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Discipline And Crunch Time Dooms Both Devils And Cardinals

It was a rough weekend for the local football teams and I'm not talking about those poor Wildcats who got mauled by the Tree. Both the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Arizona Cardinals went on the road to face tough but beatable opponents. Both teams had fourth quarter leads. Both committed too many penalties. Both lost in disappointing fashion.

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Sometimes life and sports just like balance and symmetry and that's what we got looking at this two games.

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The Sun Devils and Cardinals combined to commit 18 penalties for 188 yards gifted to their opponents. The lack of discipline from both teams is an issue. For the Sun Devils it's an issue that's been present since Dennis Erickson came to town.

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The offensive lines for both teams were poor. This was especially the case in Illinois where Brock Osweiler was sacked six times for 23 yards with all three turnovers resulting from pressure. Kolb was dropped three times for 20 yards and was pressured far too many times. Both teams tackles got beat with speed rush from the outside.

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Five turnovers combined. Lack of big plays in big moments. Frustrating losses for both teams when a win would have gone a long way to creating excitement and momentum early in the season.

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Good teams win these types of games which only leaves us to believe that both the Cards and Devils are, right now, very mediocre and have had their holes exposed in big road games.

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