Instead of lifting a pitchfork in the air, ESPN "GameDay" co-host Lee Corso stabbed ASU fans in the back for a second consecutive year.
It only took a matter of seconds for a jubilous crowd of over 1,000 to feel betrayed, once Corso turned toward the audience sporting the USC helmet while mentioning his on-air prediction.
Corso's disloyalty to the Sun Devils may have had a buzz-kill effect at the time, but his prediction could not have been more correct.
"They know what they're talking about," ASU quarterback Sam Keller said a few days prior to kickoff.
Unfortunately for Keller, he was also right. The Sun Devils blew an 18-point lead heading into the second half, falling 38-28 to the feisty Trojans.
When it was all said and done, "GameDay" and ESPN's "GameDay Radio" had taken the West Coast football programs by storm and turned the ASU-USC matchup into the nation's key game of the week.
"ASU is going to be the program that challenges USC in this conference for future years," co-host Chris Fowler said. "The way that (ASU football coach Dirk Koetter) has recruited, we'll be back; this won't be the last time in the Dirk Koetter era that we're here."
Keller said "GameDay" doesn't talk about the Sun Devils often.
"That's not a knock on them, but not a lot of people talk about us too much," he added.
Being only the fourth Pac-10 campus that "GameDay" has visited, Fowler said that producers had been hesitant to bring Saturday's widely popular show to the desert.
"We're in a remote corner (on campus), which wasn't our ideal location," Fowler said. "But the fans found us, and they did a great job of really getting pumped up."
Set up at the northeast corner of Rio Salado and Packard drives in ASU's Lot 59, "GameDay" featured an assortment of events and followers, including fans waving flags supporting several universities.
A Washington State University flag has consistently been spotted being waved week in and week out behind Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Fowler.
"We see them every week. Having the Wazzou faithful FedEx their flag around is one of the funny little things that we have about our show," Fowler said. "One of these days Wazzou is going to get back on the map and may actually be mentioned on our show."
Along with the televised "GameDay", ESPN's "GameDay Radio" setup was spotted broadcasting college football contests around the country live throughout the day.
Former LSU coach and "GameDay" co-host Gerry Dinardo said he was frustrated that the media is not able to follow as many West Coast teams, mainly due to the time difference.
"There's an awful lot of good football getting played out here, but we just don't get to see it," he added.
Hosts Dave Revsine, Todd McShay and DiNardo dished out some colorful insight surrounding the day's football games and even took time to comment on Arizona's climate.
"I love this weather," McShay said. "DiNardo's all right with it, but Revsine, if it's 65-75 degrees, he's a mess."
McShay was also glad to see that the fan support and hospitality was just as pleasing as the climate.
"It's every bit the atmosphere here that it has been at the other big schools this year," McShay said. "We had a Boston College-Florida State game three weeks ago, and there were only four or five fans that came out on Friday night.
"It's a party school, and the fans enjoy their football."
Reach the reporter at james.schmehl@asu.edu.
