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Cut, pasted and modified from my thread on the other ASFN college board:
ASU over Cal.
Cal seems to have been exposed as having trouble stopping the run. If ASU stays close, or leads at the half, it's all over. ASU will run, run, run the whole 2nd half and hit a couple of deep ones when Cal is forced to play 8 or 9 men up.
If Cal jumps up big in the first half, say 14 to 17, they might hang on to win a squeaker.
ASU is as talented as Cal but not as tested or experienced. Advantage Cal.
Tedford teams find ways to lose sometimes when they shouldn't. Erickson teams? We'll soon find out. Push.
Weather. Supposed to be hot. Advantage ASU.
Home field sell-out. Advantage ASU.
ASU coming off bye, Cal angry after choke job. Advantage Cal.
The best run game wins this one. Push.
Can't wait. Go devils.
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This game is BIG. Erickson hasn't done anything yet that Koetter didn't do on a yearly basis.
A big win in this game could catapult the Devils into a dream season.
I disagree, Koetter would've dropped one or two games so far. Koetters term can be summed up like this:
1.Usually beat teams they should beat
2.Occasionally lost to teams they should beat
3.Almost never beat teams they were underdogs to
I think for instance, under DK, ASU may have lost the WAZZU game.
Either way, its a huge game, if Torain was healthy, I'd be almost confident enough to 'guarantee' an ASU victory, it should be a fun one though, I think ASU comes out on top.
I actually have no clue what to expect from Cal. One of their players came out today and said he thinks they'll be better now that they've lost 2 games and don't have any pressure on them like they did ranked 2nd. Call me crazy but if I were Tedford and a kid said that, that kid would be on the bench immediately. He basically said we lost the last 2 games because we couldn't take the pressure of being highly ranked.
Cal gets Jordan back at WR he missed the last game. Longshore said the swelling in his ankle is mostly gone and he's moving better. Cal gets at least one of their injured DL's back, maybe 2. So they won't have a lot of excuses if they lose.
Main problem Cal has is on defense they can't stop the run or pressure the QB so they can't get teams off the field on 3rd downs.
The other interesting thing is DeSean Jackson came out this week and said he thinks Cal is too predictable running on first and second down and he wishes they'd thrown more against UCLA. Tedford showed by numbers they threw more on first down than they ran (17-13) against the Bruins but then agreed with Jackson they are too predictable and said he doesn't mind at all having a star player point that out.
So we'll see what if anything changes with playcalling.
I'll pick ASU I think Cal's defense is just not good enough.
Biggest game of the year. Honestly, all of us Devil Fans looked at the calendar and said, "If only we could be undefeated by the time we play Cal..." We got our wish. I was very disappointed to see Cal lose last week and the week before. Had we had two unbeaten teams, this game would be HUGE nationally.
Beating Cal would exercise some 'Koetter' demons from the program. If we lose, we will be labeled as a team that isn't very good and just had a favorable schedule. As far as rankings are concerned, it is much better that we beat Cal before losing to Oregon and USC. If we lose to Cal, and lose to Oregon, it won't matter if we beat USC - the voters will have written us off by then.
From a Pac-10 point of view, we need to stay ahead of UCLA - like us, they too are undefeated in conference play. I think we have about the toughest schedule in the country the next 4 weeks.
If ASU scores early and the crowd stays in the game they will ride the energy and emotion of the crowd to a win. If Cal scores early and the crowd never gets in to it ASU will get blown out.
These are kids after all, the effect of a crowd can make a HUGE difference.
Man, I'll tell you what. There is absolutly ZERO love for ASU this weekend. I am yet to see one prediction that has ASU winning outside of this forum. I really hope ASU plays well and shows everyone how good we can be.
P.S. as a little side note, nothing is official obviously, and it might seem a little obvious, but I have been told by some reliable sources that without a doubt, if ASU and UO win, GAMEDAY will be covering the game. I personaly already live here but I'd love to see a big showing of maroon and gold. Even though I am a grad student here, I will still be doning the maroon and gold!
^I'd be happy if Gameday did cover ASU-OU, but its at OU, not here in Tempe, so its not nearly as exciting. Plus, Gameday already went to Eugene, and I wonder how eager they'd be to go to one location twice, especially considering its not a traditional football power school.
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