating an environment people want to be a part of.

“There’s always someone you’re visiting with or talking to, trying to uplift people,” Edwards said. “That’s your job as a coach, whether it’s the trainers, the weight coach, I’m always trying to uplift people because that’s your job.”

But when Edwards saw his players and coaches showing signs of fatigue Sunday, he didn’t let them waste any time as ASU prepares for its difficult Week 3 matchup against No. 10 Washington.

“The players were tired yesterday, I could tell in their faces,” Edwards said. “I knew they were going to be tired, the coaches were tired. No one is going to feel sorry for you. We’ve got to try to win us a football game this week.”

Injury update

Sophomore wide receiver Frank Darby had a career game in San Diego during Week 2, hauling in five catches for 127 yards. What would have been Darby’s sixth reception was overturned after a replay review Saturday night. Darby seemed to have caught the ball inside the 5-yard line and took a massive hit from an SDSU defensive back that was later flagged for targeting, and upon reviewing the hit the officials determined it was an incomplete pass.

Edwards noted that Darby is healthy Monday morning following his strong performance.

“He’s fine, he’s a tough guy,” Edwards said. “He’s from Jersey. I call him Jersey Frank. He’s good. He’s alright. That was a heck of an attempt by Frank too, nice throw by (senior quarterback) Manny (Wilkins), just went up and competed for the ball…Frank had a good day…”

Junior defensive end Darius Slade didn’t play against the Aztecs due to what Edwards called a hand injury. As a result, ASU freshman Jermayne Lole saw his first action of the season, registering one sack.

“Yeah, [Slade] had a thumb or a finger that was bothering him and he just felt like he couldn’t go,” Edwards said. “Hopefully he’s gonna be better this week. We need him, we need all hands on deck playing these guys (Washington). Hopefully he’ll be available this week.”

This story appears on ArizonaSports.com courtesy of a partnership with SunDevilSource.com, part of the 247 Sports Network and home for the most detailed information on Arizona State football.