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(12/07/13 2:17am)
It’s been an unusual week in Tempe in celebration of the Pac-12 Football Championship Game on Saturday. Similar to a championship fight week in boxing, both sides gave their parting remarks the day before while stadium crews finished setting the scene outside of the venue.
(12/05/13 10:59pm)
After a five-day break, the ASU men’s basketball team is back on the road for a rematch with DePaul in Chicago on Friday.
(12/05/13 10:34pm)
With the Pac-12 finishing decorations around campus Thursday morning in spirit of Saturday’s Pac-12 Football Championship Game, ASU held its final practice of the week at Sun Devil Stadium.
The stadium operations crew re-painted the field and hung championship banners around the surrounding fences the day before. The setup impressed coach Todd Graham, who told his players in a team meeting back in August to close their eyes and visualize hosting the Pac-12 Championship Game in Tempe.
“I like the fact it says ‘Pac-12 Championship Game’ and we’re playing in it,” Graham said. “It’s neat.”
Still, he’s wary the glitz and glamour added to the team’s extra home game will bring a lot of emotion, which can get the best of players if they’re not careful.
“I guarantee you that our guys are going to be fired up, but you have to play smart,” he said. “You have to play with character. We can’t beat ourselves. I can guarantee you the team we’re playing is well coached. They’re not going to beat themselves. We got to make sure that we play smart.”
Despite Graham’s warning, he’s been impressed with how his team has been preparing all week and said it had the best Tuesday and Wednesday practices of the season.
Graham wishes he had more time to prepare, but he said the players understand how big of a challenge Stanford poses as the defending conference champion.
“The main thing is you have to be focused on being smart and doing what you’re coached to do,” Graham said. “If we play as a unit, no one operates outside that unit, and if we play smart, I like our chances.”
Preparation should be even more critical this time around. When ASU first lost to Stanford on Sept. 21, Graham admitted the team didn’t plan as well they should’ve and said he apologized to his players for not getting them ready.
“I thought we were very, very well‑prepared, and we weren't,” Graham said that night following the 42-28 loss. “We came out very, very flat.”
Now, there’s no turning back as the Sun Devils get ready for their rematch against the Cardinal. This time, Graham trusts that his team will be readier this time around, as critical games like the Nov. 23 win at UCLA shaped the Sun Devils to be where they are today.
“I believe in our team,” Graham said. “I know our team will give everything they got, and I believe in them. We got great confidence in how they’ve played and how they’re playing to this point, but we know we’re playing the best team in the league.”
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
(12/04/13 11:31pm)
Do you remember the 21st night of September?
(12/03/13 1:41am)
The ASU men’s basketball team finished its action at the Wooden Legacy tournament last weekend 1-2.
(12/03/13 12:59am)
Through the ASU football team’s seven-game winning streak, coach Todd Graham said he’s been trying to accomplish his four-year plan of building a winning program in his first two years.
(12/01/13 7:10am)
In rivalry games, hardly anything is certain until the end.
(11/27/13 8:00pm)
What a ride it’s been for Kevin Ozier.
(11/26/13 11:47pm)
Saturday’s Territorial Cup bout between No. 12 ASU football and UA seemed destined to be much bigger than a meeting between two rival schools.
(11/26/13 4:36am)
A larger than usual crowd showed up to Wells Fargo Arena on Monday night. The ASU men’s basketball team had the chance to knock off No. 25 Marquette at home on national television, but the Golden Eagles could have spoiled everything in the waning seconds of the game.
(11/26/13 12:39am)
It’s officially rivalry week in Arizona. Both ASU and UA’s fan bases have already defaced one another’s property on campus and a blue banner reading “Beat Cats” hangs above the weight room at the Ed and Nadine Carson Student-Athlete Center.
Even after ASU football came up with a big road win at UCLA to clinch the Pac-12 South title, the Sun Devils’ game on Saturday against rival UA is perhaps the biggest regular season matchup of the year for coach Todd Graham. The second-year head coach spent much of his weekly press conference on Monday discussing the Territorial Cup rivalry.
“There’s nothing that I like better about college football than rivalry games,” Graham said. “To be part of the oldest one in history is pretty special.”
Graham called himself a college football historian. When he first arrived on campus, he spoke with former players, boosters and fans about what the rivalry means to the Sun Devil community.
“No question about it, the most important thing to our fan base every year is winning this game,” Graham said. “You can add things to it, but you need no motivation to get ready for this one.”
The players didn’t need any extra motivation either. Every week, Graham reiterates that the team focuses on the current opponent with little to no outlook on later games in the schedule.
“This team is very mature,” Graham said. “They know exactly what they’re playing for. They know exactly the significance of this game. We’re very focused that we have two steps left to our goal, and this is to be Pac-12 Champions.”
With a lot more stakes heading into this game, several storylines are surrounding the 87th Territorial Cup matchup — including the fact that the road team has won the last four games.
That doesn't matter to Graham, though.
“I don’t worry about all that stuff,” he said. “I don’t think what happened last year has anything to do with this year. People have a whole bunch of time in their hands to spend analyzing stuff. We don’t overanalyze it. We talk to our guys and evaluate them.”
