In the middle stage of this fall's athletics season, ASU's teams might not be undefeated, but they have a toughness and ability to bounce back that has gone unnoticed.
As of Monday morning, ASU had three ranked teams in their respective sports. The men's hockey team was voted as the nation's top team by the American Collegiate Hockey Association, the women's volleyball team was ranked No. 17 in the country and ASU football had risen to No. 14. The women's soccer team lurks just outside the Top 25 in the nation.
Hockey was the school's last undefeated team, but it suffered its first loss over the weekend against Central Oklahoma.
After a crushing 62-27 loss to UCLA at home, the football team is 5-1 after taking down Stanford.
Women's soccer is 9-2-4 and checks in at No. 22 in the nation after a 2-0 road victory over USC.
Women's volleyball is currently ranked No. 17 in the country.
While the success of the various programs has been documented, what is not getting enough credit is that even when ASU is knocked down, it has shown the ability to get back up.
Only one of the teams listed above has suffered back to back losses. Volleyball was defeated in consecutive games against Stanford and Washington, teams which were ranked No. 1 and No. 3 respectively at the time of the game.
After losing its first game all year, the hockey team outscored Oklahoma 8-4 in two games over the weekend.
On the gridiron, Todd Graham's team has rattled off two straight victories against high-caliber opponents after the home loss to UCLA.
Although ASU soccer has played to two consecutive draws at one point in the season, it has not been beaten back-to-back.
It takes a special mentality and toughness for a team to be able to consistently pick itself back up after a loss and it appears as though ASU's athletes have that gene no matter what sport they play.
It is incredibly rare to see a slate of teams across all sports exhibiting similar high levels of talent and moxie, but nearly three weeks into October, the Sun Devils have shown an ability to get punched in the mouth and shake it off on the pitch, hard court, ice and football field.
That's something worth paying attention to.
Reach the sports editor at icbeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @ICBeck21
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