Man, I don't know how many of you guys (and girls) saw the Marlins tribute tonight, but that was some powerful stuff tonight in Miami. First AB, Dee Gordon hits his first homer of the year and is breaking down as he's rounding the bases. It definitely got a little dusty here in my office watching that.

Just makes you realize how valuable and fragile life can be sometimes.

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = All's Well That Ends Well

Who would've thought that ASU, Utah and Colorado would be leading the PAC South at this juncture in the season..??

Not me, that's for sure...I thought we would be 4-0 but I never thought the Buffs would beat the Ducks in Eugene or that USC, UCLA and AU would all lose during the same weekend, although they all lost the first weekend of the season...

The problem, of course, is that you cannot write off either USC, that has now found a QB or UCLA that has a proven big time QB in Westwood...

AU, on the other hand, is now looking at playing UCLA and Utah on the road and then USC and Stanford at home during the next month...

ASU now has to play USC, UCLA and Colorado in the coming weeks and the Buffs are obviously a vastly improved team these days...

As far as the game last night is concerned, the Devils followed a well established script that includes giving up a lot of passing yardage in big chunks and another long distance pass for a TD but still found a way to win a wild game at the end...

If you like cliffhangers then Tempe is the place to be on Saturday nights in the Valley...

Fortunately for us, the Bears were in a giving mood during the last six minutes of the game as we got all three of our turnovers then that led to game, set and match...

Chad Hansen is a great WR and made some incredible catches and Davis Webb is a gifted QB, who put up big numbers but also made a couple of critical mistakes done the stretch that killed the Bears chances for the win...

This is to take nothing away from the ASU defense that came up with those big plays at the end to seal the win...

We are now two wins away from becoming bowl eligible and we also have a chance now to compete for the South and Conference championships...

We've now won two games against Texas Tech and Cal where they had more than 600 yards of total offense but lost which is pretty darn incredible...

I don't know who is going to win the game between the Devils and Trojans next week but I'm sure that we are going to give up vast amounts of yardage on defense and some long scoring plays but we may still find a way to win the game...

I wasn't too impressed by our OL play last night and our running game never really materialized like I thought it would but Manny managed the game pretty well and, if he could get a little better in the passing game, we could probably become that much more dangerous...

I also worry about him running so much but you have to do what you have to do in order to win...

The return of Fiso was obviously big and our special teams were very good, while the Bears on-sides kick at the end was a disaster for them...Calhoun will always have that great memory even if he should have just fallen down with the ball so the Devils could've run out the clock at that point...

What were you most pleased with in the game and what were you most displeased with in it..??

Have a great day mates and Go Devils!!!

Sande Charles and I review a wild 51-41 ASU win included in this recap are select highlights from the contest

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I'll add to this as I remember/get more info. I talked to most of the guys who are visiting. Consesus is they like the Maroon Monsoon.

ASU Commits:

Jared Poplawski
Curtis Hodges

2017 ASU Targets

Isaiah Pola Mao
Jalen Harris (U of A commit)

2017 very good local guys

Desert Mountain WR Kade Warner
Hamilton OL Tyler Stevens
Williams Field DB Tre Bugg
Saguaro OL Sean Seawards
Saguaro ATH Kenny Oliver

Younger recruits

Matthew Pola-Mao (Mountain Pointe DT)
Jason Harris (Desert Ridge DE)

This adjusted evaluation only considers players who actually made it to campus and didn't sign pro contracts. Wow.

What is the reason for the difference in performance half to half? Really every game of the season was a stark contrast 2nd half to 1st. I'd like to think that our staff sees what opposition is trying to do and adjusts/coaches kids up.

Wow. What a game.

My takeaways from last night's game

With games coming up vs USC/UCLA/CU before Wazzu, this may not present itself for a while..........but our defensive scheme, matching recruiting to our scheme, matching the recruits as they develop to our scheme and/or adjusting our scheme to the recruiting misses as they present themselves have been serious issues for 2 seasons now.

In 2014 AFTER playing a game or 2 and realizing that we needed to make significant/serious adjustments, we went to the jumbo front that worked so well.

There is definitely some tinkering going on currently to find a happy point but we are so far from it it is embarrassing. (104th in scoring D, 120th in Total D, 128th+++++in Passing D). One caveat has to be mentioned that we have faced the top 2 passing offenses as well as #2 & #11 in scoring offenses but we have also faced NAU (lost to Western Illinois) & UTSA (lost to Old Dominion).

One of the scheme issues is the Devil (as we all know, the Devil is a hybrid DE/LB that sometimes rushes the passer with his hand in the dirt and sometimes has coverage responsibilities and drops back into the flat or covers the wheel route.

When Subtyl did not make it to ASU (our 4th such Devil to fail to do so) we moved our most promising defensive lineman (DE JoJo Wicker) to Devil. He remained there for the majority of Fall camp but has played a true DE for most of the first 4 games while AJ Latu has been taking many of the Devil reps when the down/distance calls for more of a true DE's run/contain responsibilities and he is then substituted for by Crump who is more of a pure pass rusher

With 14:21 left in the game vs Cal (and Cal leading 27-20) they had the ball on their 2 yard line with Webb standing 4 yards deep in his endzone in shotgun. It was 3rd and 13. Our defensive front is L-R AJ Latu, Tashon Smallwood, Ami Latu and Wicker who was standing up.

The center snaps the ball and Webb drops back to 8 yards deep in the endzone. There are 2 WRs split wide right and covered by Orr on the outside man and Moeak on the inside man. Moeak's man streaks straight up the middle and there is help from Perry. Orr's man, Hansen, is jammed by Orr at the LOS and he breaks in at the 5 yard line with Orr following and most likely able to limit a reception to 5 yards or even less.

All that sounds fine.....here's the problem. On the left side of the offensive formation Wicker is the only one of the 4 DL that is not in a 3 point stance. There are 3 receivers lined up in front of him. 1 on the LOS directly in front of him, another just outside the shoulder of the 1st and 1 yard deep in the endzone and the 3rd directly behind the 1st and 3 yards deep in the endzone.

The ball is snapped and Latu/Smallwood/Latu rush 3 DL on 5 OL. Wicker is looking left down the LOS to communicate and quickly moves his head back to see the ball in Webb's hands. Wicker stands fully upright and looks right towards the sideline (where Gump is in coverage on 1 of the 3 receivers that broke outside) to communicate as all 3 receivers head upfield in Wicker's direction. He doesn't bump any of them, he doesn't follow any of them and he waits a full 2 seconds before he begins to rush the passer. Another of the 3 receivers goes further downfield before breaking outside and Calhoun follows him. The 3rd gets behind Fiso across the middle and Webb releases before Rhodes can come up in time. Result--20 yard completion to the 22.

Wicker was still a full 5 yards away from Webb by the time he released the ball. Webb had plenty of time standing 8 yards deep in his endzone!!!! We have 3 DL rushing against 5 OL!!!!!!! Then after 2 seconds Wicker decides to join the sack/safety party just as Webb has determined that Hansen will not pick up the 1st down, Singleton is double covered by Moeak/Perry and he has an open man in the middle of the field.

My issue it tri-fold (at least).
1)In this down/distance/time of game/score/location on the field-------only rushing 3 on 5 OL is handing it to them
2)Was this Wicker's mistake or was he supposed to delay 2 seconds, not bump or cover anyone and then rush with little-to-no chance of impacting the play?
3)Was Wicker a Devil or a DE? Why was he not in a 3 point stance?
4)Why was Fiso in on 3rd and 13 with 5 WRs on the field
5)Against teams like Cal/TTU/Wazzu why don't we move a nickel like Robinson in nearly every play? We already had mis-matches with Calhoun and Moeak trying to cover WRs and who knows what Wicker's responsibility was!?!?!?!?

And yes this is the second straight week he earned this honor

• Gonzalez totaled 15 points on the night (3FG, 6XP), in ASU’s 51-41 victory over USC.
• With his three field goals, Gonzalez moved into 4th in FBS history for career field goals made at 84. FSU’s Dustin Hopkins holds the FBS record of 88.

• He is now one shy of the Pac-12 record of 85 by UCLA’s Kai Forbath (2007-10). He has now scored a point in 43 consecutive games and is near Luis Zendejas’ school record of 45 consecutive games with points scored set from 1981-1984.

• Gonzalez booted seven of his 10 kickoffs on the night for touchbacks moving his season total to 30-of-37 (81.1 percent).

