BYU A.D. Says ASU Chickened Out of Canceled Football Game
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe had a pretty pointed comment about Arizona State and our canceled football game next year. What does this say about the state of the Sun Devil football program?
In the wake of news that BYU was dumping ASU from its football schedule in favor of Oklahoma, it’s been trendy to assume that ASU was the victim of another program’s greed.
With a solid core of talent back – including former Sun Devil Max Hall at quarterback – the Cougars were positioning themselves for a BCS title run by adding a marquee game against an elite program. At least that was the most obvious way of looking at things at the time.
But as Lee Corso might say, not so fast my friends.
Salt Lake City’s KSL Newsradio caught up with BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe during halftime of the Cougars’ hoops game the other night and Holmoe basically called ASU chicken before dropping one-liners about Dennis Erickson’s momma.
Quoth KSL.com: “In the interview, Holmoe made clear that Arizona State asked off of BYU’s schedule, and that the BYU-OU game helped facilitate that request.” (Link.)
Ouch.
That’s the sound of a once-proud Pac-10 power kowtowing to a Mountain West program—a program that used to have its players scraped off the cleats of Woody Green and the Malone boys annually during the WAC days.
We guess it’s not all bad. The Sun Devils will now face Idaho State and Louisiana Monroe prior to their historic foray into SEC country to play Georgia.
As Echo from the Buttes commenter Tom Bevan mentioned yesterday, “We will have a green QB and will be retooling an ineffective running game. I would rather put those two things to the test against (Louisiana Monroe and Idaho State) vs. throwing our new troops into the fire and possibly flush the rest of the season down the toilet with a really bad loss to BYU.”
How did it ever come to this?
What’s Your Take, Sun Devils?
Are we better off without BYU on the schedule? What does all this say about the state of the Sun Devil football program? Let us know in the comments below.
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I think the state of the football program is that we are ultimately building something that can contend for the Pac 10 title on an annual basis. Personally, I would have really liked to see us play BYU because it would have been a fun game to watch: their offense vs. our improving defense. My concern is if BYU got into a groove offensively, would our offense be able to keep up with them in a high scoring game? Would a loss have the same impact that the UNLV loss had this past season when we were nationally ranked? With an untested QB and running game, we don’t know the answer to that. Who knows?? Both could be stellar.
When I look at the schedule, I would like to have two big wins under our belt before we head into Georgia. Having BYU, then a bye week before Georgia probably would not have been what the doctor would have ordered considering the youth that we have on our team. A win at Georgia will have a greater impact on our program than a win at home vs. BYU and a loss at Georgia would… Just my opinion, though!
Ever come to what? The WAC days are long gone.
I understand the importance of playing good non-conference opponents — but why should ASU play more than one “power” non-conference opponent? What’s the benefit when we already play Georgia?
If you are BYU — in a non BCS-conference — you have to pile up big wins outside of the conference to have a shot at the BCS. ASU wouldn’t qualify. Oklahoma would.
I have absolutely no problem with ASU dropping BYU from the schedule, and it doesn’t really matter how it happened.
The result of this is a better shot a going to a better bowl game next year. What’s wrong with that?
The sad fact is that ASU should be able to beat BYU anytime. What would have been a good non-conference schedule will now feature 2 wins against Idaho State (FCS) and Louisiana Monroe and a blowout loss to Georgia. Whoopdedoo!
Am I the only one who is deeply depressed with the state of the program and its future? What happened? Is it Koetter? What would have been if Keller…? Ryan T, why are your knees so weak? Dang it, does T.Suggs have any years left of eligibility?
When posters lament about “what happened” with ASU, I just don’t get it.
What did I miss over the past 25 years? Did ASU have a string of Pac-10 titles with a national championship thrown in? Multiple Heisman winners? Did I miss all of this?
And why, exactly, should ASU be able to beat BYU any time? I’ve made this argument before — but really it’s a statement of fact — since Kush left this is a 7-5 program. Period. BYU has averaged 11 wins the past three years.
I understand being bummed about last football season, but by God, go watch James Harden if you want a pick-me-up.
@ak47, the Sun Devils were a Pac-10 power in the early 80s, but the last 20 years have been a mostly barren wasteland of mediocrity.
But two base assumptions about college football are at play in believing we should be better than BYU in any given year. 1) That ASU should be a fixture in the upper-half of the Pac-10, and 2) that an upper-half Pac-10 team should routinely beat even the best non-BCS competition.
On a personal level, I believe 100% with assumption No.1 based on the resources that should come from such a large alumni base. I also agree with assumption No. 2 – though not as strongly as some – due again to the resources available to BCS programs.
Belief in these assumptions makes it difficult to swallow ASU chickening out.
Matt – Whether right or wrong about how ASU is handling the scheduling, I believe that ASU should position themselves to contend for the PAC 10 title on an annual basis. So, we are on the same page there. The question is whether playing ULM or BYU helps us accomplish that goal.
