WATCH: ASU Defensive Coordinator Antonio Pierce Following Win Over Stanford
It wasn't a great night to be a Stanford Cardinal.
Following their loss to Arizona State where the team scored only 10 points, it was evident that the Sun Devils defense simply rose to the occasion when called upon, as Stanford crossed midfield a whopping 11 times on Friday, still walking away with a mere 10 on the scoreboard.
ASU's defense, whether it be generating turnovers (three picks of Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee after he previously had none), stopping the run (the Cardinal had a net total of nine rushing yards) or getting to the passer (Arizona State sacked McKee five times), once again flashed their display of dominance.
It was a frustrating night, said Stanford head coach David Shaw:
“When plays don’t work, they’re bad play-calls. I’ll put that on me, so when you have bad play-calls and you lack execution, that’s what happens. We got in position multiple times and then we just stalled, and it doesn’t matter if you can move the ball between the 20s if you can't get in and score touchdowns you are not going to win. Not in this league. Not on Friday night against a really good football team. So, defense gave the offense opportunities the entire second half. Offense did not take advantage of those, and we have to play much better.”
Arizona State defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce was satisfied with how his unit played vs. Stanford. Watch a tidbit of his post-game media availability here: