Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = The Power of a BYE

The only issue here is whether it becomes a STATEMENT like what happened with the Cats upsetting the Utes last night in SLC following a BYE week or whether it will become a QUESTION for other teams like ASU, that had a BYE this week before facing Kansas next weekend in SDS...

The Cats took full advantage of their BYE week to remedy some shortcomings on both sides of the ball in time to beat a Top 10 ranked Utes team on the road...

The question for our Sun Devils is will they look like a team that is coming off a BYE prepared to make a statement moving forward like the Cats or not..??

Right now, our Devils are without a win in the conference along with Oklahoma St, Baylor, Houston and Kansas...

The leaders in the conference include BYU, Colorado, Texas Tech, Iowa St, W Virginia, and AU (since their K-State loss was not counted as a Big-12 game)...

Yes, the season's still very young but the Devils, following this BYE week, are now facing the toughest part of their schedule and haven't looked like any sort of well run offense or defense, thus far...

Will that start to change this next game against the Jayhawks when they are well rested and healthier than they have been in awhile..??

Their remaining home games include Kansas, Utah, UCF and BYU and the Devils might be able to beat all of them if they have improved significantly over this BYE week...

Kansas has lost four straight games while Utah just lost and UCF was trashed by Colorao and BYU still has to face all kinds of conference challenges before they face the Devils later in the season...

But, the Utes have this next week off and will undoubtedly have Cam Rising back at QB when they face ASU in two weeks...

So, it looks like if the Devils have any chance for winning enough games to go bowling, at the end of the season, they have to beat Kansas next Saturday...

In other college football news, Wyoming finally won a game when the beat the Air Force Academy yesterday and UNLV didn't miss a beat without their starting QB who basically quit the team over an NIL dispute...

As a matter of fact, the Rebels looked really good with their "second string" QB running their offense against Fresno St yesterday...

So, will the BYE week prove a real benefit for our Sun Devils or not this week against Kansas and beyond, in your estimation..??

I sure hope so as Cincy scored 41 pts against Texas Tech in a losing effort in Lubbock (41-44), a week after we only scored 22 pts...

The Kansas game looks like a toss-up type of deal even though we are 3-1 and they are 1-4, which tells me how the betting professionals see the game...

So, again, will the BYE transform our team the way it did for the Cats who were an 8 point underdog to the Utes..??

Stay tuned and Go Devils!!!

Following a nine-win campaign, no one expected Kansas to win just one game nearing the season’s midpoint, still seeking their first Big 12 win. What are the challenges that are affecting the Jayhawks ahead of their road trip to ASU? Jayhawk Slant Publisher Jon Kirby discusses the Sun Devils’ upcoming opponent.

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Diron Reynolds has put together a widely respected coaching career at the college and NFL levels, mentoring a host of star players—including new Hall of Famer Dwight Freeney—and earning a Super Bowl ring along the way. He also has been a key part of the Von Miller Pass Rush Summit, where the best pass rushers in the world gather annually to hone their craft. Through the early part of the 2024 season, his impact on the Arizona State line play has been significant. On this episode, we go in-depth on his coaching origin story, working his way from a GA to a Super Bowl champion, the finer points of trench play, why he came to ASU, the Devils’ D-line, and much more.

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Let's start getting familiar with the Big 12 teams ASU will face in the fall. First up is Kansas. The Jayhawks were one of the biggest surprises in 2023, but can they be comfortable now being the hunter and not the hunted? JayhawkSlant Publisher Jon Kirby offers his perspective

Last week, Big 12 teams were just 2-5 on the road against conference opponents. The only 2 wins coming from playoff contenders Utah and UCF.

Baylor and UofA have also lost road games to conference opponents in “non conference” games. So road teams are 2-7.

As the season moves into week 5, this will be my theme of the week. How well do road teams do?

Is there anything you will be watching this week?

Hey guys, Ben Golan with RedRaiderSports here (Texas Tech Rivals).

@Hod Rabino and the team are traveling to Las Vegas for Big 12 Media Days this week so he asked if I could help with this story. Just got off the phone with Morgan, hope you guys like it.

