It would appear that our Sun Devils are not the worst or one of the worst teams in the Big-12...
They've held their serve at home, beating both Wyoming and Mississippi St, so far...
They dominated the Cowboys and dominated the Bulldogs for the first half before holding on for dear life in the second half but found a way to win in the end on Saturday night in SDS...
Now they travel to Texas to take on
Texas State of the Sun Belt Conference, where they finished with an 8-5 record last year, that included a bowl win over Rice...
The Sun Belt conference includes teams like App State, Marshall, Coastal Carolina, Troy, James Madison etc...
They have the
Sun Belt Player of the Year from last season,
QB Jordan McCloud, who transferred from James Madison to Texas St...
In addition to
Jordan McCloud, they have a very good
RB in Deion Hankins and a very good
WR in Joey Hobert and have one of the best placekickers in the country in
Mason Shipley, who has only missed one FG attempt in three years (he's 18-19 thus far in his career and can make them from over 50 yards)...his only miss came this year from over 40 yards...
They have nine seniors on defense to go along with two juniors, while the offense is evenly split between seniors and juniors, so this team is very mature and experienced...
Now for some good Big-12 news...
If the Devils can get past the Bobcats on Thursday night in San Marcos, TX, that is about 30 miles south of Austin, they will not face any dominating teams like Texas that left for the SEC...
Utah will remain formidable and playing K-State and Oklahoma St on the road will be daunting for our Devils, but from what I've seen of the other teams in the conference, I think we could compete and beat just about any other team, if we play up to our potential in each and every game...
Illinois beat Kansas this past weekend and I wonder if we are as good as the Fighting Illini of the B1G...
Arizona struggled against NAU and didn't convert one third down and TMac only had two catches for 11 yards...
But, just as I think we could compete and beat just about any other Big-12 team on our remaining schedule, we could just as easily lose to those teams, if we play like we did in the second half against Miss St...
So, there are no cupcakes on our schedule but we don't appear to be any worse right now than a middle of the Big-12 type of team that could finish with six of more wins to be bowl eligible but it won't be easy...
Our QB has managed games well and not had any TOs but has not been all that accurate with his passing, thus far...
And, if on long pass plays, he can put the ball up where our receiver can have a chance to catch it, even in coverage, what's the worst that can happen..??
TMac can and does catch those sorts of passes on a regular basis and I think some of our receivers could do the same and if we get an INT, it would be like a punt...
Anyway, after beating Wyoming and Miss State, we have put ourselves in a good position to win enough games to go bowling, IMHO, if we continue to get better and play up to our potential in each game...
Come Thursday, the Texas State Bobcats will be looking to beat our Devils on their home field and they seem to have more than enough talent to do that so we better be ready and have our A-game in place or else...
That's the way I see things but what about you..??
Go Devils and Beat the Bobcats!!!