Graham greets fans with doughnuts
With a greater demand for tickets to Saturday’s game, there was a longer than usual line of fans at the Sun Devil Stadium box office on Monday morning.
Senior associate athletic director of football Tim Cassidy decided to order doughnuts and hand them out to fans. Graham joined him and chatted with the ASU faithful about Saturday’s game.
When ASU arrived in Tempe after beating UCLA on Saturday night, approximately 100 fans were waiting for the team buses and congratulated the players as they unloaded at Wells Fargo Arena.
“Our guys really respond to that,” Graham said. “We had some really good atmospheres out here, so it was just kind of a good-willed gesture on my part to tell them how much I appreciate them. I love being involved. It’s supposed to be fun.”
According to ASU, less than 2,500 tickets remain for Saturday’s game as of Monday at noon.
Additional notes
– Graham called UA redshirt junior Ka’Deem Carey the best running back in the nation. When asked about ASU redshirt senior defensive tackle Will Sutton, Graham praised him and called him “the best defensive lineman I have ever coached, hands down.”
– Senior linebacker Chris Young was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. He recorded 13 tackles and three sacks, including several big stops on UCLA’s last drive in ASU’s win.
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
(11/24/13 4:29am)
PASADENA, Calif. — When the clock read 0:00 at Rose Bowl Stadium on Saturday night, No. 17 ASU football let out every single feeling of redemption and gratification the Sun Devils had built inside of them.
(11/21/13 10:39pm)
ASU football’s game on Saturday against UCLA means a lot more than just the Pac-12 South title for the team's veterans.
The Sun Devils are going up against the same team that prevented them from winning the Pac-12 South for the past two years. Both meetings between the schools came down to a last-second field goal, the one ASU missed in 2011 and the one UCLA made in 2012.
Pain from the last two years still lingers for a lot of ASU’s players, who were on the team in both games. Avoiding a third loss is another source of motivation for the veterans.
“I don’t want to end my senior season at ASU losing to UCLA,” redshirt senior wide receiver Kevin Ozier said.
To this day, senior safety Alden Darby is still bothered by the 2011 game at the Rose Bowl, when he allowed a deep pass on a third-and-29 play that led to UCLA’s game-winning touchdown.
“I asked for (the play) on DVD,” Darby said. “That’s something I never forgot. If you ask me, ‘How did y’all lose to them your sophomore year?’ I tell them, ‘It’s all my fault.’ I take that personally, and I just want to go back out there to the Rose Bowl and make up for it.”
The two losses haunt redshirt senior defensive back Osahon Irabor, who started both years.
“The only thing I remember is that field goal at the end,” Irabor said. “We had a chance, and it didn’t go our way. You think of all the times you messed up on defense and offense and how close it really was. Even last year, the same thing happened. We lost to a field goal again, this time at home. It definitely stings a little bit. We have to make sure we leave no doubt this week.”
Despite the sore feelings, coach Todd Graham has commended his players’ attitude and focus all week. The team’s general preparation hasn’t changed at all in comparison to other game weeks, and it’s an encouraging sign as the Sun Devils leave for Pasadena, Calif., on Friday.
“Our guys are pretty business-like,” Graham said. “They know the significance of this game, obviously.”
The team wants to carry on that approach heading into the game. All three seniors said it will take careful preparation and focus, not just schematic adjustments to beat the Bruins this time around.
“What separates (this team from those) are penalties and discipline,” Ozier said. “I feel like our team is more disciplined, so that should give us the edge.”
ASU signs first 2014 recruit
ASU formally announced the signing of recruit D.J. Calhoun, a four-star linebacker from El Cerrito High School (Calif.), on Thursday.
Calhoun will enroll at ASU and join the team in the spring semester under the NCAA’s new Institutional Financial Aid Agreement option, which allows high school seniors to graduate a semester early to practice with their university in the spring.
According to Rivals.com, Calhoun originally committed to USC but de-committed after watching the ASU-USC game at an on-campus visit. Calhoun verbally committed to ASU on Oct. 27.
“D.J. is not only a versatile and physical linebacker, but he is a young man with great character, discipline, class and integrity,” Graham said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to having him on campus in the spring and are excited about what he will bring to this team for years to come.”
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
(11/20/13 10:00pm)
Saturday’s tilt between No. 17 ASU football and No. 14 UCLA is the closest you can get to a Pac-12 South Championship game.
(11/20/13 5:14am)
LAS VEGAS — The Jahii Carson Show is back and it came alive when his ASU men’s basketball team needed it the most.
(11/19/13 12:14am)
Correction added.
(11/18/13 11:51pm)
There’s no doubt: If ASU football beats UCLA Saturday and clinches the Pac-12 South, the Sun Devils’ 2013 season would be considered a successful campaign.
(11/17/13 6:12am)
For the second week in a row, No. 19 ASU football needed a spark in the fourth quarter to put away the game.
(11/16/13 3:41am)
Jordan Bachynski’s eyes lit up as soon as he saw Idaho State junior forward Jeffrey Solarin looking to put up a layup after catching an airball early in the second half.
(11/14/13 7:00pm)
Aaron Pflugrad has always had a knack for coaching.