*Note: I blatantly stole this idea from Graphing the Tide but it's not like I get paid for this so who cares.

Looking at the above link, I thought I'd put together something similar for our game against NAU just to look at the game from that perspective. This is kind of long, but there are lots of pretty colors.

Also from that link:

• A "successful" play, as defined by Football Outsiders, is basically when a play gains enough yardage to keep the offense on track, i.e., 50% of needed yardage on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, or 100% on 3rd/4th.
• A "big play" (aka an "explosive play") has different definitions depending on the analyst, but I use a generous one: a run of ≥12 yards, or a pass of ≥16, is a big play.

The Devils were bouyed by their first drive being extremely successful in the first quarter. Only two unsuccessful plays on the first drive. As one would expect, the next 4 drives were utterly forgettable with a couple of slightly more promising drives resulting in field goals before half. The second half was completely different with a huge 70+% success rate and the Devils turning it on an starting to blow out the Jacks, scoring on every possession. Particularly the 47% big play rate in the 4th is crazy high.



Overall, NAU's success rate was consistently low outside of a good third quarter. Still you'd like to see the success rate more like the first half than the second against an FCS team. Somewhat surprisingly, outside of the 2nd quarter, NAU's big play rate wasn't particularly good and they ended the game with just around last year's average of 12%. It sure felt like it was higher in person. I don't have graphs for them, but NAU was, unsurprisingly, much better passing than rushing, with big play and success rates of 20.6% and 44.1% passing and 3.1% and 21.9% rushing.



Plotting success and big play rates over time show more of the same, just another way to look at it. Additionally, in general we were significantly more successful in the rush game than the pass.



NAU had some success right off the bat passing the ball but kind of cratered in the second quarter. Comparing ASU's and NAU's charts you can really see the 2nd quarter where the game started to drag as both teams weren't able to do much. NAU was able to do better in the second half, but only good enough to get back to average where ASU was playing at another level. Where one could argue they should have been the whole game.

Thoughts?

He will visit ASU for the Cal game

Four-star PF Kimani Lawrence breaks down top 5

Ranked no.40 among all 2017 prospects. ASU is one school that Wigginton has been in contact with for quite a while compared to other prospects.

Phenom Hoop Report‏@Phenom_Hoops
44th Ranked Lindell Wigginton of Oak Hill (VA) Official Visits
Oregon 9/9
Iowa St 9/24
Arizona St 10/8
Baylor 10/15

ASU will host Arizona on 3/4/17, tip-off is at 2 pm and airs on CBS. Five other games air on ESPN channels.

Full schedule

For those who wish to view this

ASU Football Online Media Guide

For those who missed it on Blaze Radio last night, he's a podcasted version of "Palm Talk." Among the guests is Kaelen Jones of "House of Sparky," who broke down Tech QB Patrick Mahomes:

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Midwest City, Okla. three-star safety Evan Fields knows of two official visits, and one will go to Arizona State. He talks about why Arizona State interest him in the article below.

https://n.rivals.com/news/evan-fields-knows-of-two-official-visits

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Ralph Amsden, Brett Quintyne and Chilly talk about Arizona State's 44-13 win over Northern Arizona, and preview Texas Tech as the upcoming opponent.

The guys do a position-by-position breakdown of the week 1 performances, and discuss whether Manny Wilkins looks good enough to be in the saddle for the long haul. They also break down which recruits showed up, and what Arizona State's chances are at landing them.

Last, DJ Foster made the Patriots 53-man roster, and Ralph doesn't think ASU fans should be entirely happy about that. Chilly and Brett offer their feedback on that hot take.

Otomewo and Reynolds have been informed, after 7 months of waiting for the other shoe to drop and additional charges to be filed for the incident in which they were caught stealing from dorms over winter break, that no additional charges will be filed and they may now begin settlement negotiations. They should be pled out and sentenced within the next two months.

Part of this may have to do with whatever the county decided to do about Ismael Murphy-Richardson's arrest for possession of stolen property. Murphy-Richardson has yet to be charged even though it's been 7 months since his arrest. My theory on this has always been that if IMR possessed and was using a stolen credit card that was procured by Reynolds and/or Otomewo, that it would have had to be from a previous and separate break-in or act of theft, as he was not with them when they were caught for the alleged crimes in December. It's possible IMR decided not to cooperate with the investigation.

