By Jeff Bugher
9/1/2024
The Jay Sawvel era started off with a stunning loss 48 to 7 loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe, Arizona, Saturday night. The Cowboys had seven penalties, resulting in 65 penalty yards. Sawvel took responsibility and was candid about the team’s performance, stating, “We played poorly, we coached poorly… we took a gut punch the second play of the game, and we didn’t really recover and respond the way that we needed to respond.” Sawvel’s frustration continued, “We did not execute very well in any phase of it… then once we got into that mode, we just weren’t able to dig ourselves out.” Sawvel continued, “We’ve got to get a lot better, obviously, as a football team.”
We asked Sawvel what he said to his team in the locker room after the loss; Sawvel told his team:
We also asked Sawvell about the game’s positives. Sawvel’s response was, “Well, that’s a tough question… (Jack) Culbreath punted the ball pretty good…that’s about it.” The frustration was clear, “At every phase of it, the wheels came off, and we just we weren’t able to get it back on, and that’s frustrating,” Sawvel said. A reporter asked Sawvel about his quarterback, and he reminded the media that there are 11 guys on the field, and it isn’t about just one player (verbatim). Quarterback Evan Svoboda spoke about the need to “flush” this game and move on to the next game. The 24-hour rule appears to exist still.