Nance to Start Against NAU, Herring and DeWitty Out

Usually when you hear that the starting running back as well as a back-up are out for the opener, it means they got in a barroom brawl or threw some trash cans around an ER waiting room.

Well since we're not Georgia, our depth chart will be altered a bit this week due to injury. Keegan Herring and Shaun DeWitty will both miss the NAU game because of right hamstring injuries. According to the East Valley Tribune, our projected depth at running back for the game will look like this:

Dmitri Nance
Jarrell Woods
Ryan Bass
James Morrison (walk-on)

Nance had a breakout game against Cal last season with 3 rushing touchdowns. It's my belief that he'll be the starting running back for a while. The guy ran for 3,173 yards and 41 touchdowns his senior season at Trinity High School in Euless, TX. It's now his time to shine.

(photo credit: Tom Storey)

ASU Poster Schedule Not Very Impressive

I picked this off of the media guide section on the team's official website. I hope this isn't the official poster schedule that is going to be given out this season, because if it is, it's a real uninspired effort. It leaves out seniors Rudy Carpenter, Keegan Herring and Troy Nolan, and also doesn't include Dennis Erickson. I guess it says a lot about the depth of this team, but I'm guessing someone in the Sports Information Department could have done a better job putting this together.

If anyone sees ASU SID put out another schedule, please forward it over.

IGN Simulates Season, ASU goes 11-1 with a Rose Bowl Berth, Georgia Mediocre

IGN writer Bill Barnwell conducted a simulation and analysis of the 2008 football season, conducted on EA Sports NCAA Football '09. It looks like ASU wins the Pac-10, apparently beating USC in the process and clinching a Rose Bowl Berth. Apparently, we lost to Oregon State at Corvallis in the simulation and finished the season ranked 5th. Since I haven't actually manned up and paid the $59.99 plus tax for the game, this is the closest I'm getting to the action right now. Interestingly enough, preseason favorite Georgia goes 7-5 on the year. This would be quite the season if it were actually to happen, even though the Rose Bowl doesn't turn out as we'd all hope.

Carpenter on Bleacher Report's "QB's that Teams Can't Afford to Lose" List

Ah yes. I guess I have to address football this week since I don't want to beat the dead horse about the epic ASU baseball meltdown anymore (for today at least). The Bleacher Report has compiled a list of QB's teams can't afford to lose. Rudy Carpenter is a name on that list.

One of the surprise teams of 2007 was the Arizona State Sun Devils. It was
a big joke around the college football world when former coach Dirk Koetter
listened to his players and named Rudy Carpenter the quarterback in 2006.
Koetter got fired after the season, but Carpenter continued to shine. In
2007, Rudy threw for 3,200 yards and 25 touchdowns for an Arizona State team
that went 10-3.

Look, Rudy is a great college QB, but I think we have enough veteran weapons at wide receiver and running back that Danny Sullivan or Samson Szakacsy could step in and produce. Rudy is a very valuable piece of the puzzle, but Danny Sullivan at 100% is just as good as a Rudy Carpenter at 70% as we saw in the Holiday Bowl (even though I'm pretty sure Sullivan was going against the 3rd string D). At the same time, if Rudy goes down and we're back to playing in a bowl game in Hawaii, it'll be a case of "be careful what you wish for."

Now Matt Stafford, that is a QB a team can't afford to lose.

Report: 3 Players Leave Football Program

Dan Zeiger of the East Valley Tribune reported today that 3 backups, Rodney Glass, Antone Saulsberry and Zach Niusulu, have left the program.

Good luck to those guys, hopefully they can be successful somewhere else.

Also in the report is some news on jersey number changes, so check it out.

Football Opponents Roundup

USC's Everson Griffen of Peoria is looking to make life hell on QB's this season by taking a "free shot to heaven." Keegan Herring's cousin had 6 tackles, including 1 sack, against ASU last season. (Trojan Wire)

Pete Carroll may be a witness in the Reggie Bush case. (LA Times)

Jake Locker reassessed his priorities this offseason. (Seattle Post Intelligencer)

Oregon State is dealing with some injury problems. (The Oregonian)

Oregon vs. USC will be on ABC/ESPN October 4th (The Oregonian)

Georgia gets many of their prized recruits (Stafford, Moreno) from far out of state (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

ESPN's Ted Miller has his Pac-10 Roundup (ESPN)

Post-Holiday Bowl Questions and Observations

I attended the Holiday Bowl after attaining tickets last minute. Some observations after attending the game.

1) ASU came out of the locker room to start this game with absolutely no energy. It reminded me of the 2004 game at USC when we were undefeated going in. It was a game to prove ourselves and we we're out of the game from the get-go. This game was much the same. I was sitting over on the Texas side during the first half, and their whole team was hooting and hollering the entire first half, while I looked over to the Sun Devil sidelines where the players had their arms crossed and were just standing around listless. It seemed like some of our players just wanted to get home and play Wii Tennis.

2) Carpenter took a lot of flak from the fans even though this was a team loss. Colt McCoy obviously outplayed him, but the offensive line gave another performance reminiscent of the 2002 Houston Texans. His thumb is obviously not healed, so a lot of the fans who are calling for Sullivan to replace him need to wait and see what happens in Spring ball.
Needless to say though, after severely missing receivers on key plays (Brent Miller on 4th down, the underthrown interception to McGaha late that sealed the Texas victory), Sullivan needs to be given a fair look in the offseason. With how talented our receivers are, the Sun Devils need a quarterback who can throw the ball deep with some zip. Some of those balls Carpenter threw looked like they were filled with helium, taking way too long to get to their target. Hopefully, with a successful recovery to his throwing hand, Carpenter can regain the pass efficiency we saw earlier in the season.

3) Chris McGaha is a great possession receiver. He was covered pretty well on that 4th down touchdown catch, and if he doesn't come up with that I might have been tempted to catch the trolley back to the Santa Fe Depot a little earlier than I did.

4) I'm interested to see how Kyle Williams will play in his final two seasons. With Rudy Burgess graduating, Williams needs to step up and be a team leader next season. After botching that punt return late and subsequently throwing a tantrum when he got back to the sideline, his character comes into question a little bit. If I had a helmet on in the stands, I probably would have thrown it down in disgust too after the way our team had been playing, but with Williams becoming a junior next season some of the younger guys are going to start looking to him for leadership. Just hope he can keep a cool head in the future, because everyone makes mistakes and it wont be his last one.

5) Our line backers and corners need to learn how to defend the screen pass a little better. The first screen of the game was covered well by Justin Tryon, but they killed us with the screen the rest of the game. USC found this out, and used it against us, and Texas used it as well. Georgia is usually deep at tight end and running back, and if we're going to have a chance at beating them next year we have to figure out how to defend those short passes. Our corners just flat out need to learn how to tackle better.

6) I think we'll be good next season at stopping the run. Even though we're losing Robert James and Michael Marquardt, I think we'll be just as good at stopping the run with David Smith, Jon Hargis and Tank English plugging up the middle. Our linebacker core will miss James, but Nixon, Goethel, Munns are all coming back and shouldn't miss a beat. Best of luck to James and Marquardt at the next level.

7) Texas running back Jamaal Charles will probably skip his senior season and go right to the pros. His agent just needs to show scouting directors game tape from the Holiday Bowl. He played his way into the first day of the draft most likely.

8) Getting to the quarterback. Colt McCoy had all day to find the open man. Dexter Davis was completely shut down, and Luis Vasquez was the only D-Lineman to come away with a sack. They combined their efforts for 16 sacks this season, but the Vasquez sack in the Holiday Bowl was the only one the duo came away with in our 3 losing efforts this season.

Any observations you guys have, please post them into the comments section.

Holiday Bowl Preview w/NBCSports and BurntOrangeNation

PitchforkNation's own Justin Karp was featured on the NBC Sports Blogger Faceoff previewing the Holiday Bowl coming up on Thursday. This video is a must see, check it out here.

Special thanks goes out to Peter Bean of BurntOrangeNation.com, Tiffany Simons of NBCSports, and Matt Casey of NBC Universal for producing the webshow.

Could this man resurrect another program next season?

Insert the man's name to Google images and you'll see him in pictures coaching 5 different teams just on the first page of results.

