For the first time in a long time, the ASU campus is buzzing with excitement about its football team.
The Sun Devils have jumped to a 3-0 start, with quality wins over Northwestern and Iowa already under their belt. The fast start has propelled the Sun Devils to a No. 22 ranking in a poll by The Associated Press.
So, is this a sign of something great, or has ASU peaked too early?
The first two wins were somewhat expected, but the top-to-bottom thrashing of Iowa was something out of this world. Everything seemed to go right for the Sun Devils, and it resulted in a 37-point margin victory as well as 59 minutes and 42 seconds worth of shutout football on defense.
If this is the type of effort ASU can bring week in and week out, visions of the Holiday Bowl, or maybe even the Rose Bowl, can starting dancing in the heads of the Sun Devil faithful.
Now before you say I'm crazy for giving the Devils a shot at the Rose Bowl, hear me out.
The way I see it, USC is the best college football team in America, hands down. If it goes undefeated, like it should, the Trojans will be playing at the Orange Bowl come January.
That opens up a spot for the second-best Pac-10 team to possibly earn a Rose Bowl bid. The BCS formula complicates things a bit, as the Rose Bowl can pick whomever it wants to play in the game, but the organizers tend to strive for the classic Pac-10 versus Big Ten matchup.
With USC out of the way, a handful of conference teams have a chance at the Rose Bowl bid. The favorite right now is California, which is ranked in the top 10 in the country, but ASU, along with UCLA and Oregon State, should be right in the thick of things.
The Sun Devils begin their conference slate on Saturday at home against Oregon State. The game is big for a number of reasons. It can give ASU some credibility if it can beat two top programs in back-to-back weeks, and it would also give the team a jump on the race for a good bowl game.
A loss would be disastrous, as it would take away all of the Sun Devils' momentum and put the team in catch-up mode from the very start of conference play.
In some ways, this weekend and the Oct. 2 game against Oregon are the two most important games of the year for ASU.
After the Oregon contest, ASU will play USC, UCLA and Cal, respectively. Most likely, the Sun Devils will be favored in just one of those games, when they host UCLA.
So if ASU drops either of its first two games against the Oregon schools, it could be staring at a 3-2 record to start conference play.
If the Sun Devils could manage a sweep of the Oregon schools, however, a 5-0 start to the season and a prime time matchup with No. 1 USC would loom.
A 5-0 start to the year would also send the Sun Devil players' confidence sky high, giving the team a reasonable chance to knock off a team like Cal.
If ASU weaves its way through the first five games with just one or two losses, the final three games will be the easiest. The Sun Devils host Stanford and Washington State before heading down to Tucson to play UA in the regular season finale.
All three games are very winnable, and ASU should be favored in each matchup.
In essence, ASU's bowl hopes are pinned on four main games. If the Sun Devils can go 3-1 against Cal, Oregon State, Oregon and UCLA, the Holiday Bowl should be in their grasp.
And if they can go undefeated against those four teams, the Devils will be smelling Roses.
Reach the reporter at kyle.odegard@asu.edu.
