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The only podcast covering all things Arizona State athletics! We bleed maroon and gold, and love talking about the Sun Devils no matter what sport.
Tom Hardon (00:02)
Welcome in Sun Devil fans to another episode of Echo from the Buttes. I'm your host Tom Harden standing in once again for David Hellman. With me are Andrew Hazlett and Austin Bundy. And this week the Sun Devils are headed on the road to an SEC team for the first time since 2012, taking on Mississippi State in Starkville. A familiar opponent, the Sun Devils beat Mississippi State last season in Tempe ⁓ after being up
30 to 3 at half or early in the third quarter held on to barely win 30 to 23 and you know this this matchup is one that kind of has the has the markings of uncertainty for the Devils all over it. What do you guys think on that?
Austen Bundy (00:54)
It's a trap game. It's 100 % a trap game. This is one of those games where we beat them last year. You want to look back and be like, Mississippi State, they were terrible last year. They can't have ⁓ recovered as much as anyone would think going into this year. But this is still an SEC program. This is still a team to be reckoned with, especially when you have to go to their house. And you're going to have to deal with all the cowbells. That's what they're famous for. This is going to be an intense environment for the Sun Devils.
and given how they were not able to dominate an FCS team at home in week one.
of whether you want to say it was for the first week jitters or anything like that. Having to be tested on the road in the SEC regardless of whether this was bottom of the barrel last year Mississippi State, it's going to be difficult and if they're if Mississippi State's week one win over Southern Miss was any indication, they're not going to be a cakewalk. They've got a high powered offense. Their defense is solid enough to probably give ASU's offense fits and guys like Sam Levitt are going to need perfect games. They cannot afford to have any mistakes.
Andrew Hayslett (02:02)
Yeah, I agree. I think it's not as much of a trap game as people are saying because I feel like everyone's saying it's a trap game to an extent. I don't know, like going to an SEC school like you said, Austin, with all the cowbells, all the noise, that environment's something that the Sun Devils haven't seen because you look at last year's opponents... ⁓
not really any tough opponents on the road. Yes, you did have the Peach Bulls about the closest thing to this, but you had a lot of Arizona State fans there. It's not going to be the same thing Saturday night in Starkville. So with that said, it's interesting. then difference in Mississippi State from last year to this year. They were in game two of that coaches system last year now with a whole extra year.
They're going to be a lot better than they were last year and also know Kam Scadaboo. He had a crazy game at Mississippi State game last year at home. It'll be a different attack for the Sun Devils. Even if it's still rushing heavy, it'll still be different guys there. So we'll have to see how they attack that defense especially.
Tom Hardon (03:25)
What was it, 260 something yards that Scott had on the ground? It was just unbelievable watching him run all over the field. don't have that weapon. Sam's got to leverage his other options and may or may not have Jalen Moss as one of his targets as he's battling a foot injury. think we're still, Kenny's still evaluating whether he will be good to go on Saturday.
Speaking of the Starkville Faithful, we know, anywhere in the SEC, football is a religion and fans will show out one way or another, good, bad, and different. if you say something unsavory about their stadium, their mascot, their town, they will jump all over you for that. And we saw that happen this week when...
Kenny Gilligan had some comments about the hotel situation in Starkville saying that the team was staying over an hour away so that they wouldn't be staying in a casino. And that caught the ears of many, not only Mississippi State faithful, but it takes a lot to unite Ole Miss and Mississippi State to a common cause. And Kenny managed to do that, even managed to unite the Southern Miss faithful.
of which I know a few people who reach out to me saying, what is your coach saying? And honestly, I think the comments were taken a little bit more than they should have been. It's a small town, a lot of small towns in the SEC. We're coming from Phoenix metropolitan area, no shortage of hotels, whatever in town. I think that it's just the...
It's the culture difference. know, could Kenny have maybe said things a little bit differently? I'm sure he could have, but, you he did make amends with Brandon Walker today on Wake Up Barstool. you know, guys, I want hear what your takes on this whole hotel gate situation is.
Austen Bundy (05:47)
I probably was taking a little bit out of context. I probably blowing up a little bit more than it should have. But mean, Kenny said what he said. He made amends for it. He owned up to it. ⁓ Granted, it's the SEC. They say in the SEC, it just means more. So whatever you say, whether or not you take it back or you try to fix it, I mean, it's out there and they're gonna use it. That's bulletin board material for sure in the locker room.
fans are going to let him hear it on Saturday night down in Starkville those cowbells are going to be extra loud you're going to see a lot of clever signs and they're going to be extra loud when ASU is out there on offense so I think what's done is done Kenny can keep saying all that he wants to try and amend the situation but at this point he's got to just focus on his guides and ⁓ play football at the end of the day
Andrew Hayslett (06:36)
Yeah, I'm not a fan of the whole Barstool content as a whole, personally.
Tom Hardon (06:41)
I think we're in unison
there.
Andrew Hayslett (06:44)
⁓ So I barely care what they have to say in the first place, but if you were, because I was at the press conference and the question was like, what are some behind the scenes stuff that the casual fan doesn't know about running a football program? And Kenny's and he gave a great answer to that question because he answered that question. I learned a lot of things from his answer about hotels. Yeah, there's happens to be only a few hotels in the area.
Some of them might not be the quality that they need. They might not have the rooms that they need as a whole. So you're trying to fit, I think it's 160 rooms. That's a lot. And yeah, there might be hotels there, but do they have that room? I don't know. So you just gotta take things for like Austin said, you gotta put the contact with them. He wasn't saying the food at SEC schools is bad.
saying
people are picky eaters. For example, is to come come as a surprise to you is I hate oranges or the passion. I don't like them. If someone tries to like give like, like if you give me a lunch with an orange, I'm not gonna eat it. So so with with with that same idea is that some players are don't like certain foods. And so you have to have different foods available to them. That's what he was saying. And I know he mentioned that I believe it was the text this
Tech game some fruit some of them his players got sick so from the food It's not did it wasn't Texas Tech supplies food applied food. It's based on Devils brought from wherever it's it's it's stuff happens and One of my friends here. He said it best They SEC says it just means more he said it just means too much
Austen Bundy (08:43)
That's a fair point, also note to ourselves here, we're not sending Andrew to cover the Orange Bowl in January. So, just get that out of the way.
Tom Hardon (08:52)
Also, let's not forget that fans are traveling in from everywhere to see the game. A lot of Sun Devil Faithful is still in the Southeast area. I know quite a few people that are driving and flying in, whatever, for the game. And those hotels that are close to the stadium and close to campus are going to be booked up with fans trying to be in the area. there's only so much availability. can't just create rooms out of nowhere to be able to have...
the closest hotel to the stadium. you got to make do with what you do. And I think that Kenny addressed it as best as he could and backtracked where necessary. But all in all, think that the comments were taken a little bit too much out of hand for ⁓ what he really meant. But that's not going to stop Mississippi State fans from ringing the cowbells extra loud. Something that the
Devils have been attempting to simulate in practice all week. and were talking about this off air a little bit before we started. you can only do so much with half a dozen cowbells and then plus playing it on the speakers. It's never going to come close to what that atmosphere is going to be once they step on the field at Davis Wade.
Andrew Hayslett (10:12)
Yeah, I was there in practice. It was a...
a lot more than half a dozen cowbells. It was, I think, maybe pretty much every non-coach who was there, a non-media member who was there had two cowbells apiece, including a lot of your SIDs who do a lot of stuff for a media site, I want to mention them too. And then the cowbells were loud. ⁓ I walked next to the speakers and when we
into the bubble and you couldn't talk to the person next to you. would you could barely even hear yourself. I would even 20 feet from the speakers or so I could bear I was yelling at the person next to me to communicate so it was indeed loud was it as close as it's gonna be in Starkville absolutely not like they're doing their best with what they have I think a lot of those videos that we saw online surface from
local media got taken out of context that wasn't the full picture, which like you can only do so much if you're like local media. It was like that Saturday Night Live sketch gone bad with them or cowbell with Will Ferrell. That's what it felt like to me.
Austen Bundy (11:34)
Gotta
Tom Hardon (11:34)
one
of the few welfare things that I actually like.
Austen Bundy (11:34)
have more cowbell.
Tom Hardon (11:38)
Sorry, go ahead Austin.
Austen Bundy (11:39)
I just said, gotta have more cowbell. You're gonna keep up with what's going on in Starkville. Gotta have more cowbell.
Tom Hardon (11:45)
I did notice that it was a much noticeable difference inside the bubble than outside. The echoing was just very noticeable when I was watching those videos throughout the week. trying to prepare for the chaos that the Bulldogs will bring and that pivots right into our discussion on their offense and chaos is exactly what they bring. You've got Jeff Levy, a second year head coach as we've already mentioned.
He's a disciple of Art Brials dating back to his start at Baylor, runs the Viren shoot offense, big proponent of the RPO. And when you've got a mobile quarterback like Blake Shapin, when you've got two very versatile runners in Devon Booth and Fluff Bothwell, it creates a difficult attack for the Devils defensive line to really hone in on.
Shapin's going to be pulling it down and running ⁓ as often as he can. It's going to be a very tricky offense for the line to keep up with.
Andrew Hayslett (12:58)
Yeah, absolutely. The defensive line was probably, or the run defense at least, was probably the best unit, arguably as a whole last game. They did pretty well up until the second team got in it late, which they did, they were little shaky as to what you might expect the second team. And NAU was supposed to be a run heavy team. That's what we thought we had that three-pronged attack, primarily is what we were expecting to see, and we didn't see much of them at all.
throughout the game. So, it's going to be different than the RPOs, but I still expect that run defense to be great. Pass defense, what they got to work on right now.
Austen Bundy (13:42)
I would agree with that, especially given I watched the highlights of Mississippi State and Southern Miss from last week. ⁓ That air attack is gonna be a little bit more deadly than I think people realize it's going to be. And I think when we're watching it on television on Saturday, there's gonna be a few chunk plays that I think are gonna take the ASU defense by surprise if they don't patch up those holes. ⁓ I think Mississippi State might get out to an early lead first quarter, ⁓ maybe a multi score lead.
if the Sun Devil defense doesn't make adjustments correctly, ⁓ which is gonna be little, it's gonna be disconcerting, but I mean, we're gonna talk more about it as we get through the show here, but that's one aspect of the game that I'm gonna be really keeping an eye on, because if they can't plug up any of those holes or frustrate their quarterback early, it's gonna be a long night for them.
Tom Hardon (14:32)
Yeah, if they do manage to plug up the run holes, that's not going to stop Mississippi State from stretching the game vertically. You've got two very good targets in Brennan Thompson and Sadu Traore. Traore ⁓ really impressed me in the highlights that I saw with his ⁓ over 50-yard touchdown catch. ⁓ Their targets aren't numerous, but they are still going to stretch you out.
over the top and it's going to be hard for the secondary to keep up with them.
And it's worth noting as well that, know, Jeff Levy, whenever he steps into a new position, his second year is typically markedly better than his first year. was reviewing his history in 2008 to 2009, sorry, 2009 to 2010 at Baylor. Went from bottom 20 in the nation and scoring offense at just under 21 points a game.
to 36th in the country at 31.2 points per game. Then at Oklahoma under Brent Venables, 32.8 points per game, which was 33rd nationally in 2022, all the way up to fourth nationally at almost 42 points a game in 2023. His system, it takes time to get going. And a two and 10 record last season is not indicative of his overall performance.
It's going to be a much tougher challenge for the Sunnable Defense this year than it was last year.
Andrew Hayslett (16:17)
Absolutely, as you said Tom, this team is a lot different from year 1 to year 2. brought in bunch of transfers, a lot of freshmen too, think there's around 40 new guys. So that's a lot you have to prepare for compared to last year. You can't look into that tape too much that we saw last year and say, oh yeah it's going to be the same thing.
that we'll see. Couldn't be further from the truth, I think, is that with all these new guys, Mississippi State has a new game plan offensively and defensively and the Sun Devils are gonna have to prepare for that and attack this team a bit differently than they did last year. So it's two different teams on both sides of the ball, I think, at the end of the day that the Sun Devils are gonna see.
Tom Hardon (17:14)
Yeah, Mississippi State's really beefed up on the offensive line. A couple of their transfers coming in at 6'6 and about 340 pounds. That's big no matter how you look at it. And a big body, tough to move, tough for the defense to get around. It's going to be a hard, physical game. ⁓ lots of in-the-trench work. It'll really come down to which side of the ball can.
take the edge over the other.
But on the defensive side of the ball for Mississippi State, they're...
I think Austin, you're kind of putting it in a good way. They're sneaky. They're not as bad as people think they are. They don't necessarily have the razzle dazzle on defense, but they're still a defensive front that will grind offenses down. think the secondary, especially with ⁓ Moss potentially out.
If Tyson's going to be the primary target once again, they'll be able to adapt to any gameplay that goes primarily through Jordan. It's going to be on Sam to read the defense and pick his targets, his looks, vary his weapons that he uses.
Austen Bundy (18:47)
and that's not to say that ⁓ sam can't take advantage of ⁓ mississippi state's defense i they did give up almost four hundred total yards to southern mississippi granted southern mississippi only scored seventeen points on them in the entire game ⁓ but it still says something about how ⁓
chorus their secondary is when they can throw a decent amount over the ⁓ over the top and Find some soft spots especially right in the middle of the defense in the middle of the secondary there There were a few times against southern Mississippi when I was watching the highlights where the bread and butter for southern Mississippi on offense was hitting up the middle of the field where Mississippi State was giving them a lot of these chunk plays where they were getting 10 12 yards on a single play and it was
advancing the ball and getting them in positions to try and score. Granted, ⁓ they made mistakes, they threw interceptions, so Mississippi State is capable of taking the ball away and that's where Sam can't have any of those risky rainbow balls that he had against NAU. He's gonna have to be a lot smarter with the ball.
I think someone like Jordan Tyson is going to be ⁓ smart enough and versatile enough to beat some of these defenders and get open, but Sam is going to have to find guys like Mateo across the middle of the field in order to advance the sticks and make sure that he's not continually going to the sideline and ⁓ throwing up balls where these Mississippi State defenders are going to clue in on it and eventually step in front of some of these routes.
Andrew Hayslett (20:22)
I know he's hard on himself, he gave himself a B-C +, which I think is a little too harsh, but at the end of the day still think he had a solid game. What we're going to I don't think we'll see as much Tyson as we saw in opener. In any scheme they didn't double up Jordan Tyson all that much ⁓ throughout the game. And I think Mississippi State is going to say, ⁓ we don't want that to have.
What happened to them, what happened to us, you know? So I think there's gonna be more opportunities to go other ways. I think we'll see the run game, especially. Scadaboo have a lot of yards last year. I think the run will be significantly a player. Kyson and Relic were both efficient on their plays against NAU. expect them to be featured more as a whole. I think we'll see.
more Kanye as well because I think this will be primarily on the ground. Yeah, I'd like to see Mater. I think what's kind of got lost in the sauce last Saturday was Malik McLean had a good game. He had a few catches in that one was that was called back to for 60 yards. If that there's no penalty on that play. We're going to be talking about how great Malik McLean is but was so I think
He's going to open up the field a little bit and I with Jalen Moss's injury possibly lingering into the game. I expect to see more Jaron Hamilton as as that third receiver on the field. It's going to rotate. You might see some two back sets. might see some two tight end sets with Kamari Anderson or Harple in there. Maybe as well. I think we'll
see lot of those. We might see a little bit of Harry Hasman or Derek Usebo. One of those two guys might get a little time in as well as Moss who we didn't see at all with this injury early in the game.
Tom Hardon (22:40)
Yeah, it's going to be as a tight end appreciator. I want to see Mateo get involved in the game a lot more than he was. I just want to see Sam utilize the weapons that he has. And if we're going to be without Moss, then all the more reason to just spread the ball around, find your targets, and just.
keep marching down the field, work the run game in much more as you were saying. Yeah, it was a serviceable run game, but it was never really gaining a lot of traction. it'll be a real ⁓ tale of which offense shows up and how Sam reacts to the defense that Mississippi State shows. Moving on to the injury fronts.
Like we mentioned, Moss battling a foot injury. ⁓ Listed as question was right now, but no official injury report as of yet, as we're not in Big 12 Conference play yet. ⁓ Also with Ben Coleman and Max Kahnar. They left the opener against NAU with injuries. ⁓ Coleman is expected to be good to go, but I think ⁓ still kind of.
cautiously watching him just to see how how he goes these last couple days and he can in order joins ⁓ Moss who's available is up in the air as well as Justin Watley. ⁓ How big of an impact do you guys think that's going to be on the team overall?
Andrew Hayslett (24:26)
offensive line obviously looked a little weak on Saturday's game. No, think Josh Atkins wound up on missing a play as well. But he wound up getting in there. I know Cole on Coleman. Kenny said he's good to go for this weekend on Monday. I don't know why that would change. I could obviously change. I I didn't notice anything practice so.
expect him to play. don't know why he wouldn't, but there's always a chance. There's always a chance something could happen or something's happened. ⁓ With Max, ⁓ we'll see about him.
You'd obviously want him to play because he's the right tackle. Just to have that health that will obviously help the run game. Those big people moving other big people that helps get those running backs a few extra yards. And then in the pass game as well, just keeping Lovett from getting hit at the end of the day. Defensive line, defensive line is pretty deep.
Although you want to have Wotley on the field as much as possible. That's a position where you can afford to have injuries. That position is just deep enough with guys who can play, can start. It's not a concern for me. I don't know about you guys, but that's not a for me in loss.
There's a lot of guys who have the potential to break out in the receiver room that I mentioned earlier. And yes, you'd like to have Moss as that one. Moss might be the guy that becomes the dominant threat outside of Tyson at the end of the year. But it could be one of the other guys as well. So it just kind of puts a card in your pocket that you can't play if you don't have him.
Austen Bundy (26:41)
Yeah, I feel like I'm not entirely too concerned about injuries yet. I mean, I'm knocking on wood. I'm expecting a lot of these guys to be ready to go. And if they're not, I feel like it's a good decision to hold them out or make sure that they're going to be completely healthy for conference play, because that's going to be the more important stretch of the season for them. But I feel like Kenny's got a program where they're all going to have next man up mentality. And I feel like a program cannot be any better.
Each guy on that roster knows that their opportunity could be next and they all need to treat their entire practices, need to treat their routines, their diets, everything as if they are a starter. And I feel like the best programs in the nation are those where every guy on the roster believes that they are starter material, that they're going to be starting every week. And if they get, if their number gets called, they can plug and play like they've been there the entire time. Granted that doesn't always happen, but if you have that mentality, that's half the battle right there. So I'm not concerned.
until I see this depth ⁓ not prove itself on the field. So I have every confidence that if some of these guys can't go that there's going to be capable backups to be able to plug in there and get the job done for the Sun Devils.
Tom Hardon (27:57)
Yeah, agreed. We've seen the depth chart. It looks strong from the first game. I trust in Kenny that we'll have the best possible team out on the field to get the job done this Saturday. We've talked about how Mississippi State, their offense, they can really score from anywhere on the field. We'd be remiss if we didn't talk about their special teams and notably kicker Kyle Ferry.
set a program record with his 55 yard field goal in the opener against Southern Miss. No matter who you are, college professional, a 55 yard field goal is impressive in itself. And in addition being a tight end appreciator, I am a kicker appreciator. I love seeing those long field goals, preferably not against us, but it still gives me a little bit of a thrill when I see a 50 plus yard kick.
Austen Bundy (28:52)
Yeah, hopefully we don't see any of those on Saturday night or perhaps we hope that it's ⁓ Jesus Gomez who's given us some long field goals coming in clutch.
Tom Hardon (29:02)
Absolutely.
Andrew Hayslett (29:04)
certainly has the potential I wrote about it in the past. Want to check it out but yeah he's had his career along 57 multiple times. had a 57 yarder on Saturday that was I think short I think it was accurate in terms of
aim not distance. So we'll see. I don't know how the kicking weather is going to be out there on Starkville on Saturday night, but we'll see.
Tom Hardon (29:37)
Yeah, from my angle at least, the kick looked pretty straight. I thought it was through. think everybody in my section thought it was through. I guess it must have just been a little bit short for a... I mean, that kick was what, towards the end of the first half?
Andrew Hayslett (29:55)
Yeah, I think it was short by about two, three yards or so. But it was.
Austen Bundy (30:01)
On he looked wide,
so I don't know if the angle was different in the stadium, but on television he looked wide. I don't know if he actually had it straight on.
Andrew Hayslett (30:08)
I don't have the best angle from the press box but I can definitely tell you it was short.
Tom Hardon (30:18)
Well, Starkville weather on Saturday. They're looking at a high of 78 degrees, morning showers, then cloudy throughout the afternoon. Kickoff at 430 Arizona time, 730 Eastern. Guys, give me your predictions and who's going to be, who are your players to watch on offense and defense?
Andrew Hayslett (30:42)
Yeah, I'll go first. guess I think it's gonna be another close game to an extent. I'll have Arizona State winning 33 to let's call it 26. I think that's just gonna be a real close game battle. All I think all game long, I Arizona State's gonna pull away a bit at the end versus a what we saw last year. Players of the game, I'm gonna say unoffense, I'm gonna kind of cheat a little.
I'm gonna have two players in the game for you. It's gonna be both the running backs Kyson Brown, O'League Brown, the duo. I know Kyson himself. He's excited to get back to home He's got over 50 friends and family that are gonna be watching him from the stands That's what he said on Wednesday So yeah, I think he's hungry grew up in Tupelo not too far from Starkville he wants
it
bad. I know Relique Brown as well. He's a guy who wants to play well. He's trying to show the coaches that yeah, he can handle 20 reps a game. That's what it was the number that he said in practice that he can handle on one day in his interviews. Actually, it was Tuesday that those guys said it, but I can't get my day straight. But it's, it's something. But yeah, those are two guys who
are just what we saw. Efficient runners from what we saw. think both of them had seven carries for I think it was over 50 yards for both of them. They're just great runners of both. Not saying Kanye Udaw won't get plenty of I think he will. I think he'll be get more than we saw on Wednesday but I just think he's going to be more of a kind of a ⁓ once one of those those two guys get tired we're going to bring in Kanye and he's going to be just as well but I think just
I can see the playing time at the end of the day. Defensively, I'm going to just say the cornerbacks, take a step up, save these as well. I'm going to be watching them, but my possible, those are the players to watch. I'm not expecting them, just because of, I think the defensive back room is going to either make or break this game on the defensive.
side of ball.
Austen Bundy (33:15)
Yeah, I'm with you there. ⁓ I think this is going to be a little bit more high scoring than we anticipate. ⁓ I'm going to go 37-34 Sun Devils, although I feel like, like we said before, this is a trap game in the back of my mind. This reads Mississippi State win all over it. I'm going to be optimistic about our Sun Devils, but I'll be completely transparent for our viewers and listeners that.
I would not be shocked if Mississippi State gets a statement win against the Sun Devils. This feels like it's ripe foreign upset. And ⁓ especially when the AP voters have lack of confidence in ASU dropping them a spot from 11 to 12 after a win ⁓ in the rankings. If I'm gonna go with ⁓ my couple MVPs, I was gonna go with Relique Brown as well, Andrew. I feel like the running game.
needs to be dominant against Mississippi State. We know the passing game has got the capabilities to pick them to to pick apart that secondary, but I feel like if they can establish a solid run game, if Relique Brown is averaging four yards per carry by halftime, you're going to be in a good spot. ⁓
Defense, I'm not gonna take a specific player just because like Andrew said there are specific groups that really need to step up and I think the defense as a whole is gonna potentially struggle against Mississippi State. ⁓ I feel like the entire unit has got to step up and really plug some holes and make sure that Mississippi State and the Bulldogs can't establish their run game. They can't get into a rhythm and do what they want to do. ⁓
So instead I'm going to skip to the special teams and my second MVP of the game is going to be Jesus Gomez. I think he's going to be called on a lot, especially if ASU's drive stall out anywhere past the 30 yard line. He's going to need to be perfect in an SEC environment. It's going to be loud. I don't know if Tom you noticed it's going to be humid at all down there in Starkville. ⁓
If the high is only 70, I doubt it's going to be too bad down there. But he's going to have to be perfect every time he's called upon. He can't afford to have any of those long misses that he had against NAU because there isn't going to be any time in the second half for them to pull away. It's going to be a battle. You're going to need every point that you can get against an SEC team because they just won't go away.
This isn't going to be where you can beat them based on exhaustion because they were playing in the Tempe Heat for the first time last year. ASU, I believe, has not beaten an SEC team on the road in quite a while. Like we said, the last time they played was in 2012. That was the Georgia game, wasn't it? And I don't think they came out on top there. Missouri.
Tom Hardon (36:01)
That was the Missouri game. are winless on the road
at SEC teams. The only win against a current SEC team, aside from Mississippi State, came before they moved into the SEC, but against Oklahoma back sometime in the 70s, I believe.
Austen Bundy (36:21)
Gotcha. OK, I see. So not a great track record for ASU, but Kenny Dillingham said ahead of the season that they want to rewrite history. They don't want to be the same ASU team that has a successful season and then comes out of the gate the next year and falls flat on its face. I there's no better opportunity now than to go down into an SEC team, to go into SEC territory and get a statement when, even if it's bottom of the barrel of the conference this year, it's still an SEC team. That is still something to have on your.
So if you're going to rewrite history, this is the opportunity for the guys to really step up ⁓ and show the rest of the college football world that they were not a fluke last year.
Tom Hardon (36:59)
Yeah, it's a to your point about humidity. It's going to be about 90 % humidity, so not not going to be quite the steam room that you could get during the summer, but it's still going to be a whole different. Atmosphere pun intended for for us coming from from the from the dry desert. I've been I've been waffling back and forth on whether I think it's going to be high scoring or low scoring. I've been.
Austen Bundy (37:15)
Yeah, the ball is going to travel differently down there with that.
Tom Hardon (37:28)
Keeping an eye on the on the lines. I know we opened at 8 1⁄2 point favorites. Now as of right now we're down to 6 1⁄2 point favorites. I think we're still going to come out on top. I am going to. I'm airing on the side of higher scoring of 41 35 ASU. My offensive MVP I'm going to go with Shemamater. I expect to see him be included much more in the offensive game plan. I don't expect him to get a high.
a high volume of targets, but I think he's going to be able to make the most out of his targets and get those yards after the catch. I think he'll be able to split between the linebackers and the safeties over the top. I think he'll be able to get chunk plays and really help move the ball down the field in tandem with hopefully a much more involved running game. On defense, my MVP is going to be CJ Fight. ⁓
I'm going to be watching just how he and the entire defensive line can contain the running game, contain Blake Shapin, keep him in the pocket, force him to make throws instead of pulling the ball down and running. ⁓ I don't want to see Shapin running for 70, 80 yards this game. I want to see his gains minimized and force him to use his arm, force the rest of our defense to play as a cohesive unit.
Andrew Hayslett (38:56)
Yeah.
I've got a few more points I want to bring up. want to shout out Canyon Floyd for winning Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week. Just a good performance by him last weekend. And then my second thing I want to shout out is the Big 12 Conference introduced a new award this season, Student Section of the Week. And the first winner of that is the Inferno section for ASU football. They were packed on Saturday.
Now there's a sea of gold that I think we can expect to see throughout the year, except when it's the Maroon Monsoon and the Blackout game, where it will be a sea of those colors. But the majority of season is going to be gold and I expect the Inferno to be hot as usual.
Tom Hardon (39:47)
Yeah, it was absolutely incredible to witness in the stands. I'm sure your view from up top was just as incredible. You know, last point that I did want to make, know, ASU is playing in the central time zone this week and historically traveling east is not always the easiest for the Devils. We are 13 and 16 against active FBS teams when playing in the central time zone. That's regular season games, including neutral sites. So.
the Texas A opener from 2015 is included in that number. Hopefully we make it 14 and 16 this week. Hopefully it is not as much of a struggle or trap game as we are anticipating. Hopefully we have a relatively comfortable win and some happy talking points for our recap show coming up on Monday. For Andrew and Austin, I'm Tom.
Thank you all for listening to another episode of Echo from the Buttes. Forks up and go Devils.