Comments on: BYU A.D. Says ASU Chickened Out of Canceled Football Game

By: Timothy M. Petersen

Timothy M. Petersen — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:25:58 +0000

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

By: kemajic

kemajic — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:50:40 +0000

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.

By: Audio: Greg and Mark Dish about the ASU-BYU Scheduling Snafu - by Echo from the Buttes

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:08:52 +0000

[...] Click here if you’re not familiar with the ASU-BYU scheduling saga, then get the guys’ take on the cancellation and price increase snafu: [...]

By: Weekend Links: Who You Callin’ Yellah? - by Echo from the Buttes

Weekend Links: Who You Callin’ Yellah? - by Echo from the Buttes — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:06:09 +0000

[...] BYU’s A.D. said our Sun Devils chickened out of our scheduled football contest [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:15:34 +0000

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……………..

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:12:14 +0000

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.

By: ScribeDevil01

ScribeDevil01 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:37:04 +0000

@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.

By: ZD

ZD — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:04:53 +0000

@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.