Lot of work ahead for ASU football

A glance at Dennis Erickson’s year-to-year record as a college football coach indicates that he does not spend much time building programs — they just tend to spring up.

Idaho, Washington State and Oregon State got good in a hurry under Erickson. At first, Arizona State looked as if it would be another quick turnaround, but after a just-completed 5-7 season, it is evident that this project is going to take time.

Sun Devils have plenty returning, but need improvement

ASU has not had consecutive losing seasons since 1946-47. With a new quarterback, retooled offense and another tough schedule (Brigham Young, at Georgia) in 2009, another sub-.500 record is possible.

“We have to talk as a team about what we need to get done to turn this thing around,” Erickson said on Sunday. “We made some mistakes, but let’s try and learn from them. To me, this is a time that you rally together as a group of players and coaches.”

Just the fourth losing record in Erickson’s 19-year college career came one season after he led the Sun Devils to 10 victories. However, after a 2007 season in which ASU got every break, little went its way this season.

At the heart of the bad karma is the offense, which ranks 100th among 199 bowl-subdivision schools in yards per game (309.4).

The Sun Devils rushed for 1,069 yards as a team, fewer than 39 FBS running backs, including five in the Pac-10. Their seven rushing touchdowns equaled the number scored by ASU’s defense. And while the 34 sacks permitted were an improvement over the school-record 55 allowed in 2007, pass- and rush-blocking problems persisted all season.

The result is that change, perhaps an overhaul, is coming.

“We’re going to look at everything, because we cannot have another year like this offensively,” Erickson said.

“We’ve done a lot of things over the years, scheme-wise. This season, we did what we felt was best to win, and it obviously didn’t work out. I don’t have an answer to what change means, or what we’ll do differently. We’ve got to look at different things, doing different things with people to make us better.”

Those changes do not involve offensive coordinator Rich Olson or any offensive coaches. Erickson reiterated on Sunday that he does not expect to replace any members of his staff.

A likely target is the offensive line. It is clear that the offensive tweaks made in the spring — quick drops and throws, multi-receiver sets — were akin to putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. ASU must get meaner up front, especially if the next quarterback does not have the escapability that Rudy Carpenter often displayed.

Danny Sullivan is the QB favorite heading into spring drills, with his biggest competition likely to come from Samson Szakacsy and possibly incoming freshman Brock Osweiler. A starter might not be named until the fall.

Also, the Sun Devils have to find a running game.

“Our philosophy is to do everything we can do with our personnel, and that means running the ball,” Erickson said. “We want to be as balanced as we can and be physical on the offensive front. If it’s a perfect world, that’s what you want to do. We have to look at different things in terms of spreading guys out and adding to what we do. We’ll have to do these things, whether we have a new quarterback or not.”

The defense, whose seven TDs tied for fifth in the nation — Alabama, Boston College, Fresno State and Kansas State had eight scores — is in much better shape, although there are vacancies at middle linebacker and safety that could be filled by junior-college transfers.

The signing period for JC transfers who enroll for the spring semester begins on Dec. 17. National signing day is in February, and ASU has 11 commitments for a 2009 recruiting class that will be about 20 players.

“The biggest thing is recruiting,” Erickson said. “We’ll continue to build the program with young players. We have to sit down as a coaching staff and evaluating ourselves and where we’re at. We’ll sit down with every player that is coming back and talk about what their goals are.

“We have a lot of work to do.”