Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = The Dilly Era Begins
The Daily Star has its preseason college football section in today's sports section and this is its analysis of our Sun Devils that is pretty fair, in my estimation...
"Rookie coach Kenny Dillingham gets an A+ for energy and enthusiasm but has a C- roster loaded with newcomers and unproven returnees. We do not expect high level QB play , especially compared to the competition; nor is there an elite tailback. The secondary should be one of the best in the conference but the front seven is stocked with questions. What's more, the Sun Devils drew both Wash and Oregon in the schedule rotation this season which is the last thing they needed in Year One of Dilly's reclamation project."
Any issues with that assessment..??
Jon Wilner gives his take on the PAC situation viewed through the all important QB room of each team and he ranks the Sun Devils in 7th place from that perspective...
"Rashada, a former blue-chip recruit who encountered NIL issues at Florida and switched his allegiance to ASU, was named the starter this week. He beat out incumbent (Bourguet) who completed 71% of his passes last season. The move makes loads of sense for rookie coach, KD, (for this reason)...might as well start the multi-year reclamation project with the QB who possesses the highest ceiling over time."
It's interesting to note that he has the Devils QB room one notch above that of the Cats that feature returning starter - Jayden de Laura...probably because the Devils have Trenton and Pyne in reserve while the Cats don't have anyone yet of that caliber in reserve...
So, he has ASU 7th in the PAC QB room followed by AU, Wazzu, Colorado, Cal and Stanford and we get AU, Wazzu and Colorado at home with Cal on the road and we don't play Stanford...
But, where do we put all of our other "positional rooms" compared to the other teams in the PAC..??
I would guess that maybe our receivers and TE rooms might be in the top half of the PAC and, perhaps, our secondary, as well, but where does that leave us at the end of the day, in the conference, taking all of the positional rooms into account..??
And, if that is the deal, is it even possible for our Sun Devils to finish in the top half of the conference..??
Having eight home games, that include five PAC games helps, but USC, Wash, Utah and Oregon are all loaded with talent and great QBs so, maybe, finishing in the top half of the PAC is Mission Impossible...
After watching the USC vs San Jose St game last evening, I came away wondering if our Sun Devils had as much talent, on our team, as the Spartans did, that managed to make a game of it against the Trojans for more than a half of the game...
For those of you that watched that game, what do you think..??
We have about as much talent as the Spartans or more or less..??
On the other hand, the Trojans have an embarrassment of riches, in terms of talent, at just about every position, and they pack the explosiveness of a team that has tons of dynamite at their skill positions, compared to a couple of firecrackers, that a few other teams in the PAC might have by comparison, especially when talking about the bottom half of the PAC...
So, as far as I'm concerned, it's a good thing that the rejuvenated Trojans under Lincoln Riley are exiting the PAC for the Big 10 because the Trojans are now going to look like what they did under Pete Carroll in the not too distant future, IMHO...
They even have it going in the NIL room where I saw Caleb Williams matched with Matt Leinart in a national Wendy's commercial on TV yesterday...
USC was not mentioned but only the fact that two former Heisman Trophy winners were sitting down to enjoy a Wendy's hamburger and fries...
A major national hamburger chain advertising with a USC QB in its TV advertisement...
So, I guess the message is this...come to USC and anything is possible...conference championships, Heisman Trophies, national Top 10 finishes, national playoffs, great NIL deals, ad nauseam...
What's the message that our Sun Devils will be sending out under Dilly this year..??
That he's in over his head or that he will be able to elevate our Sun Devils to more than a team that aspires to "competitive traction" in the coming years..??
Or, just more of the same that we are all used to when talking about Sun Devil football..??
I'll get back to all of you in the coming weeks regarding that question...
So, once more, do we have as much or more or less talent than the San Jose St Spartans..??
Stay tuned...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = The Dilly Era Begins
The Daily Star has its preseason college football section in today's sports section and this is its analysis of our Sun Devils that is pretty fair, in my estimation...
"Rookie coach Kenny Dillingham gets an A+ for energy and enthusiasm but has a C- roster loaded with newcomers and unproven returnees. We do not expect high level QB play , especially compared to the competition; nor is there an elite tailback. The secondary should be one of the best in the conference but the front seven is stocked with questions. What's more, the Sun Devils drew both Wash and Oregon in the schedule rotation this season which is the last thing they needed in Year One of Dilly's reclamation project."
Any issues with that assessment..??
Jon Wilner gives his take on the PAC situation viewed through the all important QB room of each team and he ranks the Sun Devils in 7th place from that perspective...
"Rashada, a former blue-chip recruit who encountered NIL issues at Florida and switched his allegiance to ASU, was named the starter this week. He beat out incumbent (Bourguet) who completed 71% of his passes last season. The move makes loads of sense for rookie coach, KD, (for this reason)...might as well start the multi-year reclamation project with the QB who possesses the highest ceiling over time."
It's interesting to note that he has the Devils QB room one notch above that of the Cats that feature returning starter - Jayden de Laura...probably because the Devils have Trenton and Pyne in reserve while the Cats don't have anyone yet of that caliber in reserve...
So, he has ASU 7th in the PAC QB room followed by AU, Wazzu, Colorado, Cal and Stanford and we get AU, Wazzu and Colorado at home with Cal on the road and we don't play Stanford...
But, where do we put all of our other "positional rooms" compared to the other teams in the PAC..??
I would guess that maybe our receivers and TE rooms might be in the top half of the PAC and, perhaps, our secondary, as well, but where does that leave us at the end of the day, in the conference, taking all of the positional rooms into account..??
And, if that is the deal, is it even possible for our Sun Devils to finish in the top half of the conference..??
Having eight home games, that include five PAC games helps, but USC, Wash, Utah and Oregon are all loaded with talent and great QBs so, maybe, finishing in the top half of the PAC is Mission Impossible...
After watching the USC vs San Jose St game last evening, I came away wondering if our Sun Devils had as much talent, on our team, as the Spartans did, that managed to make a game of it against the Trojans for more than a half of the game...
For those of you that watched that game, what do you think..??
We have about as much talent as the Spartans or more or less..??
On the other hand, the Trojans have an embarrassment of riches, in terms of talent, at just about every position, and they pack the explosiveness of a team that has tons of dynamite at their skill positions, compared to a couple of firecrackers, that a few other teams in the PAC might have by comparison, especially when talking about the bottom half of the PAC...
So, as far as I'm concerned, it's a good thing that the rejuvenated Trojans under Lincoln Riley are exiting the PAC for the Big 10 because the Trojans are now going to look like what they did under Pete Carroll in the not too distant future, IMHO...
They even have it going in the NIL room where I saw Caleb Williams matched with Matt Leinart in a national Wendy's commercial on TV yesterday...
USC was not mentioned but only the fact that two former Heisman Trophy winners were sitting down to enjoy a Wendy's hamburger and fries...
A major national hamburger chain advertising with a USC QB in its TV advertisement...
So, I guess the message is this...come to USC and anything is possible...conference championships, Heisman Trophies, national Top 10 finishes, national playoffs, great NIL deals, ad nauseam...
What's the message that our Sun Devils will be sending out under Dilly this year..??
That he's in over his head or that he will be able to elevate our Sun Devils to more than a team that aspires to "competitive traction" in the coming years..??
Or, just more of the same that we are all used to when talking about Sun Devil football..??
I'll get back to all of you in the coming weeks regarding that question...
So, once more, do we have as much or more or less talent than the San Jose St Spartans..??
Stay tuned...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
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