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Arizona State linebacker Brandon Magee told House of Sparky's Brad Denny that miscues hurt the Sun Devils against the Oregon Ducks last week. Fixing those mistakes will be part of prepping for another spread offense as ASU hosts the UCLA Bruins on Saturday.
"If you're not gap sound and aligned right, then you'll get beat," Magee told House of Sparky. "That was the game. We aligned wrong sometimes and were not gap sound, and they scored off of those. We need to eliminate big plays."
Magee also said the UCLA game, which is ASU's homecoming, will be an opportunity to show fans that they've recovered from an ugly 43-21 loss to the Ducks.
It won't be easy. The Bruins roll out a spread option led by former ASU offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone, and Magee believes that it won't be a particular advantage for the Sun Devils defense considering that Mazzone knows how best to attack a roster he knows well.
Plus, the Bruins have a quarterback in Brett Hundley who is more mobile than last year's Mazzone-led ASU offense that was run by pocket-passer Brock Osweiler.