What to watch for

[moonshine]

I'm interested in hearing from ASU fans on what they'll be looking for out of this team on 9/1.

1) Offensive tempo: How long between snaps? How many plays does the offense run?
2) OL play: How well can they protect JJ and give him time to go through his progression? Can they open running lanes?
3) DT play: Who does the best at maintaining their gap? Can we get any interior penetration?
4) Special Teams: How well does the team do in kick/punt coverage? Is the FG kicking more consistent?
5) WR/TE play: How well do the young guys play? Can the offense count on the 2's to be productive?
6) Defense: Can the D wrap up and make the initial tackle or will I be counting missed tackles? How many TO's can they force against a team who was prone to give up the ball last year? Can they keep from giving up the big play (ie. no blown coverages)?

[sixtoes9134]

in a game like this, just prevent the big plays on D. If we can keep ECU from scoring early and often I like our chances because I do think we will move the chains on offense.

[YesAppCan]

O-line play.

[appgrunt71]

Offensive and Defensive line play. Controlling the trenches is the key.

[SpeedkingATL]

The defense needs to keep App within striking distance going into the 2nd half and the offense has to move the ball well enough to gain some confidence, especially in the offensive line. A UTC like comeback would be fine with me except let's not have to come from so far behind.

I expect this to be a pretty good ballgame. I expect our o-line to be vastly improved over last season and the offensive play calling to be much, much less predictable.

[strongwxnc]

Like some have mentioned, ASU D needs to limit the threat of big plays. Those quarter takers will bring the noise if our boys allow this to happen and the score goes up on the purple side. ECU, as shown poor defensive play over the pass few years. So, looking for our D to shut them down. Hoping to have a close game going into the 4th..

My four seats in Section 220 will be rocking and rolling!!

[moonshine]

While the Pirate D has been poor they showed marked improvement in Total D last year compared to 2010. I believe they went from 100+ ranking to 56th and their fans expect even more improvement this year based on their front 7. As you can see from the ECU highlight vid, the Pirates got quite a bit of YAC last year and a lot came off miss tackles. App's D must prevent these types of plays!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE3es2ai ... e=youtu.be

[ASUMountaineer]

in a game like this, just prevent the big plays on D. If we can keep ECU from scoring early and often I like our chances because I do think we will move the chains on offense.

This, and OL play.

[Kyle76]

Our defense went from 119th to 56th last season as we changed schemes from Skip Holtz's 4-3 to a 3-4 that more closely matches our personnel and ability to recruit better LB talent than down linemen. The big guys on the O-line and the D-line are the most difficult to stockpile, but we have had good success getting LB talent in, so the change was made. We made a huge improvement in the first year with a lot of very young players. We expect continued improvement on D this year with another year of experience in the scheme and more overall experience on the defense as a whole. We lost our starting corners, so that area is a question mark, but we brought in some good JC talent there. I really expect we could be very, very strong on defense this season.

[GlassOnion]

Our defense went from 119th to 56th last season as we changed schemes from Skip Holtz's 4-3 to a 3-4 that more closely matches our personnel and ability to recruit better LB talent than down linemen. The big guys on the O-line and the D-line are the most difficult to stockpile, but we have had good success getting LB talent in, so the change was made. We made a huge improvement in the first year with a lot of very young players. We expect continued improvement on D this year with another year of experience in the scheme and more overall experience on the defense as a whole. We lost our starting corners, so that area is a question mark, but we brought in some good JC talent there. I really expect we could be very, very strong on defense this season.

I know its sounds nice to say that your defense went from 119th to 56th, but as a solid pessimist I prefer the 97th in scoring defense, at over 32 ppg. stat.

[Kyle76]

I know its sounds nice to say that your defense went from 119th to 56th, but as a solid pessimist I prefer the 97th in scoring defense, at over 32 ppg. stat.

That's true, but the turnovers played a big role in opposition scoring. We averaged almost a touchdown a game to non-offensive plays -- fumbles retured for scores, pick-sixes and special teams scores -- 10 TD's in all. Add in the number of short fields we gave the opposition, and that scoring number is a bit skewed. Phil Steele says the kind of high-turnover season we had last year is generally an anomaly, and we brought in a special teams coordinator this season. Better depth should allow us to play better athletes on special teams, so we're hoping for big improvement there.

[GlassOnion]

That's true, but the turnovers played a big role in opposition scoring. We averaged almost a touchdown a game to non-offensive plays -- fumbles retured for scores, pick-sixes and special teams scores -- 10 TD's in all. Add in the number of short fields we gave the opposition, and that scoring number is a bit skewed. Phil Steele says the kind of high-turnover season we had last year is generally an anomaly, and we brought in a special teams coordinator this season. Better depth should allow us to play better athletes on special teams, so we're hoping for big improvement there.

Yeah, I saw you guys brought in a punter. Those 2011 special team stats were absolutely terrible, like 120th in punting, 108th in KO returns, Its hard to see those problems going away that fast.

Im hoping App wins that 3rd of the game. With our punter averaging over 50 yards per punt, I think we've got a chance at keeping your offense backed up, and you defense defending a short field.

Special teams has the chance to be the great equalizer in this game.

[Kyle76]

Punting and kicking is a mystery right now. Coverage will be better, I firmly believe.

[GlassOnion]

Punting and kicking is a mystery right now. Coverage will be better, I firmly believe.

With Ruff having been ST coordinator at Tex Tech for years, I would have thought that there'd never have been a problem there.

Either way, this being game #1 there are going to be hiccups and surprises. I expect whichever team can adapt more quickly to exploit the others' will win.

[Kyle76]

Go figure. He was a DC, and we had the worst defense in the nation his first year here. Some of that had to do with losses to graduation, some had to do with the scheme we were running, some had to do with injuries. This year will be key to knowing if we are really moving in the right direction.

[GlassOnion]

We've had a similar situation. We're known for the high powered spread offense, but for the last 3 years we've been moving toward leaning on our defense. Last year, our defense had some spectacular games, and actually score both TDs in our 14-12 win over Chatty.

With Satterfield back in command of the offense, that side of the ball should improve dramatically. If our defense can improve at all, or even on par with last year, I think we'll have a great season.

[hapapp]

One problem or concern Coach Moore expressed from the FanFest scrimmage was the play of special teams, especially in terms of coverage. We can't afford to give up big plays on special teams.

[Kyle76]

We have a new player, a JC transfer named Lance Ray, who played at Arkansas as a freshman. He's a wide receiver who is also a return specialist. According to those who have seen him, and that's only coaches and a few spectators because he only got to campus last week, he is an elite player -- one of those whom we look for to give us more of a vertical passing game than we've had in the past. We are really looking forward to him getting on the field.

[GlassOnion]

We too got a RS Fresh transfer, from the Oregon Ducks. Ran an electrically timed 4.24 40 yards in high school. He's gotten some looks in the return game for us.

[Kyle76]

We too got a RS Fresh transfer, from the Oregon Ducks. Ran an electrically timed 4.24 40 yards in high school. He's gotten some looks in the return game for us.

Yeah, I read about that guy. That's Chris Johnson fast. Hope he works out for you guys ... eventually.