Herm Edwards hopes hitting team benchmarks translates to more wins
Aug 14, 2018, 4:05 AM | Updated: 7:25 am
ASU head coach Herm Edwards talks with his players after the team’s first scrimmage of the season Saturday, Aug. 11, in Tempe (Tyler Drake/Arizona Sports)
(Tyler Drake/Arizona Sports)
When the Arizona State football team takes the field Sept. 1 against UTSA, improvement – in multiple areas – will be the focus of head coach Herm Edwards.
Edwards joined 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Bickley & Marotta to discuss the differences he hopes to see in 2018 from 2017.
“You talk about poise under stressful moments. When the chaos begins and all of a sudden there’s a bad play, how do you react?” Edwards said.
He is hoping to see less of the “front-running” mentality he has seen in the team and keep them focused on hitting goals that they have set for this season.
“We have some markers set, and if we can achieve those markers, obviously, we will win more games,” Edwards said.
Edwards replaces Todd Graham, who led the Sun Devils to seven wins a season ago. The unofficial benchmark will most likely be a topic of discussion as the Sun Devils journey through the 2018 schedule. Their schedule was ranked the sixth toughest in the nation by AthlonSports.com.
“Improvement needs to come in our return game, for one,” Edwards said. “Defensively, we have to be a much-improved tackling team, and the points allowed are way too many in the last three years. (Opponents) averaging 35 points, that’s not going to win a lot of games for you.”
Edwards also noted the improvements he hopes to see in the offense.
“We have to do things better on third downs; not very good in the second quarter scoring points, eleventh in the conference; not enough explosive plays, only fifth in the conference,” Edwards said.
Edwards has 18 more days to implement the systems to put the Sun Devils in a position to win more games in 2018 than in 2017.