“I think they are playing together for the most part playing the right way, and we're not perfect. Competing means something to a majority of the guys in the gym right now.” Bobby Hurley's roster reconstruction is providing optimism for the 2024-5 season

(55 minutes)

Even at a 3-1 record, there is plenty for the Sun Devils to fix over the bye week, and the questions ASU fans submitted to me revolved around that topic and are replied in great detail in this podcast’s episode

To listen, click play below, or

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A Bye week is here and that means we’re going to take a look at the team swag that the Devils wear when they’re not suited up to play! See all the details on DevilsDigest.com here: https://arizonastate.rivals.com/news/2024-uniformity-week-5-bye-week-sun-devil-off-field-gear

ASU’s 1st Big 12 game is the 1st monochrome game of 2024 as well! Can ASU break the Whiteout trend? Plus a @GrahamRossini #faniform! See all the details here: https://arizonastate.rivals.com/new...devils-to-wear-whiteout-for-first-big-12-game

With the "first season" of four games behind us, what do you think you know about us? In other words, what has solidified in your mind over the last four weeks?

I admit that I wasn't really sure what to expect at all this year. There is so much player turnover that it makes it difficult to rely much on last year when anticipating a new season. Also, last year was such a weird year with injuries, new coaches, etc. that I didn't really get a read on how good or bad we would have been if the full team was available most of the year.

With that, I'll throw out a few things I think we know about the 2024 Sun Devils. Reply with what you think you know and/or tell me why I'm an idiot for my thoughts:

1. We are more talented than last year, but still not talented enough to me more than a middle of the road B12 team.

2. We are not as deep at WR or RB as we thought we'd be.

3. Leavitt is good for a RS freshman, but isn't going to win games for us on his own. Someone else is going to have to take the lead for us in close games.

4. The OL is exactly what we thought - fine in the interior and weak at tackle.

5. Six wins should still be seen as a solid season, even with a 3-0 start.

Love and prayers as you handle the storm tonight.

"We've lowered the standard through a little bit of success, and that's my fault. I told them we got to get back to the standard that we had all spring and all summer." Aside from X's and O's refusing the team's mindset is also a goal during the bye week

During the bye week, the ASU coaches are keeping the players well-conditioned and also breaking the monotony of practices. Here’s our report from today’s session

Please post these in this thread by Thursday morning

Wanted to touch briefly on the Women's volleyball team. It is a smaller sport BUT we may have found something. Last year with a first year coach, ASU went 28-7 and made it to the Sweet 16 in his first year. wow. Very impressive. The program was pretty bare when he got here. This year, they are highly ranked (14th) and are 8-1. We are 36-8 since coach J.J. Van Niel took over last year. That is quite impressive. Their only loss this year was at top 4 program Nebraska. ASU seemed a little intimated being there as they had an unusual amount of unforced service errors and also the Cornhuskers had their 320th plus straight sellout so a big factor as well. Remember that last year Nebraska played outdoors at the football stadium and got 92,000 fans to go to the game and break the attendance record. In any case, our coach looks to be serious high end. We need to make sure we take care of him and not do what we did with Softball and Men's swimming, where we let title coaches leave. Quality coaches are hard to find as evidenced by what happened in Softball and after CTT left in women's basketball. You literally go from being a quality program to bottom feeder just like that. Rayray didn't even try to work with Tricia Ford on a salary that would tempt her to stay yet two weeks later he got a nice sweet $2.1M bonus for ASU academic achievement. Fortunately, his horrible leadership is gone and we'll hope that Rossini recognizes what he has here and does the right thing. These are the coaches we need to put enough resources in to hold onto. I realize Volleyball isn't a money maker and is dwarfed by Football and Basketball, I get that, BUT, if you have these other programs and you get a high end coach, we need to do what we can to keep them. I remember in my younger days when we were in the top 10-20 of the Sears Director Cup standings for overall program success. Would be nice to get back there at some point. In any case, shout out to coach Van Niel for getting this going so quickly.