CENTRAL ARKANSAS AT ARKANSAS STATE

ASU not meeting Anderson's hype

Arkansas State Red Wolves head coach Blake Anderson is shown in this 2015 file photo.
Arkansas State Red Wolves head coach Blake Anderson is shown in this 2015 file photo.

JONESBORO -- Blake Anderson wasn't shy this summer about touting what was possible.

Anderson's boasts of the Arkansas State football team were always accompanied by the word potential, though. As in, the ceiling was high if an offense featuring two new quarterbacks, two new receivers, a new coordinator and the absence of last year's leading rusher could jell in a reasonable amount of time.

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CENTRAL ARKANSAS AT ARKANSAS STATE

WHEN 6 p.m.

WHERE Centennial Bank Stadium, Jonesboro

RECORDS ASU 0-3; UCA 2-1

SERIES UCA leads 12-10-2

RADIO KASR-FM, 92.7, in Little Rock/Conway; KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro; KUCA-FM, 91.3, in Conway; KKPT-FM, 94.1, in Little Rock

INTERNET ESPN3.com

Anderson didn't hold back. He went as far as to say the Red Wolves, coming off a Sun Belt title year, could contend for a spot in the Cotton Bowl, which goes to the highest-ranked team from the Group of Five conferences.

"Why not us," Anderson said in July at Sun Belt Media day in New Orleans. "Why not this year?"

The reasons have been plenty so far, and two months after those comments ASU is looking for its first victory and has already made a change at quarterback.

Early struggles aren't completely foreign to ASU. The Red Wolves went 0-3 against their nonconference FBS opponents last year. But the way in which the losses have come have been alarming, leading Anderson to say Monday that he might have put too much on the backs of an experienced defense while waiting for the offense to come around.

Heading into Saturday's game against Central Arkansas (2-1) in Jonesboro, ASU ranks 115th in scoring defense (38.7 points per game) and 124th in total defense (532.0 yards per game). Offensively, ASU ranks 122nd in scoring (14.7) and 116th in yards per game (316.3).

"I think the expectations of this team going into the season were so high because of the athletic ability," Anderson said. "I think there have been guys that have been almost -- there's been a fear of making a mistake or a fear of failure. ... We put a lot of pressure on the defense, and it kind of paralyzed us a little bit."

Players on both sides discounted Anderson's claim that the boasts were too much. Receiver Cameron Echols-Luper said it was on the players to live up to what was discussed in July and August.

"I think that's the coach's job, to hype his players up," Echols-Luper said. "It's our job to make him right. We didn't really fulfill what he wanted us to do and it's our time now to come out and show the world exactly what he was saying."

Offensive lineman Colton Jackson said he still thinks ASU can be the team that was talked about before the season opener, even if the first three games have provided a much different reality.

"That word potential -- it's a dangerous word," Jackson said. "You are what you put on tape. So we are an 0-3 team, but I think we're very capable of playing better than that if we go back to our roots, which is playing disciplined and selfless football."

A sliver of optimism emerged in the second half last Friday night. ASU trailed Utah State 24-0 at halftime before quarterback Justice Hansen, inserted late in the first quarter, led four scoring drives while passing for 277 yards. It was two quarters, but it showed on both sides a sense of urgency that Hansen said had been missing.

"We expected a lot of things to happen early in the season and we kind of sat back and waited and nothing happened," said Hansen, who will earn his first start Saturday. "But now we understand that we can go out and do that, so I'm sure we'll be more aggressive."

ASU wasn't provided an opportunity to ease into the year with a tough nonconference schedule. Toledo went 10-2 last year and is receiving votes in both top 25 polls. Auburn is 1-2, but ASU has lost 16 in a row to Power Five conference teams. Utah State, like ASU, has reached a bowl five years in a row.

Anderson dismissed a notion that the schedule was too tough for what his team is now, saying that a weak schedule might have provided a better record but not any closer to an overall goal.

"If you want to represent the Group of Five at the end of the year, then you better play a tough schedule," he said. "We haven't been prepared for it yet."

A victory Saturday would put ASU in the same spot it was a year ago -- 1-3 heading into its Sun Belt schedule. That, and last week's second half, is what keeps Anderson optimistic.

"We're measured by winning conference titles here and that's what we want to be prepared to do and that's still our goal," he said. "We've got another opportunity to find out. If we can find that 60-minute team this week, that would be huge."

Sports on 09/23/2016

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