Based on the parody that we have seen in college football over the last two or three years, I don’t believe that any game is a gimmie anymore. I think we can ask Rudy Carpenter about UNLV, Michigan about Appalaichan St, West Virginia about East Carolina, and Pitt about Bowling Green.
That said, I believe that a young team like we will have next year will potentially benefit more from a game against ULM (hence the spirit of my comments yesterday) as opposed to BYU for the simple reason that we can continue to work on building the confidence of a young qb and execute the running game against a weaker foe in preparation for the Georgia game and conference play.
Then, again, we won’t know that until the end of next season whether ASU made a good scheduling decision or not. If we are all writing to this blog complaining because we didn’t make a BCS Bowl game as a result of the computerized scoring, then, yes, it will be difficult to swallow that ASU canceled the BYU game. But, then again, hindsight is 20-20.
I believe there are lots of reasons for our mediocrity over the last 20 years (i.e. average coaching, average recruiting, and average to below average in-state talent). Obviously Kush wasn’t perfect in terms of how he ran the program… hence ASU being on probation in the early 80s as a result; however, he did make ASU attractive to recruits from out of State. Likewise, we typically had a top 5 defense nationally and was nationally ranked on a yearly basis.
I’m a BYU fan but live in AZ. I was really looking foward to the game, and when ASU is not playing some in the MWC I’m a devil, but I’ve got to root for my own conference first. I’m dissapointed, but I think in the long run that it might be best for ASU to take BYU off. Our defense is always questionable lately, but we would have a good senior QB, and a good junior tailback (with i new O-line….). I think it would have been a great game, and all the seats for Kush field are great, but I guess I’ll need to drive to Texas now…. Ah well, good luck to you all since you won’t play a MWC foe next year
@Scribe: I would (un?)happily put money on the best non-BCS opponents against ASU — or really any non-USC PAC-10 team. There’s no way we’d beat Utah, Boise State, or possibly even TCU. The quality of athletes may be better overall for all PAC-10 teams in Oregon and all-points-south, but those are complete and disciplined teams, something I don’t recall from Tempe since…1997? I would also not consider the mid-90′s as mediocre, although almost everything else since ’87/’88 would qualify (unless we’ve been worse than mediocre — no comment).
Anyhow, given the complete lack of developing a quarterback for next year, we almost certainly would lose to BYU. Losses aren’t usually good things, so as long as the western non-PAC-10 AD’s don’t think we’ll pull out of games in the future, this was a good move.
Incidentally, having watched two pretty evenly-matched teams play to entirely different levels of ability (UF = magnificence; OU = embarrassing underperformance), I think there’s a new dumbest Stoops in the nation.
@ZD, I agree that the best of the non-BCS teams would’ve creamed ASU this season. What I said was that upper-half Pac-10 teams should routinely beat even the best non-BCS competition. (I think you disagree, and this year didn’t help my argument any.)
Anyway, ASU is clearly (and sadly) not in the upper half. Since the 1997 Sun Bowl, here are ASU’s conference finishes: 5 (t), 4, 5 (t), 9, 3, 8 (t), 3 (t), 4, 5 (t), 1 (t), 6 (t). Ouch.
As Tom has pointed out, I believe ditching BYU is the shrewd thing to do. I also believe that it’s sad that ASU is ducking any team — let alone one from a secondary conference.
The ASU out of conference strength of schedule for 2009 is still better than most, if not all, SEC teams. We have a top 10 team, Georgia and two lower tier teams on our schedule. Who do most SEC teams play? Troy, Middle Tenn. St, and Louis Monroe. ASU had two top rated teams on their schedule coming off of a disappointing season…………OHIO ST, Alabama, Florida……….they don’t have a tougher non-conference schedule………..So I have no problem with it…..All it says to me is that we are NOT USC, but neither is anyone else…….including all of the SEC teams.
Anyone notice that UTAH toyed with Alabama, which spent a portion of the season at #1. BYU and Georgia is brutal for a top team non-conference schedule let alone a team hoping to go 8 and 4 next year. Jim Tressel has done the same thing for years and we get to see OSU lose in a top bowl game on a yearly basis because they are overranked. ASU is what it is right now, a top 40 team. Give Erickson one more year and then let’s talk about a giving USC and others a run for the money. Koetter left the cupboards bare……….it takes time. Ask Michigan……………..
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If you check the Sagarin ratings, ASU has slipped behind several FCS teams. Idaho St. is easily one of the worst FCS teams, most D-II’s would offer a better game. I agree with the BYU coach; ASU is afraid to play teams with similar resources. Not proud.
ASU vs BYU gone? You might as well have dropped Arizona from the schedule. What are you thinking? What built the foundation leading to the Mountain West Conference? An air conditioned plastic bubble in Tempe? Frankly no. It was a …Rarified Era of Tradition; the altitude at Provo and the turbo charged heat in Tempe, relentless air attacks and sound of explosive running … Tradition we counted on. LaVell Edwards and Frank Kush. Danny White and Steve Young. “Jesus Christ and Get your head out of your ass you Horse’s Ass.” No offense…
TMP