Either way, we should know Otomewo/Reynold's penalty here soon, and IMR should finally be able to face charges, serve a penalty, and determine if his football/academic career is salvageable elsewhere.

I can only say from my experience, I was disappointed. Comparing only to my seats last season in Section 6, the new seats are a big disappointment. They said there would be more legroom, but it is far more cramped now (again only speaking on my section, I know every section has had varying leg room). The seats themselves are also low end crap, not something you want to be in for 3-4 hours. I never had a complaint in my previous seats, which were the yellow aluminum bleacher with a similar aluminum seat back - much better than what they put in.

The other complaint is that I read somewhere they reduced the number of urinals, and it was noticeable. The NAU game crowd was small, however there was about a 10 minute line at halftime. I'm guessing at the Texas Tech game you will spend a majority of halftime in line to use the restroom. Also there was no running water in the sinks, this was specifically in the bathrooms above section 6, others may have been better. Hopefully these issues are remedied in the next phase, but for the time being, they could use about 50 port-a-johns on the concourse to avoid this issue.

Other than those issues, it is looking good, just not at all what I expected when they said "fan comfort" was a top priority. It is very tempting to sell my seats for TT and spend that money at Cold Beer & Cheeseburgers instead. First world problems

TEMPE, Ariz. – Ken Landphere, respected sports industry veteran, has joined Arizona State University as a Senior Associate Athletics Director, a move announced today by Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson.

"While Ken is a long time colleague and friend, his resume speaks for itself in regards to his passion and level of expertise in the sports industry," said Anderson. "His vision and leadership align perfectly with that of Sun Devil Athletics, and the addition of Ken to our staff elevates this department as a whole."

Landphere joins Sun Devil Athletics after spending the previous 14 years as the Director of Football Operations at Octagon, where he served first as an agent and then in overall management and operations. Among his responsibilities at Octagon, he helped manage the football division at one of the most prominent and respected global agencies, advising top NFL draft selections, Pro Bowl selections, and NCAA and NFL coaches and executives.

From 1987-2001, Landphere and Anderson were partners at AR Sports, where they represented professional athletes and coaches in the NFL, MLB and NCAA. The two distinguished themselves in the representation and trailblazing of minority coaches in football, such as Tony Dungy, Herman Edwards, Dennis Green, Marvin Lewis and Tyrone Willingham, among others. Their agency was also among the first to earn a strong reputation for highly effective advocacy during the early evolution of MLB player-club arbitration and for creating successful international baseball operations in Japan and Latin America. In 2001, AR Sports merged with Octagon.

"I'm extremely excited about joining such a highly collaborative, innovative and inclusive culture," Landphere said. "ASU is passionately dedicated to the comprehensive education and leadership development of its incredibly diverse and talented student-body. I am excited to be reunited with Ray Anderson and expect my transition to Sun Devil Athletics to be seamless after working in such positive and inclusive environments at AR Sports and Octagon."

Landphere graduated from Santa Clara University's Law School in 1989 with an emphasis on Labor and Sports Law, and received his bachelors in advertising from San Jose State University. Prior to SJSU, Landphere was a baseball student-athlete for two seasons at San Diego State.

Landphere will serve as a member of the department's Senior Management Team. He will help oversee multiple sports, develop department policies and processes, and provide mentoring and career education for student-athletes and coaches. Additionally, he will lend support to the ASU Sports Law & Business Program. Landphere will report to Ray Anderson, Vice President of University Athletics, and Jean Boyd, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student Athlete Development.

Adam Gorney offers his prediction on Isaiah Pola-Mao

ATTIRE: Helmets and shorts (Rocking the white helmets with big, black pitchforks)
LOCATION: Kajikawa Practice Fields
MEDIA AVAILABILITY: ~ 10 minutes (stretch, then a two-minute drill of 11-on-11)

EN VERDE: Nobody
TOWEL AND SUNSCREEN (limited): TE Grant Martinez, FB Goose Cosgrove, OL Tyson Rising, LS Mitch Fraboni

OTHER INJURY NEWS: Christian Sam was wearing two cleats and no green jersey today after wearing a running shoe on his right foot for Wednesday's practice. He didn't participate in 11-on-11 during the media viewing period. Laiu Moeakiola was a full participant.

OUT FROM LAST WEEK: Marcus Ball is fine, just suspended for the first half vs. TTU. Moeakiola was working with the first team. Ami Latu was there but didn't play with the first team.

11-on-11:

FIRST-TEAM OFFENSE: Manny Wilkins (QB), Kalen Ballage (RB), Tim White/Fred Gammage (WR - slot), Ellis Jefferson/Cam Smith (WR), N'Keal Harry (WR), Evan Goodman (LT), Sam Jones (LG), AJ McCollum (C), Stephon McCray (RG), Quinn Bailey (RT)

Notes: The offense showed a 4-WR set for the two-minute drill, though Kody Kohl worked at TE for a couple plays.

FIRST-TEAM DEFENSE: Tashon Smallwood/Renell Wren (TIGER), JoJo Wicker (END), AJ Latu (DEVIL), DJ Calhoun (SAM), Koron Crump (WILL), Laiu Moeakiola (SPUR), Tyler Whiley (NC), Kareem Orr (BC), Gump Hayes (FC), Chad Adams (BS), Armand Perry (FS).

Notes: The defense worked in a nickel set. Wren worked in for a couple plays for Smallwood, but Smallwood got most of the reps. With Marcus Ball out for the first half, it makes sense for ASU to slide Laiu back to SPUR and let Adams take bandit safety reps, Whiley take nickel corner reps. Could just be a one-week deal until Ball is able to go a full game.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Outstanding story here by Justin Toscano on a player who had a rough career so far at ASU and hoping to get finally find some sustained success.

Fabian Ardaya examines the very potent Red Raiders' unit

Jaime Purvis and I discuss the key points concerning Saturday's matchup

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HAPPY NEW YEAR, SUN DEVILS!

Last year I was pretty bad about maintaining this game last year, and for that I apologize.

"Game in the Game" is a survey type game where you get to put in your picks for how our Sun Devils will do this week.

Some sample questions:
Who will in the coin toss?
How will ASU score their first TD of the first half?
Total plays for the game?
Player that makes the 1st TD?
Total Passing Yds Allowed?

... and many more! It is very point and click, otherwise, you just enter players names.

All questions are for ASU only, unless noted in the question.

I keep track and post the points earned on Tuesdays-ish, after the game.

Here is a link to the FIRST 2016 Game in the Game:
http://jediasu.com/limesurvey/index.php/722796/lang-en

Please post your questions in this thread.

Enjoy and GO DEVILS!

Former ASU pitcher Trevor Williams got his first win, and ESPN gave him some attention.

He gave his dad the game ball immediately after the win- his dad has been battling lymphoma.

I was out at the game tonight, so here is a link to my Flickr album from the game:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskHTuU4P

Obviously we don't really recruit the same players as Stanford but I am constantly amazed that the game day atmosphere is not more of a deterrent for them

They ranked 6th in the Pac with 49,917 official attendance which if FAR from occupied seats.

Their stadium only holds 50,000. It is about as perfect of a FRIDAY evening as is possible in Palo Alto and the opponent is a competitive P-5 team (Kansas State) and yet the stadium is 75% filled at most.

I have seen SaturDAY games when Stanford is highly ranked and someone like USC (also ranked) is visiting and there are 10,000 empty seats out of 50,000!

This season (and probably most) they play 3 games (2 of them at home including USC) before the undergrads begin classes.

BTW, McCaffrey had a 96 yard punt return for a TD called back

@Brett Quintyne 's PAC-12 road trip thread got me thinking about all the different traditions of college football and games that I have been to on the road. My brothers and I try to go to at least one game a year and have been to the following places. The 9 PAC schools that I listed in the other thread, Wisconsin, Missouri, New Mexico, the Sun Bowl, Cactus Bowl, and Holiday Bowl. What are your favorite traditions that other schools or bowl games do that you saw during the game? Videos can be encouraged for this thread as well. For example Wisconsin and Jump around and we have are video of sparky stomping the bus. I will list mine later but thought I would get this discussion going for this one.