It's not often you see a university president weigh in on a specific performance by his or her football team, but Eastern Michigan 30, Arizona State 21 was one of those instances.
The Sun Devils surrendered 305 rushing yards on 6.0 a carry and never led in the game, falling to a team that, a week prior, lost 49-21 to Louisiana.
"They showed up to play, and we didn’t," ASU president Michael Crow told The Arizona Republic after the game, via USA Today. "That’s basically the outcome."
After the game, cameras filmed Edwards in an extended conversation with Crow and ASU AD Ray Anderson. Obviously one can only speculate to the nature of the conversation, but it's safe to assume Edwards' bosses weren't congratulating him on a job well done.
Herm Edwards, Ray Anderson, Michael Crow pic.twitter.com/4D59aEDY4J
— Chris Karpman (@ChrisKarpman) September 18, 2022
"Like anything, when you’re in combat, you support your officers," Crow said. "And we’re in combat. But we’ll have to decide where we’re going from here and decide what the issues are and see where we’re headed."
Where Arizona State is headed is into, arguably, the most difficult 3-game stretch anywhere in college football: home against No. 14 Utah, a trip to No. 7 USC, and then home against a Washington team that knocked off No. 11 Michigan State on Saturday and is sure to join the rankings when they come out later this afternoon.
At 1-2, Arizona State is staring down the barrel of 1-5 with an ascendant U of A down the road.
"There can be quick fixes," Crow said. "There are several types of those, so we’ll just have to see where we’re headed."
“We have to fix it. We have to fix it with the players we have," Edwards said after the game. "That’s how you have to fix it. No one else is coming in the building. We have to find a way to fix it, that’s what I told the team. We have to figure out who we are now, what you want to become, and what we’re going through. That’s the bottom line. It has to get fixed with the players we have.”
Arizona State has won at least seven regular season games in each of Edwards's three full seasons, including an 8-5 campaign, a tie for second place in the Pac-12 South, and a Las Vegas Bowl appearance last season. But the program has generated the type of recruiting allegations that would be tough for any head coach to escape even if winning an 7- or 8-game clip -- thus far, Edwards has escaped any personal culpability -- but a 1-5 start would make Crow's decision much easier.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.