Coming off a historic win, public opinion of the ASU football team has swayed from one extreme to the other. The players, on the other hand, have always believed in themselves.
Despite a rocky 3-2 start and coming off a blowout loss at home to USC, the Sun Devils continued to "speak victory," trying to convince others they still believed in their program that once had lofty expectations.
The UCLA win last Saturday backed up the talk.
Redshirt senior cornerback Lloyd Carrington said he believes the UCLA game was a turning point for this team, as it was the first time all three phases of the game played well at the same time.
"We always knew we had the talent and we really had all the tools to get to this position," Carrington said. "The main thing is staying consistent, staying motivated and continuing to go out and play every Saturday with the same focus and intensity we had last week."
With the program's first road win over a top-10 team since 2002 under ASU's belt, the team is poised to put it behind them and refocus the attention to the field.
Next up for the Sun Devils is the Colorado Buffaloes, a program ASU has never lost to in six meetings.
Led by junior quarterback Sefo Liufao, Colorado has taken another step forward since joining the Pac-12 but still lags behind in what is considered the best division in college football. Liufao is on pace for the best season of his career, throwing for just over 1000 yards and five touchdowns in four games and rushing for 145 yards.
Liufao is the best running starting quarterback ASU has faced this year, creating different problems for the secondary to keep up with coverage in both man and zone schemes.
"The main thing is communication," Carrington said. "Communication is big within any facet of the game, but also within the defensive backfield. It's something we come out and work hard on every day. We set different calls and different signals for things that may occur during the game, so I feel confident that we'll be ready for anything."
If the secondary didn't have enough to deal with in Liufao's running, senior wide receiver Nelson Spruce is having another All-Pac-12 kind of year. Against ASU in 2014, Spruce had 97 yards and two touchdowns while primarily matched up against the Sun Devils's best cornerback in Carrington, who praised Spruce's physical and mental attributes.
"When the ball comes his way, he goes up and gets it," Carrington said. "He does a great job of running polished routes and he understands how to adjust routes based off different coverages. He's a very physically talented receiver, but also smart."
While few will acknowledge it, this game may play out to be a trap – especially with the Sun Devils traveling to Utah next week to face a Utes team that may be in the top five.
ASU has a history of losing to inferior opponents the week after a big win, namely last season when a No. 6 Sun Devil team fell to Oregon State in Corvallis.
Freshman safety Kareem Orr said the team is preparing for Colorado like they are any other team.
"We're playing them just like they're UCLA or somebody," Orr said. "We're not underestimating them at all. We know they have a couple good receivers, good backs, so we're ready to play them."
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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