Despite two consecutive heartbreaking losses that most assumed would keep the ASU football team from being eligible for a bowl, it turns out the Sun Devils still have a thread, albeit a tenuous one, to hang from.
If ASU wins its last two games, the Pac-10 would petition the NCAA to get it into a bowl game. The NCAA typically allows teams who win five FBS games and one FCS game to be bowl eligible. The Pac-10 has four bowl eligible teams currently. There are 70 bowl slots in 2010.
Should the Sun Devils win out, the likelihood of the NCAA granting the waiver is unknown.
“Whatever you can draw off that possibility I guess is kind of where we're at right now unfortunately,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “We can't worry about that. We've just got to beat UCLA then go to the next one then see what happens. It doesn't make any difference if you don't win two games. That's all we can worry about.”
Brock during bye week
Sophomore quarterback Brock Osweiler practiced with the first team on Tuesday, something he is likely to do the rest of the bye week.
“It's a good time for him to get some reps,” Erickson said. “That time off with his back really hurt him, but he's practicing the last three weeks really well.”
Erickson said that it is difficult to evaluate Osweiler’s play during the year, considering he has been limited with a sore back and hasn’t received many game repetitions.
“It's hard to tell unless he plays,” Erickson said of his progress this year.
Osweiler has completed 13 of 24 passes for 150 yards on the year, as well as 32 yards on the ground in four games.
Erickson plans to get repetitions for many of his young second-teamers.
“We're getting some of the backups in there, getting them some reps,” Erickson said. “We got a lot of plays in. We'll do the same thing tomorrow then Thursday we'll probably just go in helmets.”
Erickson believes that having only ten seniors on the team could be indicative of future improvements given how much playing time underclassman and returners next year have received.
“One thing about having a young team is they'll continue to improve,” Erickson said. “That's the good thing about having a lot of sophomores and juniors.”
Erickson has been pleased with his team’s ability to bounce back from tough losses all season.
“They've played hard, they've practiced hard,” Erickson said. “They came out today with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. That's tough when you've lost two football games like we have the last two times out against pretty darn good teams. They've got a lot to them; they really do to come out like this.”
Injury update
Erickson indicated that sophomore defensive tackle Corey Adams (concussion), redshirt junior wide receiver T.J. Simpson (ankle sprain) and redshirt senior linebacker Gerald Munns (hip pointer) could be ready to play against UCLA in a little less than two weeks.
Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu
