Greetings Cougah Nation. Welcome to the half-way point in what looks like a lost season.
BUT HAVE HOPE!
For one, the basketball team starts practice next week!
For two, while this represents the hugest of huge games for us, this game represents one of the biggest let down games in the history of ever for the Sun Devils. Why?
For starters, the ASU offense must be suffering from an acute case of the laugh-drools after watching film of us this week. They will be laughing because our D has made Stanford’s D look like USC. And of course, they will be drooling because visions of 70 points will be alive in their heads.
On the other side of the ball, while the Devil staff is probably trying to talk us up, the bottom line is that our offense has averaged a paltry 17.5 points a game in conference play. Moreover, this same Sun Devil D dismantled us last year in Tempe..Simply put, they CAN NOT be taking us seriously. For that reason, there really should be room for hope that if we can get out of the gates quickly, we can really make this a horror show for Erickson’s crew.
So, in order to win, we must score on our first drive (like we always do) and score on our second drive (which we almost do). The key, of course, is getting lucky and getting a couple stops early in the game. IF this team can jump out to a 21-7 or 14-0 lead, I think we have enough to win a shootout. BUT, if we don’t get a stop early, we’ll NEVER get one late. So, 1st Quarter D is going to be key for us.
Will we do it? Brinkhater thinks that it is possible.
But, what is THE MOST important aspect of this game is the development of this offense. Simply put, lose tomorrow and the pipe-dream of a 7 win season is done. That said, we can still DREAM of a 6 win campain IF the offense can start scoring some points!
Thus, a 42-38 loss tomorrow would not be the end of the world for us, because it would show that we do, in fact, have a chance at outscoring UCLA, Oregon State, Stanford, and UW as we close out the season. In Brinkhater’s view, that type of a loss would take significant heat off of Bill Doba and this football team as a whole. Lose big tomorrow, with only a handful of points scored, and you’ll have a boo and gloom fest not seen in a long, long time.
ASU 45 WSU 24 –Brink WILL become the all-time passing leader in this game; the table will be set for Doba to resign…
AZ 34-17: Battle of Brinkhater darkhorses. AZ may be coming out of the early season hole, Beavs seem to be just starting their digging.
USC 56 Stanford 0: Welcome to the Pac-10, nephew of Jack Thompson. This one is going to be REAL ugly.
UCLA 41 ND 10: Charlie Weiss is feeling the heat. The question is: Is he too fat to get out of the Sauna?
Enjoy the games.
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