Burning the Bandwagon

Some series history with USC: Lost the last 8 games against USC, starting in 2000 with a 2OT loss at home. The Devils last win in the series was in 1999 at USC, 26-16. Dating back to 1998, ASU is 1-9 against USC. Overall in the series ASU trails 9-15 and is 4-7 all-time at USC.

Did we really expect anything different at California?
The last time the Devils won at Cal was in 1997. With the loss ASU is now 3-6 against California since 1998.

The last time ASU had lost three straight games was in 2006, Koetter's last season. The Devils started 3-0 but then lost the next three games to Cal, Oregon, and USC and finished the regular season 7-5. The last time the Devils had a losing record was in 2005, when losses to LSU, USC, Oregon, and Stanford dropped the Devils to 3-4. The last time ASU was 2-3 to start a season was in 2003, when they went on to finish 5-7.

Quarterback Rudy Carpenter is questionable for the USC game this weekend after suffering a sprained ankle at Cal. Rudy ran for the most yards of anyone on the field last weekend, however he doesn't get credit for any because they were yards accrued while running away from his terrible offensive line.

Notes on this Weekend's Game

The Devils will not only host the #3 Georgia Bulldogs, 12,000 of their closest friends, and an ABC National Audience, but will also be celebrating "Champions Weekend." ASU will be honoring former player Randall McDaniel and former coach John Cooper Saturday night, as they will be inducted into the National College Football Hall of Fame in December. McDaniel will also see his number immortalized on the pressbox facade with the likes of Pat Tillman, Danny White, Whizzer White, Bobby Mulgado, John Jefferson, Mike Haynes, and Ron Pritchard. This is something slightly similar to the night where ASU named the playing field after Frank Kush. The Devils did so at halftime of a nationally televised game against #1 Nebraska and ended up shutting out and stunning the top ranked Cornhuskers 19-0. Does the similarity mean much? Not really, but i'll take anything at this point to help our cause this weekend. McDaniel is arguably the best offensive lineman to ever play for the Sun Devils. He was selected in the first round of the NFL draft after helping ASU win the 1987 Rose Bowl and was a first team All-Pac 10 selection twice. He had a 14 year NFL career and earned 12 Pro Bowl appearances en route to being named to the NFL's All-Decade team. Coach John Cooper was head coach at ASU from 1985-87, leading the Devils to three bowl games and having an overall record of 25-9-2 in Tempe. Cooper led the Devils to their first Rose Bowl berth in 1987 and beat Michigan to finish the season ranked #4 in the country.

An additional note about getting prepared for this weekend's game: ABC set up their quarterback "eye-in-the-sky" camera today at Sun Devil Stadium and are on campus to start setting up for the national broadcast come Saturday evening. Also, the Georgia fans are rolling into town. There were about a dozen or so walking around campus and the stadium today at various times.

Weekly News, Notes, & More

-- The absence of Sparky at midfield created quite a stir this past week, as rumors swirled about the university phasing out the iconic imp.
Well rest assured, Sparky is back on the field. Although still not at the 50 yard line, Sparky will be on the south side on the 25 yard line. The north 25 yard line will feature the Sun Devil Stadium 50th Anniversary logo.


-- Contrary to the news reported across the ESPN Ticker on Thursday night's football game, WR Mike Jones and RB Keegan Herring are expected to play this Saturday against the Furd. Herring missed a game for the first time in his career last week against NAU as he nursed a sore hamstring, but has been running at practice this week and is ready to get back on the field. Jones is expected to play after he sat out two practices with a strained achilles. According to Erickson, Jones "ran pretty good" and he "would be surprised if he didn't play." Also returning this week from an injury is RB Shaun DeWitty. DeWitty, ASU's biggest running back, sat out last week's game with a hamstring injury.


-- QB Rudy Carpenter will start his 33rd straight game on Saturday, he and Purdue's Painter lead all quarterbacks in the nation in most consecutive starts.


-- From the ESPN "Ten Things to Watch for Saturday" list:

2. Put '55' to bed: A 41-3 victory doesn't raise many fretful eyebrows for a winning team, but Arizona State bludgeoned Stanford by that count in its 2007 Pac-10 opener, while -- eyebrow arch now! -- giving up five first-half sacks. Thus commenced a storyline that continues today with the oft-repeated stat of 55 sacks yielded last year by the Sun Devils OL. Stanford's defensive front is stout, winning the battle at the line of scrimmage last Thursday against Oregon State. If the rebuilt Sun Devils offensive line, however, can at least reach a stalemate, then...

3. Given time, Carpenter will shine: If Arizona State QB Rudy Carpenter isn't running for his life against Stanford, he will pick apart the Cardinal secondary, which won't match up with the Sun Devils skill and depth at WR, even if Michael Jones is limited by a toe injury. Oregon State and its outstanding WRs piled up over 400 yards passing; Carpenter could equal that.

8. What about Gerhart's encore?: Stanford running back Toby Gerhart ate up Oregon State with 147 yards on 19 carries and two TDs. The 230 pounder has the speed to get to the corner and the size to make things difficult once he breaks the line of scrimmage. He shredded the Beavers typically rugged run defense, so what will he do against the Sun Devils? If there's not a lot of room for Gerhart and the Cardinal running game, then things will be much harder for Stanford, which struggled to establish its passing game against the Beavers and is thin at receiver.

Some News & Notes

Notes on the Sun Devils:

According to the East Valley Tribune here is a list of freshmen who likely will play: wide receiver Gerell Robinson, running back Ryan Bass, guard Zach Schlink, defensive end Lawrence Guy, linebackers Shelly Lyons and Brandon Magee, cornerback Josh Jordan, safety Clint Floyd.

Arizona State is ranked 16th in the Football Writers Association of America poll. USC is in first in the preseason poll, Georgia is three points behind the Trojans in second. Both the Trojans and the Bulldogs have five first place votes each.

The Pac-10 has released its first official release. They had this to say about ASU: Dennis Erickson begins his 20th year as a college head coach. His 158 career victories places him 10th among currently active head coaches. . . . Sun Devils were Pac-10 co-champs with USC last year at 7-2 in league, 10-3 overall. . . . QB Rudy Carpenter has started 31 consecutive games, posting a 21-10 record in those starts. . . . PK Thomas Weber won the Lou Groza Award by connecting on 24 of 25 field goal attempts last year. Pretty good for a freshman. . . . ASU allowed only 12 fourth-quarter points in 12 regular season games last year and returns seven starters on defense.


Some notes from the around the Pac-10:


-- California has named sophomore Kevin Riley as their starting quarterback over senior Nate Longshore. Riley is more the fan favorite, as Longshore has disappointed over the years, yet it is a somewhat surprising move to bench the senior and experienced quarterback. You can expect to see them both in action during the Bears opener versus Michigan State.

-- Oregon QB Nate Costa is the latest Pac-10 quarterback to get bit by the injury bug. Costa was the frontrunner for the starting job when he injured his knee. Reports say it was a non-contact injury to his already-surgically repaired left knee. The backup, Justin Roper, has been coming on strong lately so don't be surprised to see Roper start their season opener versus Washington. More will be known about Costa's knee injury on Monday when the team's orthopedic surgeon returns to town.

-- USC quarterback Mark Sanchez has returned from his earlier injury and appears to be ready to go for the Trojans opener against Virginia. Aaron Corp and Mitch Mustain will be competing for the back-up job. Running back CJ Gable is nursing ankle and hip injuries he suffered on Tuesday. The injuries may knock him out for a couple of weeks, or he may be ready to go next weekend. No one knows with USC and their "crying wolf" injury reports.

-- Washington QB Jake Locker returned to practice this week and will be good to go when the Huskies take on Oregon in both team's season opener.
All signs point to Tavita Pritchard starting for Stanford against Oregon State next Thursday night.

-- UCLA named Kevin Craft as their starting quarterback. The Bruins open against Tennessee in game one of their brutal schedule. Chris Forcier will fill the back-up role.


And finally on a very exciting note, the Sun Devils are expecting to eclipse 50,000 season ticket sales, the most in at least two decades. That number of season ticket holders would almost fill up Arizona's Stadium (55,000).

News & Notes from Opponents

A Couple Notes from around the Pac-10:

Arizona ticket sales are down 13.7% from last year, as currently they have only sold about 22,000 season tickets. Last year the Wildcats averaged 52,000 fans with about 25,000 of them being season ticket holders. On the flip side, ASU has sold more season tickets already than they did last season, and that's without about 5,000 Student Tickets that have yet to be sold. The Sun Devils will most likely end up with a whopping 50,000 season ticket holders this season (out of 71,706 seats at Sun Devil Stadium), the 50,000 season tickets holders would almost fill the capacity of Arizona's Stadium. The Sun Devils are on pace to sell their most season tickets in 15 years.

ASU is keeping mostly injury free (keep those fingers crossed!). The only injury of concern right now is really just WR Nate Kimbrough's, and the good news there is he won't have to have surgery on a fractured bone under his eye. Originally expected to miss up to a month because of the freak weighlifting accident, Kimbrough is expected to start practicing this week. A couple of other minor Sun Devil injuries are WR's McGaha (foot), Williams (concussion), and Jones (concussion). Tailbacks Herring (Shoulder) and DeWitty (Hamstring) and center Altieri (concussion). All of the injuries are minor and only kept the players out of a scrimmage on Tuesday.

USC QB Mark Sanchez is recovering nicely from his dislocated kneecap. The Trojan QB is on schedule to return prior to the team's season opener at Virginia.


Some News from up North:

With a full week of practices under their belt, the Lumberjacks' coaching staff is pleased with the progress and play. Head Coach Souers is especially pleased with the play of the offensive line and the linebacker unit. Safety Adam Wright and Corner Josh Luck have also stood out during practices. There have been no reported injuries from the 'Jacks camp that would keep anyone out from the opener against ASU.

NAU has one former Sun Devil on their roster, DB Brian Hunter.

The Lumberjacks are organizing a bus for fans to travel down to the Valley for the August 30th game against ASU. Hopefully they plan on some other form of entertainment, unless they are coming for the fireworks show!


Some News from the Deep South:

Georgia's practice notes are starting to read like a M*A*S*H Prison Report, with a boatload of Bulldog players either injured or suspended. The latest Georgia player to go out was their best offensive lineman, All-Conference LT Trinton Sturdivant, he suffered an injury to his left knee which will recquire reconstructive surgery and will keep him out for the season. Over in the Law & Order Department and the Bulldogs legal troubles, they have had eight players arrested during the offseason, six of which have been suspended or dismissed from the team.

Bad Week for Pac-10 Quarterbacks

This was a rough week for quarterbacks in the Pac. UCLA QB Ben Olson broke a bone in his foot at practice on Saturday during a non-contact drill and will be out for at least eight weeks. Olson suffered the same injury in the spring. Olson missed most of last season with an injury, but last year's late-season starter is out for the season with an injury. UCLA's schedule is already probably the most difficult in the Pac-10, the rash of injuries at quarterback doesn't help matters for the Bruins.

USC's Mark Sanchez was injured during Friday's practice when he went down with a dislocated kneecap. Sanchez is expecting to be back in time for the season opener against Virginia, but with so much talent behind him at SC (namely Mitch Mustain, a transfer QB from Arkansas who went 8-0 as a Razorback) Sanchez might find himself second on the depth chart when he gets back.

The other Pac-10 starter to go down this week was Washington QB Jake Locker. Locker went out with a strained hamstring on Friday, but isn't expected to miss much time. The Huskies chances are riding on Locker this season, as he is undoubtedly Washington's most talented player and their leader.

With quarterbacks falling left and right in the Pac-10, an impressive feat for Sun Devils' QB Rudy Carpenter is his 31 consecutive starts. Especially because of the injuries he has sustained over the past few seasons.

