If it was just a football game, the Sun Devils and Cougars game this Saturday would be an exciting cross division matchup of two teams fighting to maintain their position in their sides of the Pac – 12. Instead it has evolved into an entire soap opera with the allegations of Mike Leach saying Todd Graham and the Sun Devils coaching staff steal signs ahead of contests. While Todd Graham has denied the allegations and Leach was fined $10,000 for his comments, all of the Pac – 12 will be looking at this contest to see if any of the off the field drama sneaks into the game itself.
Putting Aside the Headlines
With the kind of story this is going into a contest, it will be hard for the players and coaches to ignore all of the extra attention they will be getting in the game. Throughout the week there have been multiple press conferences and comments made through the media either trying to deny what Leach suggested or in the case of the Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson saying that Leach was “irresponsible” for his comments. Sometimes for players at any level of sport, from pop warner to the pros, it can be hard to shake this kind of unwanted attention. For a lot of the players on ASU right now, the main focus is to not let the Washington State players get into their heads about the whole controversy and stick to playing football. There may be some comments thrown towards Todd Graham and the rest of the staff at ASU that Sun Devil players may take offense and cost their team yards or even get them tossed if they aren’t careful. The number one part of the game plan for the young men on the field is to just focus on football, not the drama.
Return To Form For Wilkins
Last week Manny Wilkins came back into the starting lineup after missing the last few weeks with an injury and struggled to say the least not just on the stat sheet but seemingly with his basic movement as well. Wilkins was likely just trying to show gamesmanship as there were points during the week in practice and even in the Colorado game where you could see he seemed to limit his own movement when he walked. Now he will be making his next start hopefully with no remnants of the the ankle injury against USC. If he can be even somewhat mobile it should help the running game as well with his ability to scramble out of the field and provide an extra weapon in the read option should Graham decide that he is in good enough shape to send those plays out. ASU hopes to at least eclipse last week’s dreadful rushing numbers where they only collected 50 yards on the ground through 60 minutes of football on the road.
Falk Shows No Slowdown
Many thought that Luke Falk’s numbers last year were a potential enigma in the Pac – 12 with his incredible passing performance in his sophomore season. After leading the nation in passing yards per game, the junior signal caller is back among the best in the country with his completion rate of 71.5 and 352 passing yards per game, which rank him second and fifth in the nation respectively. This could be yet another bad day to be an Arizona State defensive back as the team still ranks dead last in pass defense with 384 yards given up through the air per game. Even in their win against UCLA, the defense gave up over 440 yards, 400 of that coming off the arm of Josh Rosen before UCLA had to bring in a second quarterback. Colorado was not considered to have a great passing game going into their contest and their quarterback still managed 265 yards passing against ASU. Washington State is also one of the faster paced teams in the country with Leach running the offense from the sidelines so the Sun Devils will need to keep the oxygen tanks and IV’s handy for any shortage of breath or dehydration attacks that may hit them throughout the course of the game. The gameplan won’t be the main focus for the corners and safeties this week. Instead, it is their stamina and durability, and it will be tested in this game.
The game will start up at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe this Saturday with kickoff starting at 7:00 PM on the Pac – 12 Network.