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...