After months of preparation, hype and uniform changes, ASU is ready to take on the Aggies tomorrow night.
Who, you ask? Texas A&M? Utah State? New Mexico State?
No, no and no.
The Sun Devils (0-0) open against the Aggies of UC Davis (0-0), who went 6-5 last year in the Great West Conference and haven’t played ASU since 1940. That year the Tempe Normal School Bulldogs won that matchup 21-13.
Let’s pray it’s nowhere near that close tomorrow.
All indications point to a blowout. The Aggies can’t compete with the Sun Devils on paper and ASU has won a dozen straight home openers.
More recently, coach Dennis Erickson is 4-0 in openers at ASU (with wins coming against San Jose State, NAU, Idaho State and Portland State by an average of over 40 points).
Part of me understands the need to schedule a sub-par opponent for week one. There’s bound to be jitters. There’s bound to be a handful of mistakes as both the offense and defense transition from practice mode to game mode. And scheduling a peewee team such as UC Davis to provide room for such inevitable opening night blunders makes sense.
But, of course, there’s always a certain danger that comes with scheduling a cream-puff college for your opener. There is a lot to be lost if you lose — just ask the 2007 Michigan Wolverines, who now hold the dubious distinction of being the first ever team ranked in the AP Poll to be defeated by a Division I FCS team. ASU isn’t ranked and UC Davis is an FBS school, but a loss to them would be nothing short of catastrophic for the Sun Devils.
We must also consider that just eight days after what ASU fans hope will be a steamrolling of the Aggies, the Sun Devils will put their maturity to the test against No. 21 Missouri here in Tempe. The game will be played in front of a nationally televised audience on ESPN and has long been billed as the “Black Out,” as it will be the first time that the Sun Devils don their snazzy new black uniforms.
The matchup with the Tigers, who were 10-3 last season and are riding a six-year bowl streak, will be quite a step up in competition from the Aggies. I’m not convinced that it behooves the Sun Devils to go from playing a Great West opponent to a foe who is well schooled in primetime college football, especially for an ASU team that had great difficulties winning close games last year.
These first few games are traditionally called the “preseason,” but it is by no means an actual preseason. I have never really understood why it is called as such. These games count on your record, even if they are non-conference.
While I have no reason to think that ASU is taking the Aggies lightly, let’s just hope that the Sun Devils don’t lay an egg and start off this promising season on a sour note.
Reach the columnist at kjnewma2@asu.edu
