JONESBORO -- Arkansas State starting the season with two losses isn't an unknown feeling for the Red Wolves, nor does it mean the they're headed for a disappointing season.
They were winless at this point last season, too, before eventually rattling off eight consecutive victories to win an outright Sun Belt Conference championship and earn a trip to the New Orleans Bowl for the first time in a decade.
Up next
Arkansas State
WHEN 8 p.m. Central
WHERE Maverik Stadium, Logan, Utah
RECORDS ASU 0-2; Utah State 1-1
TV CBS Sports Network
RADIO KASR-FM, 92.7, in Little Rock/Conway; KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro
LINE Utah State by 9
INTERNET astateredwolves.com
But, ASU's 0-2 start this year has a different feeling for Coach Blake Anderson and others than a year ago, considering how the losses have come. ASU lost 55-6 to USC start last season, but outrushed the Trojans and then led Missouri in a home loss that wasn't decided until a fourth-quarter interception.
This time, the 0-2 Red Wolves head into Friday night's game at Utah State licking their wounds after two games in which all drama surrounding the final outcome was erased by halftime.
ASU lost 31-10 to Toledo at home on Sept. 2 and 51-14 at Auburn on Saturday. Anderson said the final scores aren't the biggest concerns, but rather an offense that is still coming together slowly and a surprisingly toothless defense.
"There's no guarantee that you beat either team even if we played our best," Anderson said Monday. "We haven't played our best is the only frustration. Not that we're 0-2. Would love to be 2-0, love to be 1-1, but even playing your best with a quality football team doesn't guarantee that."
Anderson and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner each said they saw progress in Saturday's loss, even if it didn't appear that way. ASU gained 326 yards of offense, more than the week before, and Faulkner said he saw a team more confident in its assignments.
ASU's biggest concern is with the defense, which ranks near the bottom of the FBS in several categories through two games.
Anderson had high hopes for a unit that returns nine full-time starters and 13 players with starting experience.
But ASU is 128th out of 128 FBS teams in yards allowed (631.0 per game), 127th in yards allowed per play (7.4) with a defensive pass efficiency rating (206.4).
Toledo and Auburn quarterbacks combined to completed 74.1 percent of their passes against ASU.
On Saturday, Auburn's Sean White passed for 173 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first half, and the Tigers also rushed for 279 yards in the first two quarters. Auburn finished with 706 yards total, and 462 yards rushing, both of which are the most against ASU since at least before the 2010 season.
Defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen said his concerns are more mental than they are physical.
"The biggest question I have right now is why we're not playing together as a unit," he said. "That is a broad statement, I know that. There's a lot that goes into that statement right there. But we've got to find those answers and we've got to find them really quick."
Anderson and Cauthen said Auburn used quarterback Sean White in a way that they hadn't seen on film, even in games last year, and that they had trouble reacting. But, Cauthen said, an issue took root after the Toledo loss and was present before kickoff.
"There's a lot of hurt right now," he said. "I'm not quite sure we got over the first [loss], to be honest with you."
Cauthen said no personnel changes are in store this week, and that preparation should be easier considering they'll prepare for one quarterback instead of the three that Auburn had played in its opener.
Utah State lost to USC 45-7 on Saturday and beat FCS Weber State 45-6 in its opener. Quarterback Kent Myers can run and throw -- he's completing 66.7 percent of his passes for 304 yards this year and rushed for 53 against Weber State -- but Cauthen said that's easier than preparing for different players.
"They don't do near the stuff that Auburn does," Cauthen said. "They go with one guy. We know who we're going to see."
That helps, considering the Red Wolves will have an abbreviated week of preparation with the game on Friday and a lengthy trip to Utah on tap.
ASU practiced Monday, which is normally an off day. They Red Wolves fly to Ogden, Utah, on Thursday, and bus another hour to the Utah State campus in Logan.
The shorter break between games is not that big of a deal, Anderson said.
"I think there's good football ahead of us," he said. "Maybe we click in all three areas next week and we do play some good football and can go forward. That's what we're hoping."
Sports on 09/13/2016