That got me thinking...there are many prestigious programs in trouble, and need a coach who can turn around a program in a hurry. Dennis Erickson could be their man, if only for a season. Mercenaries have been a hot topic in the news these days, so let us review the possible teams who could use DE's handywork.

1. Michigan - According to MGoBlue.com, Lloyd Carr is announcing his retirement after the Ohio State rivalry game. Even though the team will be losing quarterback Chad Henne and Heisman hopeful Mike Hart to graduation, the team is in great shape to make a run next year with a defense that will consist of quite a few veterans and a slew of talent on offense. Les Miles has been at LSU long enough where he could depart after the Tigers season ending loss to Oregon in the title game, heading back to his alma mater in Ann Arbor. This situation would leave a door open to another school...

2. Louisiana State - If Les Miles leaves, LSU defensive coordinator Beaux Pelini would be in a great spot to take over (he was rumored to be the front runner for the ASU job at one point in time). Even though it's not resurrecting a program, I'm sure they have a lot of loot to throw his way.

3. Nebraska - Anyone who didn't see Nebraska imploding from a mile away has a bad case of short term memory. The Raiders players were on the verge of mutiny one season after reaching the Super Bowl on the back of some future Hall of Famers and HGH abusers. Callahan is out the door at Nebraska, and is a prestigious program in need of leadership. I'm sure Athletic Director Tom Osborne will probably hire his best man Turner Gill away from Buffalo, but you never know. They also could be looking at LSU's Pelini, who filled in for Frank Solich and led Nebraska to a 17-3 victory over Michigan State in the 2003 Alamo Bowl, only to be overlooked during the coaching search in the offseason.

4. Notre Dame - Being the money making machine that Notre Dame is, they can buy out that fat contract of Charlie Weis no matter the price. Just saying, Tyrone Willingham wouldn't have a job with a 1-9 record. To Charlie's defense, they are undefeated in conference. Dennis Erickson would bring instant credibility to the program, Weis is under contract until 2015 and I assume the buyout is one of the main factors stopping any talk of letting Weis go.

Other possible coaching vacancies to fill - UCLA, Auburn, Texas A&M

Not saying that Erickson would skip out on his contractual obligations, since the potential to build Arizona State into a powerhouse seems infinite at this point. There just is the possibility he could be offered millions to go coach somewhere else.

ESPN: Top 10 Most Improved Players includes Rudy Carpenter

Bruce Feldman released a list of the 10 most improved players in college football this season. At #9 on that list is a familiar name.

From the Worldwide Leader:

9. Rudy Carpenter, Arizona State, QB: The arrival of Dennis Erickson and his well-worn crew of assistants has meshed nicely for Carpenter to have a big bounce-back year. In 2006, Carpenter's stats were OK, as he completed 55 percent of his passes with 23 TDs and 14 picks. This season, the accurate QB from California has regained his 2005 form, completing 65 percent of his passes for 17 TDs and 1,949 yards with 7 INTs. Carpenter's improved decision-making and command of the offense has enabled ASU to lead the Pac-10 in red-zone offense with 31 scores in 34 trips (91 percent).

Hopefully Carpenter can continue that efficiency even with a thumb injury. Jeff Metcalfe of the Arizona Republic is reporting that Rudy wore a brace on his hand to the presser today. Nothing is going to stop him from playing in a game of this magnitude. As long as he's not underthrowing receivers like other Pac-10 QB's Nate Longshore and Mark Sanchez did last week, this team should have every chance to come away from Autzen Stadium with a W.

--

Update #1: Carpenter and Dixon have both shown up on the Davey O'Brien Award semifinalist list for best quarterback in the nation. Last year's winner was Troy Smith of The Ohio State University.

Eight and 0

That's 8 wins my friends.

Dmitri Nance was the man tonight. Big ups to Nance 3 TD's, Herring, the O-Line, McGaha, James and Tryon tonight. Carpenter was efficient enough with a big second half. I still can't believe Mike Jones dropped that ball in the endzone. And a big thank you goes out to Jeff Tedford for leaving Nate Longshore in the game. Welcome to the Kevin Riley era up in Berkeley.

