When ASU was drilled by Stanford back in September I remember sitting in the press box at Palo Alto thinking, “I came all the way up here to watch this slop?”
But, looking back on that night there were some elements against ASU that should be different this time around.
-The Environment:
Stanford Stadium is probably the most vanilla college experience for a program that is ranked in the top 10. Sure, the Stanford band is cool and the mascot (a tree), is pretty random but the fans that day arrived late because of a pounding rain storm. There was no “vibe” to speak of and ASU came out flat. That won’t be the case Saturday night.
-Special Teams:
Probably the worst showing out of ASU in the loss that night was the “special” teams. They weren’t special at all…
Ty Montgomery is second in the nation averaging over 30 yards per kickoff return. He single-handedly took ASU out of the game with 81 yards on three returns back in September.
I know all of you think ASU is going to win Saturday night but the level-headed fans also want to know what happens if they don’t.
How would you feel if ASU went to the Alamo Bowl rather than the Holiday Bowl in San Diego? This was brought to my attention this morning out on campus. Oregon looked like the team that was ticketed for San Antonio but the folks in San Antonio may be looking closer at ASU. Pasadena is the ultimate goal for ASU, but if they do come up short, going to a bowl game in Texas would be a pretty darn good consolation prize for a program who wants to recruit that state. By the way, the payout for the teams in the Alamo Bowl is a million dollars higher than those who go to the Holiday.
I don’t think ASU is going to have to worry about plans for any city other than Pasadena. 24-17 Arizona State as their Run for the Roses continues…
