LAS VEGAS - There's still game film to be broken down, emotions to be sorted out and hangovers from which to recover.
But here are a casual football fan's knee-jerk reactions to a night spent drinking and watching ASU's 48-10 loss to Nebraska at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
The good: The Sun Devils are going to be better than originally anticipated. They hung within a touchdown of Nebraska for a half before being exposed.
Making his collegiate debut, freshman quarterback Chad Christensen showed a ton of poise in the first half, completing six of 13 passes for 77 yards. Other freshmen that played well in their debuts included cornerback Josh Golden, receiver Derek Hagan and running back Cornell Canidate.
The defense looked much sturdier than expected despite starting a former walk-on tackle with three defensive ends. Nebraska scored four touchdowns off blocked and botched punts and an interception return.
The bad: Remember when Wile E. Coyote would run over a gorge and not fall until he realized there was no longer solid ground under his feet? Halftime was just long enough for Christensen to have a similar epiphany before taking the field after the break.
When Christensen realized his team was hanging with Nebraska, things began to fall apart. Each of Christensen's three second-half passes were incomplete, and the quarterback was sacked two times.
Not that it was all Christensen's fault (the 5-yard line is a tough place to start a drive), but ASU crumbled at just about the same time Christensen started playing like a freshman.
The ugly: Considering the money he is making and the hoopla surrounding his hire as special teams coordinator and assistant head coach, Tom Osborne has done nothing to improve ASU's special teams unit.
The Sun Devils hyped their improvement in kickoff returns (10th in the Pac-10 to second) and their solid punting statistics in the team's media guide. However, the latter figures were obviously a result of former ASU punter Nick Murphy's prowess.
Junior punter Tim Parker botched a kick from the 1-yard line and had two others blocked. Freshman running back Hakim Hill also gave his team horrible field position upon taking the second-half kickoff out of the end zone instead of downing it for a touchback.
Hill was tackled at the 5-yard line, the offense went backwards and Nebraska started its next possession at the ASU 20. The ensuing score gave the Cornhuskers a 17-3 lead.
The bottom line: ASU accepted the Nebraska game for two reasons: to gain experience in a big-game atmosphere and to collect $500,000.
In the end, the Sun Devils were embarrassed on the scoreboard, but not on the field, and suffered only one major injury when senior safety Al Williams broke his wrist and re-injured the hand on his other arm. Meanwhile, ASU's bank account grew by half a million bucks and a team full of underclassmen got a big game under their belt.
Mission accomplished.
Reach the reporter at hhshawk97@yahoo.com.