This team just doesn't make mistakes (after the first drive of the game). If anyone has an extra ticket for the Oregon game, let me know, and I'll take it off your hands for you. This could be the game that decides one half of the national title game (and I'm officially getting ahead of myself.) GO DEVILS!

Keegan Herring on Gameday

Chris Connelley's 8,000th human interest piece on ESPN

Wednesday Quick Links

The Sporting News previews Saturday's game.

Who would have thought Troy Nolan would be the safety everyone would be talking about instead of Josh Barrett?

Jeff Tedford's playcalling got a little conservative on Saturday.

Thomas Weber has come a long way since Camp T.

Phil Steele's computer predicts ASU will finish the season with 2 losses.

Carpenter 4 Heisman?

4 games to decide it all

I'm glad to see ASU getting a #4 ranking in the BCS. It just really doesn't matter, though. Thus far, we are 4-0 in the Pac-10 against the four weakest teams, U of A excluded. I'm not diminishing what the Sun Devils have accomplished in the least, but with getting where we want to go, the polls don't matter. We've got a 4 game playoff ahead of us with Cal, Oregon, UCLA and USC, and it is not double elimination. We lose one, and we have no chance at New Orleans, and I would love to go to Bourbon Street again.

Looking ahead, Cal is playing the worst out of the big four teams we have left. The opening spread is favoring us by 3, which is nothing shocking. Personally, if I had a farm, I'd put it on ASU.

Looking even further ahead than Cal, the Sun Devils travel to Autzen Stadium to play Oregon on November 3rd. If we have no major defensive injuries against Cal, we should be able to contain this offense, considering we contained Jake Locker aside from his 32 yard touchdown run.

Oregon should get a good test out of USC next week, but will most likely come away victorious. I see ASU as the only team capable of containing this Oregon offense enough to put a second loss on their record. Even if we pass the test up in Eugene, we still have a UCLA team who figured out how to win on Saturday and a USC team who could be a lot healthier of a team by the time we play them on Thanksgiving.

So it's great that the team is getting recognized as the #4 team in the country, but a high ranking really doesn't mean anything, just ask South Florida.

One game at a time, and Cal is up first in the playoff.

Report: Torain Derailed

The news is not good. Norm Frauenheim of the Arizona Republic reported tonight that ASU's leading rusher Ryan Torain is done for the season after dislocating the big toe on his left foot. Torain injured the toe during the first quarter of the 44-20 win against U-Dub. Torain, a senior, provided much excitement so far this season for the Sun Devils, and was looking to be on his way to a second straight 1,000 yard season.

Torain burst onto the scene last season with games of 191 rushing yards at Cal, and 113 against Oregon (which ironically were both blowout losses). Keegan Herring is now officially the man, with Dmitri Nance filling in the backup role.

With his Sun Devil career effectively over and the depth at the Sun Devils running back position still in good shape, let's hope that Torain can recover in time to post great numbers for the scouts at the NFL Draft Combine in March.

Around the Pac-10

The Band is Out on The Field - Cal's season eerily resembles the season they had in 2005. Will they tank again, or turn a corner?

Addicted to Quack - The Oregon-UW mutual hatred is alive and well.

Seattle Post Intelligencer - U-Dub has a lot of young talent who don't take losing very well.

AOL Fanhouse - Larry Doba's days appear to be numbered at Wazzou.

Los Angeles Times - The Trojans could head into South Bend this weekend with a healthy John David Booty back under center. Also, Patrick Cowan could start for the Bruins on Saturday

Tucson Citizen - For some reason, Willie Tuitama is still the quarterback down at U of A, even though he can't execute in the new spread offense.

Sunday Morning Hangover: News and Notes

AP Photo

ASU is now ranked #14 in the AP and #13 in the USA Today Poll after getting away with one yesterday in Pullman.

Positives from yesterday:

1. The emergence of Brady Conrad as a reliable tight end.
2. Thomas Weber is still perfect.
   
3. Only one real mental mistake by Carpenter on that pick; that was a Keller-esque underthrow.
   
4. Ryan Torain was great again, especially in the second half. Wish we would have switched it up and gone to Keegan more, but we'll take it.
   
