ASU hauls in win against Colorado

In college football — as another Michigan meltdown and upset defeats by Georgia and Auburn taught us on Saturday — winning is the biggest objective.

SLIDESHOW: View photos from the game.

That was a goal that Arizona State achieved against Colorado, as the Sun Devils dominated second-half play en route to a 33-14 victory. But they can be thankful that there is room on the Sun Devil Stadium scoreboard only for numbers, not explanations.

“The bottom line is we’re 2-0,” said coach Dennis Erickson, who won the 150th game of his college career. “A lot of good teams lost (on Saturday).”

After Erickson and his staff analyzed film of ASU’s rout of San Jose State last week, one assessment was: “A better team would have taken advantage of the mistakes we made.”

The Buffaloes are a better team than the Spartans, but they did not fully capitalize on the mistakes. However, Colorado managed something that SJSU did not — expose ASU’s lapses.

“We came out flat, came out thinking we were a little better than we are,” Erickson said. “If our players thought it was going to be as easy as it was against San Jose State, they were kidding themselves. Hopefully, we learned our lesson. I would like to think that we did.”

Saturday’s game provided a concise display of the problems that the Sun Devils must address by the start of Pac-10 play:

•A Colorado defense, which does not have a stingy reputation, held ASU’s run game in check (138 yards, 91 by Ryan Torain) and forced quarterback Rudy Carpenter to scramble frequently.

•The defense, overall, played well, allowing seven points and 204 total yards. But the unit’s breakdowns, especially in the secondary, that the coaches said were prevalent against San Jose State have evidently not been fixed.

The Sun Devils were beaten deep on several occasions but were put off the hook when Buffaloes receivers dropped passes, including two that would have gone for scores.

DeSean Jackson of California probably does not drop those balls. Neither does Sammie Stroughter of Oregon State or Jaison Williams of Oregon.

“Communication is the big thing,” cornerback Justin Tryon said in the days before the game. “We aren’t talking on the field as much as we need to. In the first game, we might have been worried about what was going on in our own heads to think about anyone else. But we need to talk more.”

•After ASU had just four penalties against San Jose State, Saturday was flag day. The Sun Devils were whistled 12 times for 136 yards, including eight personal fouls.

“I’m really disappointed in the penalties,” Erickson said. “There’s no excuse for that. It’s not going to happen ever again, because those that do it ain’t going to play. We had some 15-yard penalties that were uncalled for. The penalties were the most disappointing thing in the game.”

However, there’s something to be said for storming back after spotting the opposition a two-touchdown lead, which ASU (2-0) did. The Sun Devils rose from under the rubble of their miscues late in the first half with superb execution on a quick touchdown drive that gave them the lead and control of the game.

“In seasons past, we would have folded,” said Carpenter, who was 19-of-37 for 269 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. “We would have started yelling at each other and not been successful. But when it was 14-0, the guys said we were all right, the defense held them, and we came back.

“That should help us later in the season.”

In the final two minutes of the half, Carpenter led a nine-play, 86-yard march. He found wide receiver Chris McGaha for 16 yards on a fourth-down play that brought the ball to the Colorado 22, and two plays later, connected with Kyle Williams over the middle for a TD.

“The turning point was when we went no-huddle,” Erickson said. “We weren’t doing anything offensively until then. We made some plays and got their defense a worn our, I think. That turned the game around, and in the third quarter, we started looking like us.”

On its first possession of the second half, ASU built a 26-14 cushion on a 7-yard run by Torain. The Buffaloes (1-1) never threatened afterward.

“When we started getting points, that broke their will,” Carpenter said.