After watching film of Saturday’s loss to Texas A&M, Arizona State coach Todd Graham came away with many conclusions, but perhaps the biggest:
“That’s about as poorly as we’ve played on special teams, and that’s unacceptable,” Graham said.
Special teams have dogged the Sun Devils in spots for much of the past three seasons. For that reason, Graham in March hired Shawn Slocum — a veteran NFL special-teams coach — to kick start ASU’s improvement.
That plan is off to a slow start.
“Yeah, it was really surprising to me, and I think it was surprising to Shawn, too,” said Graham, making sure to point out that what the Sun Devils are doing this season is more complex than in years past.