It's now or never if you are in any shape, fashion or form part of ASU. You are either in or out, because it's now or never to show your pride, now or never to get excited about Sun Devil football.
That's because ASU football is a stunningly brilliant 7 and 0. They are undefeated and are on track to possibly one of the greatest seasons in history.
This Saturday, Arizona State plays the biggest sporting event on its campus since the last time ASU went to the Rose Bowl (you may have heard of Jake Plummer. This doesn't just apply to us here on campus, it applies to everyone that lives in this pavement of a city they call Phoenix.
If we win on Saturday we will be two-thirds of the way through the season and undefeated, no worse than 4th in the only poll that matters (the BCS) and on track for at least a Rose Bowl appearance.
And the best part about being #4 this week is that for an entire week WE will be #4. We can't mess that up! This might be the only time in any of our lives that we attend a school that's in the top 5 of any major sports (especially the sport which generates the most revenue), much less a school with very serious Rose Bowl — and dare I say it, National Championship hopes, so I encourage you this week, while it lasts, live it up!
Because I'm nearly ready to fasten my seatbelt as I hold my beer in one hand and my fork-em' in the other, because this stretch of games that we have coming will not only define our season, it will define the very experience we have at ASU.
After seasons of disappointments, hardships and upsets, we remain resilient. After all the criticism of head football coach Dennis Erickson before the season, it's now easier to say what he hasn't done during the season: lost.
Say what you will about Carpenter, but he has been with us from the start. Carpenter has the ability to scramble and throw across his body as well as anybody in college football. I hope Cal brings their rush. I don't want Rudy in the pocket. And while it is devastating to be without running back Ryan Torain, Keegan Herring and Dimitri Nance aren't new to the game or to the season, not by a long shot. I expect that we'll run through their blitzes and I foresee Carpenter dancing around their D-line to the delight of what must be a sell-out crowd.
We are over 60,000 strong as a student body. Sun Devil Stadium shouldn't be seating only 20,000 students with the remaining 50,000+ made up of your typical bandwagon Phoenicians. We need to do the opposite. If you go to ASU and you aren't at the game (and you don't have a doctor's note) then don't bother wearing your maroon and gold the next day when ESPN actually realizes we're playing football here in Tempe, or when they face Oregon, UCLA, or USC, still talking about the Rose Bowl, still talking about that one game we're all too baffled and scared to acknowledge as a sincere possibility. Don't bother because if you haven't supported this team at this point, if you're still down on Carpenter, still down on Erickson, still have doubts, then you don't deserve to share in the glory that is this football team, rather you deserve to go to the UA where football weariness is as common as an illegal immigrant.
We need all the support we can get, as well. For this Saturday the team that wants it more may appear to be our Sun Devils, but I can tell you that the team that NEEDS it more is Cal. The fact that California has lost its last two games means it absolutely must win its next. If they should lose they can kiss everything they talked about in Northern California goodbye, they'd go from 2 to forgotten in a matter of weeks.
Nothing is more exciting than having a team you can yell about, a team you can tailgate to. Because nothing in sports beats the tailgate! Not one damn thing! If you aren't out there before the game cheering, then you are literally missing out on the very point. If you haven't tailgated at Sun Devil Stadium yet, you haven't really gone to Sun Devil Stadium.
They don't celebrate success with mild applause and apple juice, oh no. They celebrate a little bigger each week with insulting exuberance and terrorizing, street immersing block parties. Dennis Erickson and his Sun Devils have given us one helluva party this Saturday (and he timed it well for our Homecoming).
This is the time people! This is bigger than LSU two years ago and bigger than USC that same year, because this year, we're not talking about redemption or hope, we are talking about the possibility of a championship.
They won't tell you that on ESPN. Listen to them talk about Ohio State, Boston College, listen to them talk about LSU as they then cleverly fail to mention the Sun Devils and move onto Oregon as they round out their BCS conversation. Listen to how they say we're nothing by not saying anything at all.
If we take care of Cal we as a student body will have the first reason to realistically (rush the field) get legitimately excited about a mainstream National Title. If we take care of Cal not even the experts will be able to ignore us. And I guarantee you everyone will be watching as we go to Oregon and then to UCLA, then back here for USC, and then finally to UA to round out what might end up being the greatest season in our Sun Devil history. Now's your chance to be a part of this team, now's your chance to get riled up and become a part of history. Now is our chance.
Reach the reporter at: joshua.spivack@asu.edu.
