TEMPE, Ariz. –The Arizona State football program placed 10 student-athletes on the Academic All-Pac-12 teams, announced by the league office Wednesday morning.


Running back Nick Ralston and quarterback Brady White led the way for the Sun Devils as they were the only two student-athletes in the conference to be nominated with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.

Joining Ralston and White on the All-Pac-12 First Team were wide receivers Fred Gammage and Cameron Smith, as well as offensive lineman Stephon McCray. Matt Haack also received first team honors to pull ASU’s total number of first team honorees to six, a count that tied Stanford with the most number of first-team selections.

The Sun Devils also claimed four honorable recognition nods as long snapper Mitchell Fraboni, linebacker Malik Lawal, linebacker Laiu Moeakiola and wide out Tim White received the recognition.

To be eligible for selection to the academic team, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.0 overall grade-point average and appear in at least 50-percent of their team’s games.

With Wednesday’s announcement, the Sun Devils have now had an impressive 208 student-athletes receive All-Pac-12 academic honors, including 34 conference academic honors under head coach Todd Graham. Since taking over the ASU football program prior to the 2012 season, Graham has had seven student-athletes garner All-Pac-12 Academic First-Team honors, including two-straight Pac-12 Scholar Athletes of the Year in Michael Bercovici (2015) and Taylor Kelly (2014).

24 hours prior to his decommitment from the University of Houston, the Southern California defensive back already met with ASU in-person.

Sun Devils proactive with Javelin Guidry

Fresno State relieved Tim DeRuyter of his head coaching duties Sunday. Since then, Jeff Tedford's name has been dropped as the next Fresno State head coach by Fresno news source @georgetakata

Interesting Tidbits:

• Tedford is a Fresno State alum, former QB
• Tedford has been spending his time this season as 'Offensive Consultant' for the 7-0 Washington Huskies...Chris Petersen explained how that consultant stuff works, very interesting
• Tim DeRuyter is out of a job and possesses some Defensive Coordinator (and Defensive Back) coaching skills at such stops as Texas A&M, Air Force, Navy, Ohio, and Nevada
• Some other candidates have been listed by other news outlets but none as emphatically as Tedford: Kiffin, Orgeron, Justin Wilcox. I'm thinking Takata knows something

TEMPE, Ariz. –Six Sun Devils – senior linebackers Koron Crump and Laiu Moeakiola, sophomore defensive lineman JoJo Wicker, freshman wide receiver N'Keal Harry, senior punter Matt Haack and senior kicker and Lou Groza Award Finalist Zane Gonzalez, earned All-Pac-12 recognition league officials announced Tuesday.

Gonzalez was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team, while Crump, Haack and Wicker received All-Pac-12 Second Team honors. Harry and Moeakiola each earned honorable mention honors.

Gonzalez earned his third career Pac-12 post season honor with Tuesday's announcement. The Deer Park, Texas, native recorded his second All-Pac-12 First Team recognition after securing the honor in 2013. Gonzalez obliterated the record books this season finishing the year as the nation's All-Time career FBS leader in field goals made (96) and points scored by a kicker (494). Gonzalez also set numerous conference records including Pac-12 career records for points by any player regardless of position, most points by kicking in a single season (15), most field goals made in a game (4), career field goals made, most field goals from over 40 yards in a single season (13) and most field goals from over 50 yards in in a single season (7).

Just this season, Gonzalez Tied for third overall in the regular season 23 field goals made on 25 attempts including making seven of his eight attempts from on field goals of 50 yards or longer this season. He also claimed four Lou Groza Star of the Week honors, the most by any kicker in the country, including claiming back-to-back honors twice, a feat that has never been done before in the history of the weekly award.

Crump earned All-Pac-12 Second Team honors following a season in which the Saint Louis, Mo., native recorded 37 total tackles, including 10.5 tackles for loss. Crump led the team with nine sacks, a mark that tied for third amongst all player in the Pac-12 this season. His nine sacks in 2016 are also represent the third highest sack totals at ASU in the last six seasons. With Crump's post season recognition, ASU has had at least one linebacker represented on the All-Pac-12 teams for six of the last eight years, and at least one linebacker receive Pac-12 postseason recognition every season since 2007.

Wicker earned his first All-Pac-12 post season honor following just his second season on campus. Wicker finished second on the team with 11 tackles for loss, a mark that ranked ninth overall in the Pac-12 this season. Wicker was a menace at the line of scrimmage breaking up three passes while adding a quarterback hurry, forced fumble and a fumble recovery on the season.

Haack joined Wicker and Crump on the All-Pac-12 second team after a stellar senior season. Haack booted 66 punts on the year for a total of 2,897 yards, a mark that ranked second in the conference this season. Haack had a knack for pinning opponents deep in their own territory, dropping 21 total punts inside the 20. Haack also had an incredible impact on field position for the Sun Devils this season, recording 16 punts over 50 yards.

ASU senior linebacker Laiu Moeakiola and freshman wide receiver N'Keal Harry earned Honorable Mention honors to pull ASU to six total post season conference honorees, marking the 37th-straight season in which ASU has garnered at least five post season conference honors.

Harry posted one of the greatest seasons ever by an ASU freshman. He became just the ninth Sun Devil to start as a true-freshman in a season opener, snagging three catches for 39 yards in his first appearance in Tempe. He followed that performance with a six-catch outing against Big 12 foe Texas Tech in just his second game at the D1 level, even hauling in his first career receiving touchdown. It seemed to all slow down for the Chandler, Ariz., product as he finished the season with 58 total receptions, enough to break ASU legend Zach Miller's freshman record of 57 total receptions.

David Coleman, Pac-12 Vice President, Officiating has prepared the following video that includes selected plays from the past several weeks of the season. These plays include officiating calls for holding near the goal line, injury to an official, touch of a punt, double team blocks, and intentional grounding/safety.

The Pac-12 provides this video as a courtesy to help in clarification and interpretation of the playing rules.

Pac-12 Football Officiating Video

Saw this on Twitter earlier today and just now got around to reading it. It's worth a read, especially as we discuss our own coaching position.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...e-dysfunctional-hell-of-becoming-a-cfb-coach#

isn't an offer. It's a preferred walk-on opportunity.

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15 of 25 (60%) four/five star recruits over 5 cycles have been or appear to becoming successful. Two of the 15 were Jucos with one being successful for 2 seasons while the other was only successful for 1 season.

Could go down to 13 of 25 (52%) depending upon Lucas,Robinson. Could go up to as high as 16 of 25 (64%) depending upon Subtyl

Either we need more 4/5 star recruits that 20% of our total recruits, or we need better evaluation of those that we take to increase the success rate.

2012
Marion Grice-great Juco pickup for 2 years, 2 yr starter
DJ Foster-recruited for years by CDE and closed over 3 week period by CTG, 3 yr starter/4 yr major cotributor
Evan Goodman-recruited by CDE and followed brother to ASU, 2 yr starter

2013
Marcus Hardison-another great Juco recuit, 1+ yr starter.
Ami Latu-3 yr starter
Chans Cox-injured and left program after unable to heal

2014
Eric Lauderdale-over ranked Juco, never played
Jalen Harvey-multiple yr starter
Connor Humphreys-didn't pan out, bounced between O&D (could contribute later)
Tyler Whiley-didn't pan out, bounced between O&D (could cortibute later)
Dalvon Stuckey-never made it to campus
Kalen Ballage-multiple yr starter
Derik Calhoun-multiple yr starter

2015
Joseph Wicker-multiple yr starter
Jay Jay Wilson-should be multiple yr starter but who knows, bounced between O&D
Stanley Norman-never made it to the roster
Zach Robertson-probable multiple yr starter
Davon Durant-never made it to Fall camp
Jason Lewis-never saw the field, bounced between O&D
Brady White-has multiple yr starter talent, very serious injury

2016
Chase Lucas-has multiple yr starter talent, redshirted 2016
N'Keal Harry-definite multiple yr starter
Robbie Robinson-over rated at 4 stars but has multiple yr contributor talent
Christian Hill-drastically over rated at 4 stars out of Juco. Perhaps a contributor in his final season in 2018
Doug Subtyl-hasn't made it to campus yet

Have a defense that statistically sucks in pass defense but creates a ton of turnovers....

OR

A defense that is middle of the conference/nation statistically but doesn't create turnovers all too often.

This is the question it all boils down to. Now before everyone automatically picks the second option, let me submit to you that in CTG's first three years we had exactly the first option and won 28 games with that option. Some may forget that our pass defense was atrocious those years too, but the stats were masked because of the turnovers and the fact that we lost only 11 games over those three years.

Also keep in mind that during the Erickson/Koetter years we routinely had very vanilla defenses that rarely created turnovers but for the most part we were usually somewhere in the middle of the Pac statistics-wise.

Also put aside the "square peg/round hole" arguments about personnel and scheme. Put aside recruiting deficiencies and just pretend we have the personnel to make either scenario work. What would you rather have?

Hansen had an interesting story in the Daily Star this morning about Colorado's rise under coach MacIntyre...

Here are some of the key points...

Prior to this season, the Buffs had only won three PAC games in four seasons, three of those under coach Mac but this season, as we all know, the Buffs won the South title and will play Wash this Friday for the PAC championship...

Coach Mac did not do this with 4 and 5 star recruits as he only had one 4 star player during his first three recruiting classes...

He didn't do it using JC players either but with 38 three star players and 21 two star players over those three years...

So, as Hansen points out and what many here would agree with is that he did it through "accurate evaluation and skill development"...

The Buffs were usually competing for players against the likes of Colorado St, Hawaii, Fresno St and UNLV to name but a few of the lower echelon schools out west...

Mac has also recruited Texas well and now has strong ties there versus taking left-overs from California...

The Buffs also had very good luck this season as far as injuries were concerned where their 11 defensive starters made 126 starts out of a possible 132 starting spots and their offensive starters were 113 out of 132 slots...

I'm still a Talent Is Destiny guy but there are obviously all kinds of ways to have a successful season or two, here and there, but if you want to compete for championships annually you better have a roster like USC does every year...

Coach MacIntyre deserves and will get the PAC COY award this season...

Go Devils!!!

I think we can safely assume 2 things are going occur before the 2017 season begins:

• There will be changes made with the coaching staff.
• Todd Graham is not going anywhere between now and the start of the season. Most commentators agree this is a make or break year for Graham.

That stated, this is next logical question given the current state of the program:

• Is it possible for Graham to correct the woeful defensive issues the team is facing in a single off-season?

If your answer is "no", are we just delaying the inevitable? I'm not sure that I can answer that question. I do think it is possible improve the defense to something that can be viewed as acceptable. I think Colorado's defense is a prime example when they hired Jim Leavitt. Let's hope Graham can make a similar change and rebuild the goodwill that's been lost over the past two years. I'm curious what others' thoughts are...

2011-(yr prior to CTG's arrival)-104/79.8 (dead last in FBS)

2012-56/35.3 ypg (incredible turnaround between mid-December 2011 and then end of 2012 season)

2013-56/31.4 (this was the peak as there were 14 games vs 13 in every season except the 12 in 2016)

2014-58/32.4

2015-60/39.8

2016-66/52.0 (highest per game by a significant amount 5.5 vs 4.0 in 2013. still not bad and ranked 57th in FBS)

According to an article on another site, only 74 teams qualified for bowl games this year with a .500 record. 80 spots are available, so similar to last year, they are going to have to dip into the 5 win team pool to fill the remaining spots. Given how we have looked this year, would you even want to see ASU get an invite? Based on some sentiment I've seen on the boards, I'm wondering what kind of support they would drum up. Is it better just to pack this season away and move on to next year?

Personally I think they should jump at the opportunity, even if they are likely to lose. The extra 15 practices they would get can't do anything but help. I'd like to see them spend each and every practice working on tackling drills, but that probably resonates across this board. Does anyone think we will get the call for one of these 6 spots? Who is our stiffest competition we have to win out over? Depending on location, would you make the trip to see them play?

Hurley's teams have actually held up rather well vs. Ky in the Past. Buffalo had lead vs. them at halftime and we held our own and fell to them by 'only' 14 last year in Lexington. If nothing else, this will give a view to our mental toughness as a team, do we come out tentative or do we give them our best shot and see what happens?

Yes, being facetious here, but after yesterday's game two things have now been determined:

One, and this was in all actuality determined on Friday, Arizona's 88 passing yards ensured that ASU's 357.4 passing yards yielded per game, won't eclipse the all-time FBS high of 367 yards that Cal posted in 2014. The bad news is that ASU in this category will finish last in the nation for a second year in a row.

Second, since UTSA won its sixth game of the year last night, ASU avoided the dubious distinction of not beating any bowl-bound teams this season.

did ASU recruit this stud RB who is off to OSU?

Should have found a way to keep this kid'

http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor...vie-mussie-out-asu-volleyball-coach/94521476/

Crazy that after one year she gets fired. Hod any news as to the reason on why? Shocked that they would fire a coach after one year on the job.

What if RA hears the fans and offers the following deal:

He will terminate CTG, effective immediately, but the costs of the next four years of CTG's salary will be passed on to the fans.

CTG makes $3.5 mil per season. For ease of math, let's assume there are 35,000 season tickets. So, for the next four years, each season ticket will have an additional $100 coaching replacement surcharge added.

Take that deal?

I want us to go back to our tradition....we played the Cats in grey and white. They stayed with their colors.... Grey is not our color...it's Maroon and Gold. The least we could do is play UA in our True combination of those colors. These combos are starting to get tacky.

@Hod Rabino, @Ralph Amsden and the DD staff. I know I'm jumping the gun big time but I'm sure that I'm not the only impatient one. Have any of you heard any murmurs as to what might happen just yet in terms of coaching and/or off-season changes? Any unexpected meetings at Ray Anderson's office? If not any idea when we might hear something?

Inquiring minds want to know....

I was talking with a friend on Facebook and came across this little interesting tid bit in our discussions...

A coach gets hired at a school that didn't have much prior success. In his first year he goes 5-6. His next year he goes 10-2, followed by 8-3, 11-1, and then 10-2. Then in his next six years he wins only 6, 9, 7, 7, 9, and 7 again. Pretty mediocre huh?

Well for the next 14 seasons after that stretch, this coach would never win less than double digits each season, reaching #1 four times and winning two national titles.

The coach's name was Bobby Bowden.

Now imagine had the fan base got antsy and fired him after that mediocre stretch, especially the third seven win season in four years? Imagine had they said "well the guy won with the previous guy's recruits but hasn't done much since then with his own guys."

Pretty sure 'Noles fans were happy they were patient and didn't try to capture "lightning in a bottle."

Rivals.com has extended its Cyber Monday promotion for monthly subscribers as well.

Any monthly subscriber upgrading to an annual membership will receive a $50 digital gift certificate code to Rivals Fan Shop. So you're basically receiving an immediate 50% rebate on your membership to spend on Sun Devil merchandise!

The months to come prove to be a very interesting off-season for ASU with the assistant coaches' changes, forming the 2017 recruiting class and a spring practice that will be crucial to the team's prospects next season.

Upgrading to an annual membership ensures you uninterpreted premium access from now and throughout the 2017 season.

How to upgrade:

1. While signed in, click username at top right corner of team site front page
2. Then hit username again on dropdown
3. Enter password again (for security reasons)
4. Hit the “subscriptions” option on the navigation bar
5. Find the listed monthly subscription, and hit the “upgrade to annual” on the right side of the listed monthly subscription.

6. On the subscription page, enter the promotion code Rivals50 to upgrade.

Thanks for your support!

I think this was mentioned previously on this board but just in case. Colorado was ranked #114 in total defense after the 2014 season and are currently ranked #12 under Jim Leavitt. Colorado's recruiting has been less than spectacular so I have to believe that coaching and scheme are playing a major role in the transformation. There is hope but the right changes need to be made.