Monday Notes

Devils lose Offensive and Defensive Linemen

Arizona State offensive tackle Richard Tuitu'u, who finished spring practices No. 1 on the depth chart, has quit the team. The Sun Devils offensive line lost three starters from a unit that gave up 55 sacks a year ago, and the position is a huge concern as preseason practices start Monday. Tuitu'u was the only returning lineman with experience at tackle. He played in 19 games in two seasons, with one start.
Redshirt freshman Adam Tello, listed at 283 pounds, now moves up on the depth chart. Coach Dennis Erickson called Tello a good pass blocker.
Arizona State could use some help on the defensive line, but it's probably not going to come from talented but troubled Eugene Germany. Germany hasn't sufficiently fulfilled requirements set forth by coach Dennis Erickson and the school to join the team, according to an athletic department official. Germany signed with USC in 2004 out of Pomona (Calif.) High School but ended up at Michigan, where he played in eight games as a redshirt freshman in 2006. When things went sour there, he bolted for Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., where he had 9.5 sacks last season. He joined the Sun Devils recruiting class in the winter, but his status has been in question since the spring.

McGaha was named one of the Pac-10's six current "clutch" performers. Ted Miller of ESPN had this to say about the Devils' receiver.
McGaha is the guy QB Rudy Carpenter turns to when he needs to move the chains. We know this because 48 of McGaha's 61 receptions in 2007 went for first downs. That's a conversion rate of 79 percent.

Jake Plummer was one of the Pac-10's clutch performers of all time, making the list of ten, Jake "The Snake" was the swashbuckling face of the 1996 Sun Devils. He led them to a double-overtime victory over USC and accounted for three TDs in the final eight minutes in a comeback win over UCLA. He nearly led ASU to a perfect season, falling victim to a late Ohio State TD in the Rose Bowl.

In other college football news, Georgia has suspended its fifth player for the first game of the season. The Bulldogs have encountered a plethora of off-season problems with players.

Preseason News & Notes

Some news and notes regarding ASU football from around the country:

--In the annual preseason conference media day, the Sun Devils were picked 2nd in the Pac-10, behind USC. ASU has never been picked to win the Pac-10, but have been conference champions three times (1986, 1996, 2007).

--The ASU-Georgia game on September 20th has been named #6 on the Must-See Games of 2008 by Bruce Feldman on ESPN.com.

"The mighty Dawgs head west (way west) for the first time in a very long time to meet an Arizona State squad which could be dangerous if it learned how to protect the passer. The last time UGA met a touted team with a similar rep, the Dawgs hammered Colt Brennan's squad and left anyone who talked Hawaii up looking foolish. A win here would be huge for the Pac-10's rep against the vaunted SEC."

--ESPN's Ted Miller ranked the Pac-10's five most bitter rivalries, with ASU-UofA ranking second behind USC-UCLA. He even went as far as to call it perhaps the nation's most underrated rivalry.

"Perhaps the nation's most underrated rivalry, as I found out first hand. There's a rational basis for the extreme dislike -- UA tried to stop ASU from becoming an accredited university in the 1950s -- but it's festered into the sort of joyful, spiteful irrationality that fuels, say, Auburn-Alabama."

--Miller also ranked Rudy Carpenter as the Pac-10's best Quarterback.

"He enters his senior season with 65 touchdowns and 8,000 yards passing, meaning he's going to dust such luminaries, such as Matt Leinart, Jake Plummer, John Elway and Carson Palmer in the Pac-10 record book. Moreover, the Sun Devils figure to finish in the top-third in the conference."

--And a ranking of the Pac-10's most hated teams put the Sun Devils as the third most hated team in the Pac-10. Arizona ranked 8th. People dislike a winner way more than those teams they feel sorry for.

"This is a recent hate elevation. The Sun Devils used to be middle-of-the-pack for all teams other than Arizona. But now the program, long hailed a sleeping giant, appears to be waking up with Dennis Erickson at the helm. That breeds jealousy. And lots of folks are quick to insist that ASU is easier to get into academically than most Pac-10 schools."

About Arizona they said this: "The only team that really hates Arizona is Arizona State, but that hate is pretty strong and keeps the Wildcats registering on the Hate Meter. And, if the program's turnaround... any second... any second... finally arrives, expect a more confident Mike Stoops to find ways to annoy fans from schools outside the Grand Canyon State."

--The Arizona Republic reported on how the Georgia fans are gearing up for the big game. The last time the Bulldogs came this far west was in 1960 in a 10-3 loss at Southern Cal. Georgia easily sold it's 7,000+ ticket allotment and many fans are purchasing ASU season tickets just to come for that one game. In all estimates are ranging anywhere from 10,000 - 25,000 Bulldog fans will make the trip to the House of Heat. It should be an intense atmosphere that will be reminiscent of the ASU-Nebraska game in 1996, where Nebraska fans were loud and made up almost half of the home crowd.

--A new rule change for this season regarding the use of instant replay should be a positive addition. Now, if there is a fumble that is recovered by the defense but the official whistles the play dead (i.e. Cal vs. ASU last season), the play can be reviewed to determine whether or not it was a fumble and which team gets possession. Doug Rhoads, college football officials' coordinator for 20+ schools explained it as, "In the past, if an official ruled a player's knee was down and then the ball came loose, that was not a fumble. When his knee was down, the play was over. Once he's down, there's no review. Now, regardless of what the official rules, if there is an immediate recovery, they can review it to make sure possession is rewarded to the right team. Replay won't happen when there's a huge cluster and officials are trying to figure out who has the ball under the pile. Only the officials can determine that. But if there's a split second when the ball comes loose, another player recovers it and the play is dead, they can review it and see whether his knee was down or not."

Another rule change is that all facemask penalties will be of the 15 yard variety and also when a play ends up out of bounds, instead of the clock stopping until the next snap it will stop only for the official to place the ball on the hashmark and then will start again.

--Sports Illustrated ranked ASU the #1 Athletic Program in the nation. Stanford finished 2nd and UCLA 3rd. USC was 7th and Arizona was 22nd, seventh out of Pac teams.

Weekly Notes

So it's been awhile since I have posted, about three or four weeks I think, and I'm going to blame that on schoolwork and other time consuming things but anyway here we go...

Some notes from ASU...

-- ASU hit the polls this week for the first time under Erickson. Coming in at #23 in the AP and #25 in the USA Today and in other polls ranked anywhere from #11 to #24.
-- CSTV named ASU's student section the best in the Pac-10 after its visit during the Oregon State game and had quite a few good videos and bloggings on their trip to Tempe.
-- The 5 picks were a first since 1998, and the first time two players had picks since 1991.
-- ASU has allowed 62 points so far this season, over half of them (39) have come in the 1st quarter.
-- ASU is 16 of 17 in the red zone so far this year, with 12 Touchdowns and 4 Field Goals.
-- Oregon State hasn't won in Tempe since 1969, and that streak will last for at least another year as the Devils travel to Oregon State next year.
-- ASU has outscored opponents 49-7 in the last five minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half. They've also had to come back from double-digit deficits twice so far this season.
-- When the Devils take on Stanford this Saturday they'll be looking at ending a 14 game winless streak against Pac-10 foes on the road in the state of California.
-- ASU leads the Pac-10 in scoring defense, pass defense, total defense, first downs, red zone offense, and time of possession.
-- ASU is one of 23 teams that are undefeated so far this season.
-- Rudy Carpenter is ranked 14th nationally in passing efficiency with 11 touchdowns and 3 picks. Sam Keller is ranked 36th, with 7 TDs and 6 Ints, and Willie Tuitama is ranked 53rd, 10 TDs and 4 Ints.
-- The Stanford game kicks off at 7pm and will be televised on FSN. Also the Wazzu game the following weekend will be broadcast on FSN with a 1pm start time.