Regardless of a team’s record, senior day is always an emotional time for the athletes that will pull on the home maroon uniform and take one last trip out of the Tillman Tunnel onto Frank Kush Field at Sun Devil Stadium.
Some in the class of 2010 only spent two years in the ASU football program; others have spent as many as six. Regardless of the exact amount of time, Saturday will be a celebration of their hard work and dedication to the program and the University.
The pregame ceremony will present an emotion that these players have not felt before on the college level, but then there is still the challenge of playing a football game.
“We talked about that the other day,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “These are always difficult games for the seniors that are playing.”
While there are just 13 seniors on the roster and only a few of them are consistent starters, many of them have played vital roles in the past four years.
“It's a good group,” Erickson said. “Not a very big group, but one that has contributed ever since they have been here. It's important that we all play well and let the seniors go out well in their last game at home."
Standing in their way will be a UCLA team that is in a very similar situation as the Sun Devils, entering with a 4-6 record, 2-5 in the Pac-10.
Like ASU, the Bruins have had success at times, but also have struggled at others, most notably on offense.
“[They have] had an up-and-down season like us.” Erickson said. “In a lot of ways, we are very similar. They are in a position where they have to win their next two games to go to a bowl game. They have a lot of talent and they are young in some areas, particularly defensively.”
Because they didn’t play two FCS opponents like ASU, the Bruins still can become bowl eligible by winning their final two contests.
UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel and highly touted offensive coordinator Norm Chow decided to implement the pistol offense.
The offense is more run oriented and has the quarterback line up in the shotgun, but only four yards behind the center. The running back then lines up three yards behind the quarterback, which is where the quarterback normally is positioned in a true shotgun formation.
The new offense certainly helped the Bruins’ rushing attack, particularly redshirt sophomore tailback Johnathan Franklin.
After rushing for 566 yards as a freshman, Franklin is on pace to reach the 1,000-yard mark this season.
The pistol offense has severely hurt UCLA’s passing game as the Bruins are dead last in the Pac-10 and 117th in the nation, averaging just 114.2 passing yards per game.
UCLA lost redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevin Prince to a season-ending knee injury earlier in the season. Backup quarterback Richard Brehaut suffered a concussion during last week’s loss to Washington, but should be good to play against ASU.
The run-based offense makes it difficult for ASU to try and get pressure on Brehaut.
“We have to create some blitzes, and some of the ones we use can go up against seven-man protection,” Erickson said. “It's not always pass-blitzes. Because of what they do, which is primarily running, we have to create some blitzes in our package that is good against what they do in the run game.”
With slight hope of an NCAA waiver into a bowl game hinging on ASU winning out, Erickson hopes that his team will come out of this bye week a lot better than the first time around, when the Sun Devils were routed at California.
“It's a football game that is big for both football teams,” Erickson said. “Having a week off, I would like to think we would come off the bye a little better than we did last time. Hopefully we are rested up.”
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
