State of the Sun Devils Podcast: Arizona State rallies to big win over No. 24 TCU

Offense out of synch and consistently finding themselves requiring long 3rd down yardage. TCU's pass rush from their left side continually kept Leavitt under pressure. They were coming in almost untouched. But the defense is definitely tightening up in the 2nd half when required to.

Scattebo was critical to enable ASU to sustain long drives. And to get the critical 3rd down and 4th down yards. To score the TD's in the Red Zone!

I thought TCU was the best opponent ASU has played so far, so bottom-line, since they're not counting style points only wins and losses, I'm happy with the win. Agreed, Scattebo was a great fit for ASU, but wearing a Giants Uni now,

However, I believe ASU will continue to get better, find ways to win, so long as Leavitt and Jordyn Tyson stay healthy enough to play. I saw a ton of improvement on both sides of the ball on Friday Night, which also happened last year. Defensively, I expect Alford (who was First Team, All-Big 12 last year) coming back will play huge dividends for the back end of ASU's D. Last year ASU's starting safeties Alford and Rowswer (who was Honorable Mention Big 12 last year), where almost psychic regarding knowing what the other was going to do, which is most important when defending against the deep throws, especially when bringing pressure. Alford missed the Miss St game, and it was his substitute Wilson who was out of position and allowed the deep throw. IMHO, Alford, at a minimum, would have knocked that ball down, and possibly intercepted that ball. Alford plays FS, football's version of Center field, so to speak. Alford got hurt Game 1, and has been out since. IMHO, last year Alford and Rowser were the best pair of Safeties in the Big 12.

Vs TCU Sam Leavitt was better at delivering the ball and the Receiving Corp were much better at reading the Zone, knowing where to go, and running proper routes. I expect to see that improvement to continue ever week, and make a big jump by the time ASU plays it's next game in SLC at Utah, because ASU gets extra practice because of playing Friday Night. I thought the best news to come out of the post-game presser, besides there being no major injuries, was that Dilly's already said he's going to get more involved calling plays.

Vs TCU Dilly reminded everyone what a special play caller he is. On 3rd down late in the 4th Qtr, where ASU scored late to tie, after Dilly called timeout he grabbed the Offensive Play Sheet. While Im not certain, it sure looked to me like Dilly's playcall on 3rd down, set up Jordyn Tyson's TD on 4th down, which I was thinking was something that was discussed when Game Planning. IMHO, Dilly picked up the playsheet like he was looking for something, his face reacting, him nodding his head slightly in agreement when he found it. The 3rd down play was designed to get a look at how TCU's pass defense was set up. I thought all game TCU was overplaying outside throws, at the expense of inside routes. He guessed correctly, something he's really good at, just ask the people he coached with at Memphis, Oregon, Florida State and Auburn, where Dilly onsistently beat defenses by outguessing them, using one play to get a look, and then following up with a 2nd play to take advantage of what he saw.

Going forward, I expect Dilly to get more involved setting up plays like that 4th Qtr TD. He's too good a resource to waste.

The Devils defense is holding up their end of the game - the offense is struggling a bit and the big hole that has not been filled (and probably will not be filled soon), is the Skattebo void. It is now obvious how huge that guy was to the team's success last season and if ASU want to contend for the Big 12 title, they need to find other ways to win - something they have done the last two games, fortunately. Can they continue to do so??