Can the Devils FINALLY get a little respect?
By Wes Adamson
It’s official; ASU is the Rodney Dangerfield of college football, just can’t get no dang respect. After smoking another solid team on Saturday night (the formerly ranked Washington Huskies), chances are it will largely go unnoticed by everyone outside of Arizona. That’s a shame, but nothing new for a well rounded and highly ranked team out West not named Oregon. Does anyone remember the other Arizona football team in the conference was ranked 10th in the country before a loss to USC? The talking heads did hype a couple “sexy” teams from the league (a few prominent “experts” even predicted UCLA would win the playoff, really?) but after those pretty teams went down early it’s been crickets on the PAC-12 and radio silence on what ASU has done.
Newsflash everyone, this is still a GREAT conference. It has 5 teams ranked in the Top 25 from ONE DIVISION (sound familiar?). Like the SEC they have 6 total teams in the Top 25 with Oregon from the North; a division that also has formerly ranked teams Stanford and Washington. The conference is so deep and well rounded just look at all of the road victories, nail biters and all the games decided on the final possession; 2 were even won on Hail Marys (It’s an Arizona thing)!
One of those teams to win on a miraculous play at the buzzer is ASU. The Devils backup QB Mike Bercovici has looked like he could start for most programs (Washington must be blowing up his cell right about now) leading to the improbable win over USC and another solid effort beating hated rival Stanford 26-10 last week. If it wasn’t for that train wreck at home against UCLA, this team would still be undefeated, without their leader and starting QB Taylor Kelly for 6 weeks. That is pretty impressive work by the coaching staff to keep the team focused and pull through the adversity, not to mention turning a defense full of freshmen and walk-ons into one of the nation’s best. The unit forced 3 turnovers (2 INTs were dropped), held Washington to 2/14 on third down and allowed only 3 points Saturday night. Before you start with “well the Huskies have a horrible offense” let me point out that ASU is 2nd in the PAC-12 in total defense for the SEASON.
So the team that is ranked 14th, playing in the best division outside of the SEC West and leading it, who beat 2 ranked teams with a backup QB and uses 9 freshmen on defense deserves to finally get some respect. Now the Devils head home to continue the PAC-12 gauntlet against the 6-1 Utah Utes with first place in the South on the line. It’s been a tough road for ASU and it will only get tougher (Notre Dame will be next), but this team has shown it can quietly go about their business on the way to another PAC-12 South crown despite the setbacks and adversity. Maybe its time to give this team, and for that matter this whole LEAGUE, the respect it deserves. Move aside big-bad SEC, the PAC-12 is here to stay.
Oct 25, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Washington Huskies head coach Chris Petersen shakes hands with Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Taylor Kelly (10) following a 24-10 Arizona State victory at Husky Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports