First hockey feature of the year here by Jake Sloan. Huge series in Tempe this weekend

Per Jon Wilner's Best of the West Rankings this week...

The Big-12 teams that make the list are...

#2 BYU that hosts #10 ranked AU this weekend (BYU is unbeaten and coming off a BYE while the Cats lost at home to Texas Tech this past weekend)

#5 Utah travels to Tempe to face #8 ASU on Friday night (Utah is also coming off a BYE week while ASU has a short week of practice before he game)

#6 Colorado hosts K-State that is not ranked in Wilner's poll this week...(both teams are coming off BYE weeks)

Note: the Cats were ranked #7 last week by Wilner, while our Devils were ranked #12, hence the slide vs jump related to both teams in his rankings this week...

This is what he says about Utah as they face the Devils later this week...

"A highly challenging game in Tempe for the Utes was not on our Big-12 bingo card this season. Then again, very little about the Big-12 season thus far was on our Big-12 bingo card. It's utter mayhem and it's absolutely glorious."

And, this is what he had to say about our Sun Devils...

"ASU's four victories are against teams with a combined record of 6-15 (Wyoming 1-4 and Kansas 1-5 and Miss St 1-4 and Texas St 3-2). And you know what that means? Absolutely nothing. The Sun Devils are out of the gutter and unapologetically strutting down the street alongside every other four-win team across the FBS."

It's great for our Devils to be "out of the gutter" for a change and would be even greater to add a win against a Top 25 ranked team this Friday in SDS, right..??

I'm still filling out my Big-12 Bingo Card down here in Geezerville, where college football fans from all over this country are also filling in their conference bingo cards, and there is plenty of mayhem and chaos going on in other places like the SEC and B1G, where there have already been plenty of big time upsets, although, at the end of the day, the Big Boys in those places will still be going to the playoffs, while that may not be the case in the Big-12, if the conference winner has something like 3-4 losses, right..??

The #1 ranked Oregon Ducks, in Wilner's Best in the West rankings, will host another top ranked team in Ohio St on Saturday before another full-house in Eugene...

I sure hope that our Sun Devil fans we will do the same thing with our game against the Utes in SDS on Friday night...

Go Devils and Beat the Utes!!!

“The more you invest in something, the harder it is to quit. That’s why, in these closer games up to this point, we’ve fared pretty well." An effective mental approach in the preseason has proven to complement the pure football preparation efforts for ASU

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Late-game heroics at critical moments in the contest saw them edge out a 35-31 victory over Kansas in nail-biting fashion. The newcomers certainly played a crucial role in the contest in all position groups. Here is our detailed report.

On the heels of the announcement of the 9 a.m. (AZ time) kickoff for ASU's road game at Cincinnati, here are the morning kickoffs ASU has had since 1994. It's very difficult to find KO times before '94.

It's important to note these are all Arizona time, not the local time where the game was played.

9:00 a.m.: At Northwestern, 2004
10:00 a.m.: At USC, 2020
10:30 a.m.: At North Carolina, 2003
11:00 a.m.: At Utah, 2023; Washington State, 2014; Arizona, 1999; At Nebraska, 1995; At BYU, 1994
11:30 a.m.: At Notre Dame, 1999

Great story below on the billion dollar lawsuit that is close to being settled to pay athletes dating back to 2016 for damages, somewhat related to NIL........but once settled sounds like they are trying to setup a program where schools could pay student athletes directly and hopefully get away from the NIL mess.......also talks REV Sharing, so very interesting story

Texas basketball Director of Recruiting Ty Larson has been hired as a special assistant to Bobby Hurley, as ASU fills one of the two spots recently added by the NCAA that can coach on the floor.

Spoke to someone who is familiar with Larson and talked about him highly as young up-and-comer who coached under Chris Beard at Texas and also coached with current ASU assistant Jerrance Howard at Texas. Not only a good recruiter but a solid X's and O's coach.



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It wasn't perfect, but we did finally see Arroyo (assuming it was him and not KD dictating things) put together some play calls that made me smile.

I liked that we got Leavitt in a rhythm early in the game. Even the first run by him gets his head in the game and shakes off any nervousness. Loved seeing that.

Liked seeing some crossing routes and short throws. Liked them using the passing game to set up the run, where Scatt gashed them late to set up the win.

I'd still like to see the TEs getting more involved as an outlet. I did like some of the misdirection plays, even with the reverse getting blown up because of a badly missed block. The fake punt was GLORIOUS!

My biggest concern with this team is the lack of football IQ with some starters, and the lack of discipline. I still cringe everytime a ball is thrown to a WR covered by Abney. He always "appears" to be badly beaten or completely out of position. Although the latter may be because of the defensive set rather than him specifically.

Then we have the hot and cold with both Tyson and Guillory. They'll make highlight reel catches, but then drop ones right in their hands. They need to really step up and help their young QB.

All in all it was a solid bounce back by the staff after the TTech debacle. I'm hoping to see more offensive innovation in the coming weeks.

2025 commits

Butter Tollefson
Cory Butler
AJ Ia
Puka Fuimaono


2026 prospects

TE Kekua Aumua (IMG Academy, Florida)
TE Javion Martin (Pflugerville, Texas)
LB Hudson Dunn (Peoria Liberty)
DE Landon Barnes (Duncanville, Texas)
RB Trae Hill (Cedar Park, Texas)
LB Jalayne Miller (Goodyear Desert Edge)

2027 prospects

WR Zerek Sidney (Goodyear Desert Edge)
CB Mikyal Davis (Goodyear Desert Edge)

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“We played an ugly game, but we played so hard, we made plays in the fourth quarter. We didn’t get rattled, we didn’t waver, just responded.” Sun Devils survive a roller-coaster affair, edging Kansas in a 35-31 win, while revealing familiar traits

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = Tortuous Fun

It was a happy ending after an ugly game in which the Devils had two players ejected for targeting, some uncalled for personal fouls, two turnovers, a blocked FG attempt, many dropped passes and missed tackles, and an officiating crew that must have been from the PAC, if you ask many Sun Devil fans...

But, in the end, the Devils made enough plays on offense and defense to win the game with only seconds left on the 4th quarter game clock...

In short, it was quite the adventure before a family weekend crowd that made a lot of noise throughout the game despite the oppressive heat...

And, best of all, they got to go home fairly early and with a lot of smiles on their collective faces that will bring many back to other ASU games in the future...

The night got even better when the Texas Tech Red Raiders knocked off the Cats in Tucson 28-22...

So, at this point in the Big-12, there do not appear to be any dominant teams, although it will be interesting to see how Utah does coming off a BYE week before facing our Sun Devils next Saturday in SDS...

Cam Rising should be returning to their line-up on Friday night against us, I would presume, and that cannot be welcome news to the Sun Devil faithful...

Unbeaten BYU will also be coming off a BYE and will be hosting the Cats in Provo next weekend...

And, the Buffs, led by Prime Time, will also be coming off a BYE as they entertain K-State in a home game, (although K-State will also be coming off a BYE week)...

There will be another sell-out home crowd on hand for that game in Boulder as the Prime Time effect on game attendance just keeps on rolling...

It seems everywhere he goes, people want to see him and the Buffs play against their home team and that will be true when the Buffs play AU on Oct the 19th in Tucson...

He does commercials with former Alabama coach Nick Saban and does KFC commercials with his sons, along with other deals that make him plenty of money as a celebrity coach...

I don't think Dilly will be doing any commercials with Nick Saban or KFC but he seems to be winning over the hearts and minds of Sun Devil fans that is much more important and satisfying for most of us here in Sun Devil land...

So, the Big-12 is wide open, at this point, with BYU and Iowa St the only two unbeaten teams in the conference, so far, but Texas Tech, Colorado, and W Virginia also don't have any conference losses...

We now appear to have a pretty decent chance of winning enough games to go bowling this year, that would be a nice accomplishment, but I wonder where we might end up in the conference standings, if we weren't shooting ourselves in the foot on a regular basis during games...

But, would it be as much tortuous fun, if we weren't playing stupid and mistake prone football during out games..??

What say you..??

Hopefully, we will have a sell-out crowd for our game against the Utes next Friday night in SDS...(note: game is on Friday night at 7:30, our time, on ESPN)

Who knows, maybe if we play a smart and error free game, we might have a chance to win against a good, solid Utes team that will most probably have their star QB returning...

The Utes usually are not in the habit of beating themselves under coach Kyle Whittingham...

Since the game is on Friday night, it's a short week for us and the Utes will be coming off a BYE week, that should be a big advantage for them, one would think...

Utah is favored by about 5.5 points in early betting...

Not a good set-up for us but it is far better coming off a gritty win than the alternative, right..??

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

ASU received an sportsmanship penalty last night due to excessive celebration by the receiver who caught the touchdown pass. Well, maybe because I am "Old School," ASU 1966 grad, I hope the coaches have told him to hold down these antics.
Our WR Coach, Hines Ward, should tell his receivers to simply hand the ball to the referee and act like it was a routine play.
That's my take on celebrations! Go Devils from Pittsburgh.

Rushing offense and total defense having good ranks. The rest kind of average if not below

Good afternoon Huddle members,

Follow us here and on Twitter for in-game updates from the Sun Devils' first ever Big 12 game

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Coming up with creative ways to describe another ASU win this season is hard but not necessarily a negative issue. The carbon copy script of resiliency, poise, resolve, etc., is clearly the DNA of the 2024 Sun Devils and came to the forefront in Arizona State’s first-ever Big 12 win, 35-31, over Kansas.

I don't see many intriguing games this weekend. Typically, I look at a few matchups that will tell us just how good a team is. This week it seems like the matchups will tell us how bad the loser is. Barring any App St upsetting Michigan moments.

I'm not all that excited about ASU v Kansas. We either beat a 1-5 Kansas team or lose at home to a 2-4 Kansas team. And it's Kansas Football. For as much as I wanted a Big 12 invite, nothing is without cost and this game seems boring to me. My apologies to any Jayhawk lurkers.

Clemson v Florida State was probably the schedulers gift, but with the Seminoles being 1-4 it's difficult to be excited.

Cal hosts Game Day for the first time ever as they host #8 ranked Miami. The Golden Bears last game had them travel 2,200 miles to play Florida State. Today Miami will travel 2,600 miles to play at Cal. For the same distance, the Hurricanes could travel to Lima, Peru. As far as I can tell, I'd be as interested in seeing Miami play Peru as I am to see them play Cal. At least a Miami v Peru game has the potential for a 30 for 30 sequel of the Catholics v Convicts. This Cal game will be forgotten if it is even seen because of the 10:30 pm kickoff time. They could have had a 4:30 pm kick off time, partly cloudy in the 80s but why should I expect the people sending Miami further than Peru for a conference game to care about a kickoff time? It's absurd.






Houston likely eliminated TCU from the playoffs Friday night.
Syracuse dealt a blow to the Mt West. They probably now need either Boise St or UNLV to win out or risk being over taken by Cinderella James Madison.
West Virginia v Ok St is an elimination game
Would Napier survive half time if little brother UCF is holding a 15+ point lead?
The game of the week might be UofA hosting Texas Tech and I have no desire to watch either of them.

Will you guys be tuning in to football? Or watching Bryce Harper and Ohtani lead their teams?