- Slug: Sports-ASU Wednesday,475
By EVAN WEBECK
Cronkite News
TEMPE – Todd Graham has made it clear he is not a fan of nonconference games.
“I won’t even tell you what I call the first three games,” the fourth-year ASU coach said after practice Thursday.
But the Pac-12 schedule? “It’s a different season.”
With ASU football’s Pac-12 opener approaching – Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against No. 18 USC – Graham was especially enthusiastic after the team’s final full practice, able to put games against FCS opponents in the rearview mirror.
It’s a fair point, and one that Graham has stressed in previous seasons. He’s long been a proponent of eliminating so-called “cupcake” games from the nonconference schedules of power-five teams.
While it’s not a challenge to motivate anyone to play major-conference schools like Texas A&M, games against FCS programs Cal Poly and New Mexico, which finished 4-8 playing in the Mountain West last season, don’t compare to the competitive fire that gets rekindled every year when games against rivals like Arizona, USC and UCLA come around.
But there’s a reason those contests against lower division schools exist.
“It is all about development,” Graham said. “Yes you want to win, but everything I do every year is to get to Pac-12 play.”
TOUGHEST TEST SINCE A&M: After cries declaring the sky was falling after the Sun Devil’s 38-17 season-opening loss to Texas A&M, those games that Graham hates so much gave his team an opportunity to regroup and reset.
Both the Aggies and the Trojans are talent-rich with explosive offenses. However, each gets into the end zone a different way. Whereas the Aggies focused on an aerial assault, USC’s running backs are “as good as we’ll play against,” Graham said.
Overall, though, “They’re a whole lot better offensively than Texas A&M,” he added.
EVERYBODY BACK: After a nonconference schedule that left the team rife with injuries throughout, ASU will enter conference play relatively healthy.
Sophomore running back Kalen Ballage missed the first three weeks with a case of mononucleosis. He’s slowly progressed this week, moving from a non-participant in practice to wearing a maroon practice jersey today, indicating full participation.
Ballage will be eased back into game action, though, taking fewer snaps than he would if fully healthy.
Similarly, redshirt senior wide receiver Devin Lucien improved over the course of the week. He was also a full participant in practice Thursday and Graham believes he’ll return from a left knee injury he suffered last week against Cal Poly.
MAROON MONSOON: It was announced Thursday morning that a limited number of tickets for what was once a soldout game had been released for sale, thanks to USC returning a portion of its allotted amount.
ASU will wear its all-maroon uniforms for the game, themed the “Maroon Monsoon.”
“I’d kill to play in it,” Graham said. “I think this has a chance to be one of the best atmospheres ever at our stadium.”