So, the Big Little Game is coming up on Friday...does anyone care at this point..??
AU is win-less in the PAC and ASU is not far behind and both teams are basically playing down to preseason expectations as the Cats were picked the 8th best team in the PAC and the Devils 9th by the preseason conference media...
The only teams rated below them were Cal, Colorado and Oregon St so the preseason prognosticators were not far off with their crystal balls...
Obviously, Colorado has far exceeded expectations while UCLA, that was placed 2nd in the PAC by the media, is not even close to meeting those preseason expectations...
So, ASU has lost to all of the teams picked above them except UCLA and five of the teams they have lost to are now rated in the Top 25 of the AP Poll so they are all very good teams as we all know...
Why was ASU picked so low in the preseason..??
Breaking in a new QB and new OL were mentioned along with a questionable secondary and they certainly were contributing factors to this bad season but I would also argue that when the media looked at the overall talent on each team, that ASU just didn't measure up all that well against most other PAC teams on its schedule...
And, I don't think anyone could argue, if you believe your own eyes while watching games this season, that virtually all of the teams the Devils have lost to this year had better overall talent than the Devils, whether it was at QB, along either line or in the secondary...
Does anyone think that any of our young QBs are as good or better than Sam Darnold at USC or Jake Browning at Wash or Luke Falk at Wazzu or the QBs at Colorado or Utah either for that matter..??
Does anyone think our OL is as good as or better than those at USC, Utah, Colorado, Wash or Wazzu or most other lines in the PAC for that matter..??
Does anyone think our secondary can stack up with those at USC, Utah, Colorado, Wash and just about any others in the PAC..??
It appears that those five ranked teams have better overall talent than the Devils or would you like to argue with that at this point for whatever reason or reasons..??
There are some that point out that coaches like Urban Meyer could've done a better job with the talent the Devils had this year but do you really believe that he would've done that much better given the talent disparities that exist between the Devils and most other PAC teams..??
Then factor in all the key injuries and do you really think that he would've some how magically transformed our Devils into championship contenders this season..??
When he went from Bowling Green to Utah he inherited a Ute program that had been very competitive under coach Ron McBride, who had been there over 10 years and when Urban went to Florida he took over from Ron Zook, who was not a great coach but was a great recruiter and left plenty of talent for Urban when he took over the Florida program and when Urban went to Ohio St he took over from Jim Tressel who left him all sorts of great talent...
Urban is not stupid...he might have gone to ASU when he was younger and looking to move up in the world but he wouldn't come to ASU now because the talent isn't close bye like it was in Florida and Ohio...
It took Harbaugh four years to turn around the Cardinal and he had a great QB in Andrew Luck and the cupboard was not bare when he went to Michigan and the same can be said about Nick Saban and where he has coached at the college level...
The bottom line is that we don't have the necessary talent and quality depth right now to compete with most upper division teams in the PAC, whether you want to believe that or not, which is not to say that we shouldn't be playing better in some or many ways but until Graham gets better talent to ASU we will be playing around the conference margins like we did this season and last...
On the positive side, it looks like there is some quality talent on the team that just needs some seasoning and further development to get better but there are still some gaping holes at some positions that really need to be addressed quickly if we want to move up in the PAC world...
Have a great Thanksgiving Day week...Go Devils!!!
AU is win-less in the PAC and ASU is not far behind and both teams are basically playing down to preseason expectations as the Cats were picked the 8th best team in the PAC and the Devils 9th by the preseason conference media...
The only teams rated below them were Cal, Colorado and Oregon St so the preseason prognosticators were not far off with their crystal balls...
Obviously, Colorado has far exceeded expectations while UCLA, that was placed 2nd in the PAC by the media, is not even close to meeting those preseason expectations...
So, ASU has lost to all of the teams picked above them except UCLA and five of the teams they have lost to are now rated in the Top 25 of the AP Poll so they are all very good teams as we all know...
Why was ASU picked so low in the preseason..??
Breaking in a new QB and new OL were mentioned along with a questionable secondary and they certainly were contributing factors to this bad season but I would also argue that when the media looked at the overall talent on each team, that ASU just didn't measure up all that well against most other PAC teams on its schedule...
And, I don't think anyone could argue, if you believe your own eyes while watching games this season, that virtually all of the teams the Devils have lost to this year had better overall talent than the Devils, whether it was at QB, along either line or in the secondary...
Does anyone think that any of our young QBs are as good or better than Sam Darnold at USC or Jake Browning at Wash or Luke Falk at Wazzu or the QBs at Colorado or Utah either for that matter..??
Does anyone think our OL is as good as or better than those at USC, Utah, Colorado, Wash or Wazzu or most other lines in the PAC for that matter..??
Does anyone think our secondary can stack up with those at USC, Utah, Colorado, Wash and just about any others in the PAC..??
It appears that those five ranked teams have better overall talent than the Devils or would you like to argue with that at this point for whatever reason or reasons..??
There are some that point out that coaches like Urban Meyer could've done a better job with the talent the Devils had this year but do you really believe that he would've done that much better given the talent disparities that exist between the Devils and most other PAC teams..??
Then factor in all the key injuries and do you really think that he would've some how magically transformed our Devils into championship contenders this season..??
When he went from Bowling Green to Utah he inherited a Ute program that had been very competitive under coach Ron McBride, who had been there over 10 years and when Urban went to Florida he took over from Ron Zook, who was not a great coach but was a great recruiter and left plenty of talent for Urban when he took over the Florida program and when Urban went to Ohio St he took over from Jim Tressel who left him all sorts of great talent...
Urban is not stupid...he might have gone to ASU when he was younger and looking to move up in the world but he wouldn't come to ASU now because the talent isn't close bye like it was in Florida and Ohio...
It took Harbaugh four years to turn around the Cardinal and he had a great QB in Andrew Luck and the cupboard was not bare when he went to Michigan and the same can be said about Nick Saban and where he has coached at the college level...
The bottom line is that we don't have the necessary talent and quality depth right now to compete with most upper division teams in the PAC, whether you want to believe that or not, which is not to say that we shouldn't be playing better in some or many ways but until Graham gets better talent to ASU we will be playing around the conference margins like we did this season and last...
On the positive side, it looks like there is some quality talent on the team that just needs some seasoning and further development to get better but there are still some gaping holes at some positions that really need to be addressed quickly if we want to move up in the PAC world...
Have a great Thanksgiving Day week...Go Devils!!!