Courtesy of ASU's Media Relations

WITH THE WIN

• Saturday night’s victory marks just ASU’s third victory in its last 12 games against Cal and just its first win against the Bears at Sun Devil Stadium since 2007.
• The Sun Devils improved to 16-18 all-time against the Golden Bears and 11-8 at home.
• The win marked ASU’s first in a Pac-12 opener since 2012 (Utah).
• Head Coach Todd Graham improved to 3-2 in Pac-12 openers.
• The Maroon and Gold improved to 24-6 in games played at Sun Devil Stadium since Todd Graham took the reins in 2012.
• Quarterback Manny Wilkins moved to 4-0 in his career as a Sun Devil starter, joining Danny White (10-0) and Todd Hons (8-0) as the only others since 1970 to achieve the feat in their first four career starts.

LIGHT ‘EM UP

• Tallying 51 points on the outing, ASU has now scored 50 or more points 16 times (2nd time this season) since Todd Graham arrived in Tempe for the 2012 season.
• Against Pac-12 opponents the Sun Devils have scored 50 or more points ten times under Coach Graham, having only tallied nine in the current era prior (since 1978).
• Under Offensive Coordinator Chip Lindsey the Sun Devils are averaging 47.4 points per game.
• The Devils 31 points in the final 9:44 were more than 54 teams scored total in their games this weekend.

IN-ZANE IN THE MEMBRANE

• With his three field goals on the night, Zane Gonzalez moved into 4th in FBS history for career field goals made at 84. FSU’s Dustin Hopkins holds the FBS record of 88.
• Gonzalez has now scored a point in 43 consecutive games and is fast-approaching Zendejas’ school record of 45 consecutive games with points scored.
• Continuing to prove he is the best kickoff specialist in the nation, Gonzalez booted seven of his 10 kickoffs on the night for touchbacks moving his season total to 30-of-37 (81.1 percent).

A HAND IN THE COOKIE JAR

• Courtesy of a 28-yard interception return for a touchdown by Laiu Moeakiola, the Sun Devils have now accounted for 17 defensive touchdowns under the tutelage of Coach Graham, second in the nation in that time (Ohio State – 22).
• The Maroon and Gold now have 14 pick-six’s under Graham, the most in the FBS during that time. ASU only recorded four pick-six’s in the three seasons prior to 2012.

IT’S ABOUT HOW YOU FINISH

• ASU has now outscored other teams 626-454 in the fourth quarter and overtime under Todd Graham and are averaging 22.3 points per fourth quarter this season.
• That 22.3 points per fourth quarter mark is more than 117 FBS teams are averaging per second HALF and more than 25 teams are averaging per GAME on the season.
• Scoring 31 points in the fourth quarter beginning at the 9:44 mark, the Sun Devils outscored 54 FBS teams on the day, while becoming just the second FBS team in the last five years to score at least 30 points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and win.
• Rallying back after being down 24-10 in the second the quarter, the Sun Devils have now overcome double-digit deficits in two consecutive outings (16- UTSA, Sept. 16).

GOLD ZONE

• The Sun Devils have now scored in 18-of-18 trips to the red zone in 2016 and have scored a touchdown on 14 of those trips (77.8). That was an area ASU struggled in last year, only finding the end zone on 51.5 percent of its red zone trips.

THE WHITE PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

• Accounting for 163 all-purpose yards (86 REC, 46 PR, 31 KOR), Tim White now has ten games in his career with over 100 all-purpose yards and five in his last six starts dating back to last season.

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS

• Manny Wilkins- 14-yard-run
• Tim White- 29-yard-reception
• Manny Wilkins- 13-yard-run
• Jalen Harvey- 20-yard-reception
• Jalen Harvey- 22-yard reception
• Cameron Smith- 28-yard-reception
• Tim White- 24-yard-reception
• Jalen Harvey 20-yard-reception
• Jay Jay Wilson 30-yard reception

FIRSTS

• Sun Devil linebacker Koron Krump recording his first forced fumble and fumble recovery of his collegiate career
• Hauling in 30-yard touchdown strike from Wilkins, tight end Jay Jay Wilson recorded his first collegiate reception AND touchdown respectively.
• J’Marcus Rhodes made his first career start, tallying a career-best seven tackles.

GO-TO TARGET

• A new face led the Sun Devil receiving corps in Jalen Harvey, who finished with five receptions for 83 yards – both career highs. Four of Harvey’s receptions went for a first down as he averaged 16.6 yards per catch.

GOLD RUSH

• Tallying three rushing scores on the night the Sun Devils moved their season rushing touchdown total to 16, just three off their 2015 season total of 19. He had just eight career receptions entering the game.

TAKE IT TO THE HOUSE

• D.J. Calhoun’s 42-yard kickoff return for a touchdown marked the third in the Todd Graham era and first since 2015 (Tim White- Utah, Oct. 17)

ASU KICKOFF RETURNS FOR TOUCHDOWNS UNDER TODD GRAHAM (3)

• Sept. 24, 2016-D.J. Calhoun, 42 yards vs. California
• Oct. 17, 2015-Tim White, 100 yards at Utah
• Oct. 11, 2012-Rashad Ross, 100 yards at Colorado

MAKE ‘EM PAY

• The Sun Devils outscored Cal 10-0 on points of takeaways on the evening. Under Todd Graham, ASU has outscored opponents 500-239 in points off takeaways.

A PUNT IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

• The Sun Devils helped theirselves out in the field position battle off the foot of punter Matt Haack and quarterback Manny Wilkins. The duo combined for five punts on the evening with all five being downed inside the 20-yard line (and both of Wilkins’ punts being down inside the five-yard line.
• Haack punted three times for 151 yards (50.3 average) with a long of 57 while Wilkins had two punts for 86 yards (43.0 average).

DON’T CROSS THAT LINE

• Against Cal, the ASU defense forced 33 negative or no yardage plays (7 TFLs, 24 incomplete passes, 2 rushes of no gain) of 93 plays runs by the Golden Bears (35.5 percent)
• On the season, the Sun Devils have forced 110 negative or no yardage plays of 302 run by the opposition (36.4 percent)
• Under Graham ASU has forced 1,467 plays that have not resulted in positive yardage out of 4,062 (36.1 percent).

Das with a great tackle on another ill-advised KOR by our opponent
Quiet game by Harry and others (Harvey) pick up the slack and we still win
The return of the back shoulder fade
Running game (except Manny) takes the night off and we win
Jefferson going 1-1 vs backup 6'0" safety, doesn't high point, gets 13" vertical and defender easily bats out of his arms (He later makes up for this with a GREAT catch thrown behind him & high for a HUGE 1st down...his only reception of the season)
Sparky picks up 8 and then 7 and forces Cal to call a TO
Manny 21-30 with drops by White (team leading 4th), Ballage(on great fake end around). Manny was 16-20 in 2nd half
Welcome Jay Jay Wilson to the party!! Finally out of the doghouse!
Haack went into game 4th in FBS net punting and IMPROVED on that
Harvey & Kohl with great blocks on Manny's 8 yard TD run
Orr is the real deal. This game will pay huge benefits for him and ASU. I was not sold that he had CB hips and I was wrong. He will vie for All-Pac honors next year
Manny's INT---Allensworth dove and trapped it on the ground without possession. ONCE AGAIN WE FAILED TO CALL DOWN FOR A REVIEW
White with his first blown PuntRetrun of the season when he let it bounce rather than FC and rolled 18 yards
Does anyone feel more comfortable when our opponent has 3rd and 15 vs 2nd and 2????????
Gonzalez' incredible stats were HURT when he was told to pooch to the 15 & it was returned to 36
GREAT blocks by Orr and Smallwoood on Fiso's INT return
Gump with missed INT chance on under thrown ball that went thru his hands and hit his chest
I'm not writing any of these guys off, BUT we have now seen Echols/Rhodes/Gump/Adams, I'm ready to see Robinson starting and Chandler given a shot (especially vs Wazzu)
MANNY 16-20 in the 2nd half
Gump was back to return kicks in Q4 (scary)
We now AVERAGE giving up 404 passing yards per game
With the score 34-34 and 4th and goal at the 6, the camera pans to CTG's face and his eyes roll heavily twice and say, "I remember what trading TDs for FGs does against Cal, please don't let it happen again"
637 total yards-Cal, 454 total yards ASU
3 turnovers to 1 & the KOR TD
Despite meeting our average of 5 penalties/44 yards exactly for the season, it feels like we are being penalized more in 2016 (but we were 4.6/40 yds in 2015)

Please post your questions on this thread by Midnight tonight. Thanks.

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It looks like 4-star SF Kimani Lawrence will be visiting ASU this weekend. The Rivals No. 48 prospect is one of top wing players in the country -- and one of ASU's top priorities in the 2017 class.

With the recent recruiting misses (Usher, Reese, Brooks), this visit becomes even more significant for ASU.

Known as a solid all-around player, Lawrence is the type of prospect that would likely be a rotation player from day one. It goes without saying a commitment from him would be huge.

ASU is battling USC, Texas, Pitt and Florida for his services.

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Doug Tammaro ‏@DougTammaro 3m3 minutes ago
ASU PAST 30 HOME GAMES (CTG ERA): 24-6 ASU PREVIOUS 30 HOME GAMES TO CTG ERA: 17-13

Team Rankings — NCAA/Pac-12
3rd Down Conversion Pct. — 20th nationally/2nd Pac-12 at .500
4th Down Conversion Pct. — 22nd nationally/3rd Pac-12 at .750
Completion Percentage — 11th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at .672
Fewest Penalties — 28th nationally/2nd Pac-12 at 19
Fewest Penalties Per Game — 17th nationally/2nd Pac-12 at 4.75
Fewest Penalty Yards Per Game — 24th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 43.50
First Downs Offense — 5th nationally/2nd Pac-12 at 109
Net Punting — 4th nationally/2nd Pac-12 at 46.29
Passes Intercepted — 28th nationally/6th Pac-12 at 4
Punt Return Defense — 7th nationally/4th Pac-12 at 0.00
Red Zone Offense — 1st nationally/1st Pac-12 at 1.000
Rushing Defense — 16th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 95.0
Rushing Offense — 25th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 236.5
Scoring Offense — 7th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 48.8
Team Sacks — 33rd nationally/5th Pac-12 at 2.75
Team Tackles For Loss — 28th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 7.5
Total Offense — 19th nationally/5th Pac-12 at 507.8

Individual Rankings — NCAA/Pac-12
All Purpose — Tim White 27th nationally/6th Pac-12 at 142.25
Combined Kick Returns — Tim White 11th nationally/4th Pac-12 at 348
Completion Percentage — Manny Wilkins 12th nationally/4th Pac-12 at .672
Completions Per Game — Manny Wilkins 24th nationally/4th Pac-12 at 21.00
Field Goal Percentage — Zane Gonzalez 15th nationally/2nd Pac-12 at .917
Field Goals Per Game — Zane Gonzalez 4th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 2.75
Fumbles Recovered — Koron Crump 21st nationally/5th Pac-12 at 1.0
Interceptions Per Game — Gump Hayes 19th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 0.5
Kickoff Return TDs — D.J. Calhoun 1st nationally/1st Pac-12 at 1
Passing Yards — Manny Wilkins 25th nationally/4th Pac-12 at 1,085
Passing Yards Per Game — Manny Wilkins 33rd nationally/4th Pac-12 at 271.3
Points Responsible For — Kalen Ballage 25th nationally/4th Pac-12 at 62
Punt Returns — Tim White 23rd nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 13.2
Rush Yards Per Carry — Kalen Ballage 22nd nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 6.44
Rushing TDs — Kalen Ballage 2nd nationally/1st Pac-12 at 9
Rushing Yards — Demario Richard — 34th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 348
Scoring — Kalen Ballage 3rd nationally/1st Pac-12 at 15.5
Scoring — Zane Gonzalez 9th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 13.3
Solo Tackles — Armand Perry 23rd nationally/2nd Pac-12 at 5.8
Solo Tackles — Kareem Orr 34th nationally/5th Pac-12 at 5.5
Total Interceptions — Gump Hayes 11th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 2
Total Offense — Manny Wilkins 17th nationally/4th Pac-12 at 337.0
Yards Per Pass Attempt—Manny Wilkins 29th nationally/4th Pac-12 at 8.68

Which school do you think is the biggest disappointment this year? USC or Norte Dame? Both are 1-3 this year. Coach Brian Kelly announced that all starting jobs are available and they also fired their D coordinator in mid season. USC is struggling but have played Alabama and Stanford plus a Utah team that always plays USC tough. Please add other teams you think are having a bad season.

Will ASU's win over Cal merit national recognition?

ASU at USC will kick off at 5:30 pm PT on Saturday, October 1 and will air on FOX.

You were the only analyst on the planet who picked us to win more than 6 games, much less start out 4-0. I'll be thrilled if you're final prediction of 8-4 comes true too.