The first 12 games of Herm Edwards’ tenure at Arizona State were much smoother than some expected. Not only did ASU finish the regular season with a winning record, it showed vast improvement defensively and on the ground.
But one thing restrained the Sun Devils in the regular season: the inability to finish close games.
In each of Arizona State’s five regular-season losses, the margin was seven points or less. Nearly every one of these losses had something in common — a pivotal mistake or call holding the Sun Devils back.
Edwards and ASU hoped these late-game lags were something of the past.