Some times the greatest aspirations for a football team are done in by the simplest thing or things. In some cases it can simply come down to who you play and where you play them. Arizona State just might be in that predicament for this upcoming season.
The Devils have a competitive team to put on the field, but the schedule may not do them any favors. There out of conference schedule includes home dates with Weber State, New Mexico, and Notre Dame. While the first two games with Weber State and New Mexico don't exactly strike fear in fans and possibly players, the game with Notre Dame on November 8 may provide a window into if the Devils will have a winning season, a bowl trip, or sitting home during the holidays.
The area of the schedule that concerns me is the from September 25 when UCLA comes to town for a Thursday night game until a November 15 game with those pesky Oregon State Beavers up in Corvallis. In order, here is the brutal line of games. UCLA, at USC, Stanford (bye week to prepare for the Cardinal), at Washington, Utah, Notre Dame, and at Oregon State. The Pac-12 is a league in which they "eat their own", so this stretch of games for the Devils is going to be one that determines just how successful they will be. Really, the only game I see in this stretch of games that should be a slam dunk win is Utah, the Homecoming game. Sorry Utah, there is a reason why you were made the Homecoming game.
The Devils are fortunate about having their bye week to prepare for Stanford. They will be looking for a little bit of payback from the Pac-12 title game when they play the Cardinal. Next, going to Washington to play is never easy. Washington is and will be fighting for a bowl spot by then and will give the Devils all they can handle up in Seattle. Husky stadium is a very tough place to play and the weather may be starting to turn ugly in Seattle about that time of the year for the Devils.
The Devils get Utah next for Homecoming and should be able to ring up the Utes fairly easily for a comfortable win, BUT that's why you play the games right? You can't take anybody for granted because once you do that is when you get bit in the ass with an unexpected loss. The Sun Devils can not afford to do that this year. Next up after Utah is one of the legendary programs in all of the college football, Notre Dame. That'll be a telling game for the Devils because the crowd at Sun Devil stadium may be half Irish fans. The ASU defense will need to step up and stop a quarterback who has a year under his belt and might be looking forward to throwing against an inexperienced defense. Taylor Kelly will need to be at his best on November 8. Kelly will need to be at his best all year. No room for error with him. After that game here comes the Oregon State Beavers and the game is Corvallis. All bets are off with this game. The weather will be cold, quite possibly rainy, and just plain miserable for the Sun Devils.
Can the Devils have a winning a season? Absolutely. Can the Devils have a miserable season? Absolutely. Arizona State is going to have to be focused every week and ready to play on game day or this could end up being a very long season for the team and the fans. Buckle up Devil fans, it is going to be a heck of a ride.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Time to put up or shut up for the Sun Devils
In the last two years of Sun Devil football they have gone from an 8 win team to a team that played in the Pac-12 Championship game last year. Well, it's time to see where this program is headed this year.
Since I've lived down here in the Valley of the Sun, there always seems like there is a lot of bravado coming out of Tempe every year. It's always puzzled me because the Sun Devil program has been mired in a sea of mediocrity for a very long time. When the team takes field this year I will be wondering whether Sun Devil fans will have something to cheer about and have more reasons to attend games and sell out Sun Devil stadium instead of leaving games early or seeing that stadium about half full.
This 2014 team is not perfect, they are not rolling out talent like an Alabama or Oregon, but they have learned that they can compete with anybody. They can compete with anybody given they play with a sense of urgency. That every play matters, every series they get matters because once they play like that, they can beat Stanford, Oregon, UCLA consistently and not beat them every so often. If they do not play with urgency then a repeat of last years Holiday Bowl against Texas Tech will happen. Texas Tech made them look like a JV squad in that game when it should of been the other way around. The Devils should have beat the Red Raiders down convincingly, but we all know it did not happen.
From the start of training camp, to the regular season, to the bowl season the Devils have to play with urgency. There are two people that should stress that urgent play and those people are: Head Coach Todd Graham and quarterback Taylor Kelly. They can not take anybody lightly, does not matter if they are playing the Colorado's of the world or Stanford. Anybody can beat anybody on any given Saturday. Graham and Taylor Kelly have to get team ready to play every practice and every game and make them realize urgent play is what is expected with the Sun Devil football program. Here's to hoping the program puts it up this year! Just saying...
Since I've lived down here in the Valley of the Sun, there always seems like there is a lot of bravado coming out of Tempe every year. It's always puzzled me because the Sun Devil program has been mired in a sea of mediocrity for a very long time. When the team takes field this year I will be wondering whether Sun Devil fans will have something to cheer about and have more reasons to attend games and sell out Sun Devil stadium instead of leaving games early or seeing that stadium about half full.
This 2014 team is not perfect, they are not rolling out talent like an Alabama or Oregon, but they have learned that they can compete with anybody. They can compete with anybody given they play with a sense of urgency. That every play matters, every series they get matters because once they play like that, they can beat Stanford, Oregon, UCLA consistently and not beat them every so often. If they do not play with urgency then a repeat of last years Holiday Bowl against Texas Tech will happen. Texas Tech made them look like a JV squad in that game when it should of been the other way around. The Devils should have beat the Red Raiders down convincingly, but we all know it did not happen.
From the start of training camp, to the regular season, to the bowl season the Devils have to play with urgency. There are two people that should stress that urgent play and those people are: Head Coach Todd Graham and quarterback Taylor Kelly. They can not take anybody lightly, does not matter if they are playing the Colorado's of the world or Stanford. Anybody can beat anybody on any given Saturday. Graham and Taylor Kelly have to get team ready to play every practice and every game and make them realize urgent play is what is expected with the Sun Devil football program. Here's to hoping the program puts it up this year! Just saying...
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Oregon is doomed?
The college football season is closing in on us fans and now is when you start hearing all sorts of doom and gloom from certain segments of college football and all sorts of trash talking from some fans about how well their team is going to do during the upcoming season. Well, I am hearing people talk about how the Ducks are doomed in the next few years. What? Really?
I don't think so. People point to some recruiting misses in the last few months or even back to last couple of years. I totally disagree. So the Ducks miss out on a some quality players, well, guess what. There are a lot of football players out there that will take the place of those misses in recruiting. Many fans get all caught up in the recruiting rankings. Truth be told, you can not even judge a recruiting class for about three years. Oregon gets great talent now since they have been competing at a very high level. What the Ducks can show a recruit on their campus is amazing. If you have not seen the video of the new athletic offices and locker rooms then you are missing some amazing video.
The Ducks are not doomed at all. The Ducks have a particular kind of offense that needs a particular type of player. They are not looking necessarily for the same player Alabama is. The Ducks want speed everywhere, Alabama doesn't really look for that everywhere on the field. Maybe they should after that Iron Bowl loss. Let me put this into some sort of context. The Ducks quarterback, Marcus Mariotta, who is widely considered a Heisman Trophy finalist, was not even in the top 25 of players in his recruiting class. He was not in the top 50, or 75, or 100. He was ranked 123 in his recruiting class. Look where he is now.
Coaches want as much talent as they can get, but they need talent that fits their system that they run. That's why Oregon and Alabama look for different types of players. Oregon is totally not doomed because of recruiting or any other reason. They made the decision back in the 90's to make their football program elite and to start spending money to make it so. Granted, having Phil Knight helps, but the whole school had to buy in and all the money that is rolling in makes Oregon want to continue the good times. Those Duck fans that get a little worried about that program in Seattle or those programs in Los Angelas over take them, stop it. It's not happening for a while, relax. This coming from an Oregon State alum.... Just saying.
I don't think so. People point to some recruiting misses in the last few months or even back to last couple of years. I totally disagree. So the Ducks miss out on a some quality players, well, guess what. There are a lot of football players out there that will take the place of those misses in recruiting. Many fans get all caught up in the recruiting rankings. Truth be told, you can not even judge a recruiting class for about three years. Oregon gets great talent now since they have been competing at a very high level. What the Ducks can show a recruit on their campus is amazing. If you have not seen the video of the new athletic offices and locker rooms then you are missing some amazing video.
The Ducks are not doomed at all. The Ducks have a particular kind of offense that needs a particular type of player. They are not looking necessarily for the same player Alabama is. The Ducks want speed everywhere, Alabama doesn't really look for that everywhere on the field. Maybe they should after that Iron Bowl loss. Let me put this into some sort of context. The Ducks quarterback, Marcus Mariotta, who is widely considered a Heisman Trophy finalist, was not even in the top 25 of players in his recruiting class. He was not in the top 50, or 75, or 100. He was ranked 123 in his recruiting class. Look where he is now.
Coaches want as much talent as they can get, but they need talent that fits their system that they run. That's why Oregon and Alabama look for different types of players. Oregon is totally not doomed because of recruiting or any other reason. They made the decision back in the 90's to make their football program elite and to start spending money to make it so. Granted, having Phil Knight helps, but the whole school had to buy in and all the money that is rolling in makes Oregon want to continue the good times. Those Duck fans that get a little worried about that program in Seattle or those programs in Los Angelas over take them, stop it. It's not happening for a while, relax. This coming from an Oregon State alum.... Just saying.
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