5. After seeing that performance by Kyle Williams, I'd have to say we have the most athletic receivers in the Pac-10 next to Cal.
6. Robert James had another 9 tackles. Beast.

Negatives:

1. 7 sacks for -56 yards...I know a lot of you out there are already jumping off the Carpenter bandwagon even though ASU is 6-0, but I really don't want to see him lost to injury. Even when he's not sacked, he's being pressured but still completing passes.
2. Saia Falahola is probably gone for the season after injuring his triceps and elbow again.
3. Petros Papadakis was calling the game. What the hell is FSN thinking with this guy? Stick to Pros vs. Joes and let the washed up, burnt out "ex"-drug user athletes deal with him.
4. Justin Tryon pulling a Deion on that 69-yard touchdown return. Great play to make the pick, but come on man, wait until you're in the CFL to pull that crap.
   

Cal has risen to #2, while USC fell to #10 in the AP after falling to Stanford in the upset of the decade.

USC could be in big trouble after John David Booty broke his middle finger on his throwing hand in the second quarter. He stayed in the game and ended up throwing 4 interceptions. USC is still undecided if backup quarterback and fake ID user Mark Sanchez will start next week against Arizona.

I said in the season preview that Jim Harbaugh would be successful in Palo Alto, I just didn't realize it would be this soon.

Stanford's victory was remarkable for a few reasons:

• Their starting quarterback T.C. Ostrander was out after having a seizure at a local restaurant the day after the ASU game

• Mark Bradford lost his father last week, and came back to his hometown only to catch the game winning touchdown on 4th down.

• 40 1/2 point underdogs!

• We beat this team by 38 last week

Oregon's players have it rough

And somehow people still make the argument that college football is considered amateur athletics. The Sun Devils visit the Autzen Genetic Engineering Facility, I mean Autzen Stadium, on November 3rd.

The Hedake Smith Pick'em Game

It's very easy. Just leave a comment with the 7 teams you think will cover in each game (my picks are italicized.)

Oregon State at Arizona State(-12 1/2)

Arizona at Cal(-16 1/2)

Washington State at USC(-25)

Oregon(-17) at Stanford

Washington at UCLA(-7)

Georgia at Alabama(-3 1/2)

Penn State(-3) at Michigan

First post in 5 days:

Hey everyone, sorry this blog hasn't been updated in a few days. School is doing a number on me. Anyways, sat in the student section until about halfway through the 4th quarter for the San Diego State game. These first three games in the student section have just felt like we're watching an exhibition. The opposing teams have been so awful that it looks like we're just playing our scout team in the pre season scrimmage. When penalties occur, Erickson steps out on to the field acting mad at the world, and its a lot of theater. I just wonder if we're taking these home games way too lightly and that we're going to be in for a surprise against Oregon State and other Pac-10 squads.

So now for some observations.

Most impressed by:

1. Robert James, if he keeps it up he could be invited to The Home Depot Awards. True story.
2. Jones, Williams and McGaha. Better than advertised.
3. Troy Nolan 2 picks, 1 for SIX.
4. Ryan and Keegan, taking a lot of pressure off of Rudy
5. The Offensive Line

Indifferent About:

1. Rudy. Throws some pinpoint passes that take 7 seconds to get to a receiver 30 yards away.
2. Personal Fouls. It's practically preseason, stop having a damn tizzy every time a penalty is called DE.
3. Nate Kimbrough. You always hear that it takes 18 months to fully recover from an ACL tear. Well, it's been less than a year for Nate, so hopefully he can impress by the end of Pac-10 play.
4. Justin Tryon. Looking good early with 12 tackles, but can he cover DeSean Jackson when we need him?

Least impressed by:

1. Josh Barrett...3 tackles in 3 games. 14 players on the team have more tackles than him. We've all heard he's got NFL speed and will dominate at the combine, but you've gotta get invited first, and 1 tackle a game just isn't going to do it.
2. The student section. Freaking step it up.
3. Brent Miller; the Ozzie Canseco of ASU football.
4. Tempe Beer Nazis, I mean Police. Stop harassing fans at the tailgates. Stick to what you're good at...like making black dudes rap to get out of littering tickets: