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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 one, welcome all to this week's episode of Echo from the Buttes. I'm your host, Tom Harden, standing in for David Hellman, unfortunately dealing with some technical difficulties tonight. So you guys will have to deal with me this week. With me, I have Andrew Hazlett and Austin Bundy, and we are at Big 12 opening week for the Sun Devils. And big test coming up this week on the road in Waco. know, Devils, Sun Devils are
Historically, when traveling east, not the best as we've already seen this week, but this week presents some interesting opportunities. And Andrew, you've been on the ground at practice this week. What have you seen from the team as they start to prepare for this road game?
Andrew Hayslett (00:54)
Offensively my biggest takeaway is that Compared to last week last week they use the same kind of personnel on the offensive ones this week Couldn't be further different
I think maybe half, over a dozen guys probably got reps with Sam Levitt across your running back tight ends and receivers. So that's one thing I'm kind of looking for offensively is, we know Jordan Tyson's Jordan Tyson. We know the running backs are efficient. We know that Shaman's good. He told me earlier on, what was that?
Tuesday, he feels he's the best tight end in the country and we know all that. What we have been saying is still who is looking to take the rest. I know a lot of people pre- uh, before the season said
Oh, Jalen Moss is going to be one of those guys. And Jalen Moss has been hampered by injury and now illness. he, believe is going to be out for Saturday's game. I believe that was officially confirmed. I don't know, but if he's at best, he's questionable. So I doubt he'll get a lot of the playing time. So that leaves Malik McLean.
You've got Jordan or Noble Johnson, your Kamari Andersons, all those guys looking said, hey, we can step up. And can that be shown defensively? Defense looks solid as always. We know Xavier on Alford is going to be out. That's what Dillingham said yesterday on Wednesday. And.
He's going to be out for a long time so we'll see how Boogie Wilson can take the step up to being the full time second safety alongside Ghost Rouser. Absolutely just great nicknames back in the safety department Boogie and Ghost. That's, I'd hard pressed to find a better duo than that in terms of nicknames but hopefully if you're a Sun Devil's fan, you'll say hopefully they can play as good as they're right.
Those are kind of my top two things to just take away from practice.
Tom Hardon (03:33)
It's a very next man up mentality
that we're getting this week because new this season, the Big 12 is mandating that for all conference games teams put out injury reports leading up to the Friday night before the game. Or in the case of Friday night game, it would be the Thursday night. And we've got a lot of names listed on that injury report. ⁓ In addition to Zavian and Jalen Moss.
Ghost Rauser is even listed on the injury report. this is gonna be a big test for the depth of this team and how well they can overcome all these bangs and bruises that are going up and down the roster.
Andrew Hayslett (04:20)
Absolutely. There's... There's someone who was at practice and saw everything.
I was surprised to see as many names on the injury report that we saw. know there's always going to be a few surprises, but there are half a dozen guys that I said, wow, you're on the injury report. That's surprising to me. I think a lot of those guys you see in the questionable ⁓ list are going to play. That's just my pure speculation. I could be totally wrong. I could be totally right. I don't know, but I would say the majority of those guys on
questionable report will play. That's like I said pure speculation. I don't know what the doctors are saying. I don't know everything that's going on within the team. I just go by what I saw in the two days of practice I was at and what everyone's had to say which is obviously they're not gonna spill all their secrets but yeah.
Austen Bundy (05:26)
How many of those guys did you see doing activities or what kind of activities if at all were these questions the guys on the questionable side of the injury report were they doing? Does that give any indication as to how they may be lining up going into Saturday or were any of these guys off to the side not doing much?
Andrew Hayslett (05:46)
Yeah,
there are some guys off to the side and there are some guys practicing in full for in but I can't really say what if you're Practicing in full doesn't really mean anything Zach Swanson for instance. He's I Thought he was really he was gonna play week one. He looked ready to me What I based off what I saw in practice and he obviously hasn't played
I he'll play but I don't know. That's what I've been saying the past few weeks in my head. So I can only look at so much. Yeah, there's guys that will, I think we'll see play some, I would tend to believe a lot of those guys will play. I believe I saw CJ fight on that list. That was, that was one of games like, okay. So it's just hard to, hard to say anything right now.
Tom Hardon (06:43)
You know, with this being the first time that the conference has mandated injury reports, I wonder if this is more a case of Kenny being a little bit overly cautious by listing some of these guys and then later on in the week, you know, with tomorrow's final report, would he come back and say, you know, oh, you know, a lot of these guys who are listed as probable, we're going to take them off the report. We were just heading our bets. What do you guys think about that?
Austen Bundy (07:09)
mean there could be a little bit of gamesmanship there too. mean you put enough of these guys on as questionable. I mean they're only required to put the report out, right? It doesn't necessarily have to accurately reflect who's actually injured and who's potentially questionable type of deal. They could put as many guys as they want as questionable that are potentially doing things for maintenance or like Andrew said, could still be practicing fully and either they're gonna go or they're not gonna go.
So there might be a little bit of gamesmanship there because these are public and Baylor I'm sure is looking at what guys are probable and what guys are they're going to have to scheme against and which ones they may get a break from.
Andrew Hayslett (07:46)
I know Kenny, I think it was Wednesday where he said there's no gamesmanship being played. There could be gamesmanship in that statement. I don't ⁓ know Kenny well enough to say, there was or there wasn't. But regardless, that is what he said to everyone. He also said that this injury report doesn't change anything in what he's doing. So...
I would tend to believe he's just being a little cautious rather than trying to do any gainsmanship. But again, I could be wrong. I'm not a medical expert. The only thing I really know well is what's in my body. quite frankly, that doesn't really matter what the Sun Devils are going to do this Saturday.
Austen Bundy (08:35)
Thank
Tom Hardon (08:37)
I don't know, they might need you to suit up if
enough guys go down.
Andrew Hayslett (08:42)
be one of last people I want. All I am is tall, not really super athletic or anything. I don't know what I play.
Tom Hardon (08:50)
I'm
Well, in my mind, when I think compared to the NFL injury reports, I could be wrong in this, but I believe that tomorrow night's report would be the final report on who's going to dress, who's not going to dress, barring anything that happens off the field or during warmups before kickoff on Saturday. So, you know, we'll see what happens when the updated report comes and who's still on the list, who's not.
and we go from there. But looking ahead to the game on Saturday, they were on offense and I broke this down earlier this week. They are, I would say they're bit of an air raid light offense. And know, Andrew and Austin, I don't know how much you guys have dug into what their offensive scheme looks like, but you know, these guys are gonna stretch the field a lot and it's gonna be even more of
a passing attack than we've seen from Mississippi State and Texas State. Both those teams ran the Viren shoot offense. Baylor runs a, I guess a little bit of a hybrid between the air raid and the Viren shoot, but they don't quite have the same kind of running game that can complement the receiving game. So it's really going to be on Sawyer Robinson and his core receivers, of which he's got many.
to really be able to drive that attack. And I got to be honest, I don't really love how our secondary, even when healthy, matches up against Baylor's receiving.
Andrew Hayslett (10:37)
Yeah, I think that's a fair point. I've said it. And the last episode of the show, secondary is my biggest concern heading into the big 12th play. I had seen Alfred limited in practice, which is why I...
mentioned it in my last week's article, article five, things to watch. now knowing that Alfred's going to be out for a while, secondary concern is my biggest concern on what did this air raid like offense was. I know that's what I believe it was either Marcus Arroyo, Kenny Dillingham, and called it that. And Brian Ward, the defensive coordinator noted Washington.
the running back is a solid rusher as well. So a lot of things to prepare for again and I like the Sun Devil Rush defense. I think they're very good in that front. It's the past defense I'm concerned about especially the defensive backs at the end of day. I know Dillingham said on Wednesday
that he wants to play the best six defensive guys that he can for the defensive back on every play. So that might be more, you might see more Montana Warren. I don't know if he's been on the injury report. We'll see if he's good to go. That's a guy that could step up. Rodney Hinnage as well. Corn that's had some good plays so far. I think that's a guy you'll see.
see as well alongside Boogie and Jack Ball as well the safety. I think you might start to see a little bit more playing time as well because these corners and safeties aren't always out there on every play. There's a small rotation there so I do think that's something we can see in the future.
Tom Hardon (12:53)
Yeah, you bring up Washington, the running back, and the highlights that I've seen of him, he is great in the tight spaces. ⁓ Baylor loves to run between the tackles, and Washington can shoot those gaps really well. He's got the quickness in tight spaces and that agility that you want to see out of running back. But he doesn't have that breakaway speed. So once he gets to the next level, I think that's really the opportunity to
contain him. He might get chunk yardage of 8 to 10 yards of play, but he's not really going burn the secondary based on what I've seen.
Austen Bundy (13:36)
Yeah, mean Baylor was one of those teams coming into the season where I noticed a lot of pundits were hyping them up as one of those dark horses in the Big 12. ⁓
So I'm not based on what I've seen from them over the last few weeks. I haven't seen that dark horse just yet, but it doesn't mean they don't have the potential and especially on offense with Sawyer Robertson. He could wake up at any moment and insert himself into the Heisman conversation for all we know. But, that's the type of danger I think we're, playing with here. And ASU is more than capable of going to Waco and handling Baylor's
offense and taking advantage of a mediocre defense.
it's all going to come down to mindset. Can they get over the last time they were on the road, which we all saw at Mississippi State? Waco is not an SEC environment, but it's about as close as you can get when it comes to college football. mean, that's still one of the it's a religion down there still in Texas. So I think it's going to be more mental than it's going to be physical for Arizona State trying to get out of there with a win. If they can shake the demons from that last loss, then I think they're going
to be okay.
Andrew Hayslett (14:53)
think they can. know Sam Levitt and Marcus Arroyo have done a lot more preparation on offense, which is the big factor with all the noise. Defense is not really going to combat the noise as much, but offensively you gotta be able to calm down, get your reads and get your checks and everything that you need to do, and then get the play, or get the, and then execute the play.
So I believe now this is second, Levitz and Coach Arroyo's second week doing this. They're, I think, gelling better, which prepares Levitz better, which prepares the entire team better, which sets them up to have a better chance at winning.
I think obviously hindsight's 2020, but I think both of them are saying to themselves, I wish we started the year by doing this instead of starting in three after a loss to Mississippi State, which is a team that they should be losing to. So I think at the end of the day, this offense is way better because of that than what they were two weeks ago at Mississippi State. So I think they've woken up.
state has the potential to be a sleeping giant. I think the giant is waking up inside of them.
Tom Hardon (16:23)
know sometimes that's all it takes is an early season loss to really ⁓ get the team right and force that change of mentality which like you said you don't want to see that be the case but a wake-up call is a wake-up call I would rather have in week two rather than week ten especially if we're fighting for potential championship game birth or football college football playoff birth. I want to go back to
Baylor's wide receivers and Robertson has over a thousand yards passing so far this year and he's on pace to exceed his mark of over 3,000 yards that he threw last year and he's got four really good targets in Ashton Hawkins, Josh Cameron, Cole Wilson and Kobe Prentiss. These guys are going to stretch the field. They're going to line up for wide most every play.
and it's gonna force the defense to cover a lot of ground. Hopefully, what we can do on defense is not give them anything over the top and drop the secondary back, drop back, give up the short to medium play and not get burned on the long play and hopefully force them to dink and dump down the field and.
settle for, settle for field goals when we can force that or get some, get some fourth down turnovers and just kind of, kind of outplay Baylor at their own game. What do you guys think on that?
Andrew Hayslett (18:06)
Yeah, I think this this paler offense will wind up being a boom or bust.
possibly with the potential to stretch to the big play. So that means they're going to be taking lot of shots and that obviously opens up the potential for plenty of incompletions which could lead to three and outs. The Dolphins not getting to the rhythm that they want. So I think they're going to put up more points than what Mississippi State or anyone else has this year on the semifinal defense.
I don't think it will be over 40 or anything big. I think it will be somewhat big but not huge big. You know what I'm saying? So at the end of the day that's what I'm looking forward to. This is probably going to be a little bit of a shootout but not a barn burn shootout. It's going to be higher scoring but not super high scoring. And the defense will have to create
three and outs and then big plays takeaways. We saw two fumble recoveries last weekend in Texas State. I don't think we'll see two fumble recoveries. It's the, and those guys getting interceptions at the end of the day. That's the thing I'm circling.
Austen Bundy (19:32)
Yeah, I feel like if ASU's defense is going to keep Sorter Robertson to under 250 yards passing, that's a good night. I think that's going to be a really good night for them. And like Andrew said, it's going to come down to the turnover margin. ⁓ Even one can change the game in the direction that you need it to, ⁓ especially if it comes at the right time. ⁓
it's gonna come down to the secondary stepping in front of routes, frustrating receivers, and the pass rush not giving Robertson enough time to think. ⁓ If they can do those things, it's gonna be a long night for that Baylor offense, ⁓ especially if they're gonna live by the air raid, die by the air raid. ⁓
I think ASU has exactly what they need. They have the tools to be able to go out there, play their game, and win it. It's just gonna come down to execution.
Tom Hardon (20:23)
And I've watched about a game and a half worth of Baylor's action this season. And I think last week he took, think Sawyer Robertson took four sacks and he just wrote it, just brushed him off. Sacks don't bother him. He's able to just dust himself right off and get back at it for the next play. So I think going up against that kind of mentality where he's able to easily move on to...
to the next task at hand, think that's going to be even more dangerous for us to go up against defensively. But thankfully, on the offensive side of the ball for the Sun Devils, Baylor's got a pretty subpar rushing defense. And I'm saying that, giving them a little bit more benefit of the doubt. They are ranked about 113th in the nation, giving up almost 190 rushing yards per game. So.
If I'm Marcus Arroyo, I'm drawing up a very run-heavy offensive scheme. I'm not necessarily taking the ball completely out of Sam's hands, but I want to see, I want to see Raleigh get the majority of the touches. If Kyson's completely healthy and ready to go, work that tandem, work Kanye into the game and work the short passes. Don't try and go for the deep passes. Don't try and...
go shot for shot with Baylor because we proved in the fourth quarter against Mississippi State that when we are running the ball, we're absolutely controlling the game. And I think that's the one thing that will keep it from being a high scoring shootout. Much like you, Andrew, I think it's going to be a shootout nonetheless. But I think that we will be able to better control the timing and pace of the game by
executing the ground game as we did in the fourth quarter in Starkville and make it come down to who's got the ball last and really just make that a priority. Austin, we'll start with you. What do you want to see out of the offense this week?
Austen Bundy (22:36)
Minimum mistakes. I mean, during Texas State we saw minimum mistakes from the offense, which was great. Now it's consistency. Can Sam repeat that performance? Can the running game be even more dominant? I would like to see ASU's running game be prioritized this week because I feel like everybody in the Big 12 is going to dial in on Jordan Tyson. Everyone's going to dial in on taking away Sam's ability to throw the ball to his best receiver.
If the running game can get going, I mean, it's the bread and butter of any good offense in college football. if the running game is able to dominate, like I say, they're averaging four and a half yards, three and a half yards per carry, you're going to have a good night. You're going to get first downs. You're going to get third manageables for your quarterback. ⁓
I the running game is going to be the focal point of the offense on Saturday. And if they're succeeding in getting across the field without having to throw the ball too many times, I think ASU is going to do what they do best, what Kenny did best last year, which was move down the field and drain a lot of clock on each drive.
Andrew Hayslett (23:50)
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. you were to ask me, Andrew, do you expect the Sun Devils to run the ball a lot on Saturday? I'd ask you as water white. Like, yes.
Austen Bundy (24:00)
It's not wet by the way.
Tom Hardon (24:05)
Water makes things wet.
Austen Bundy (24:07)
Yes,
there you go.
Andrew Hayslett (24:09)
The point being is that they're gonna run the ball. It doesn't matter who's gone. Instead of you have one guy who can just dominate, you now have three. And Sam Leavitt, he can run the ball as well too. Whether or not you want that, that's the coach's decision.
I'd like to see as less of it as possible, but I still think we'll see Levitt run the ball well.
We know Relic Brown is probably going to be, I think the run in tandem with the running backs, I Relic Brown is going to be one of those two. Whether the second guy is featured is going to be Uro or Kaisen, I think that depends on how ready Kaisen is. Even if Kaisen's not necessarily ready but still dressed, I still think we're going to see him a little bit if he's dressed. Even if it couldn't be once.
be behind Uda like I said or he could not be I don't I don't know well that's kind of up in the air and then if he's not dressed I think we'll still see a little bit of Demarius aka man-man Robinson as well. Nickens are coming in great tonight but
the They're gonna run the ball pound the rock Like Richard Sherman once said after an Amazon one of his games that he did on Amazon front. I'm run the ball I think that that that that's what we'll see a lot just pounding the rock. This is the Sun Devil style Like it or not. I like it. I think it's working It's gonna work and then the one ever love it throws his 25 for so
that he's gonna throw. He's gonna throw about 10 to 12 to Jordan Tyson, 6 to the running backs, yourself, 7 or 8 to Shaman, and then the other few are gonna go to Malik McLean. ⁓
A deep shot to Jordan Hamilton will be in there. Or Jaren Hamilton, rather. And then you might see your Kamari Anderson, AJ Ea, Cameron Harple, Jalen Moss if he's playing. I don't know. Just a few of those other guys. Targets. Harry Hasman has stood out to me this week in practice. He's had some runs with Sam Levitt and the rest of the ones. I don't know if we'll see him.
that much but that's it that's a dude I could I'd like to see more I think he's gonna be I I think he's gonna be the next Jordan Tyson I think he in two three years is gonna be that dude I I truly believe it I from what I've seen and practice yes I know it's practice but dude can make some amazing catches and that's what Jordan Tyson does really well
And I know Tyson, when I talked to him on Tuesday, he said, how do you practice these things? I kind of see similar things with Hasbro. Just going out there, that's a guy who I think is gonna break out in a few years time that I'm looking out for. And we might see sprinkles of him throughout the season, maybe this week in Waco.
Tom Hardon (27:50)
Well, as a Shaman appreciator, I definitely approve of your estimated target volume for him and really hope that's the case working those shorter routes for him.
Austen Bundy (28:03)
We gotta figure out how to get Shaman on the show, this has turned into a mini fan club.
Tom Hardon (28:07)
You know, we can put some viewers out and see if we can get them on here. ⁓ We did get a uniform drop for this week courtesy of Cole Streeper and a lot of Sun Devil fans are going to be happy. The Running Sparky is returning to the gold shell on the helmets for this game with the white road jersey and gold pants. Honestly, I love this combo. It's what I grew up watching in...
during the 2000s and it just screams, it screams Arizona State to me. There's nothing more I can say to
Austen Bundy (28:47)
Yeah, you can't go wrong with Sparky on the Dome. mean, I don't think you can find any Sun Devil fan who doesn't believe Sparky on the Dome should be the ⁓ permanent decal for their helmets going forward. Andrew, you're somebody who doesn't like it.
Andrew Hayslett (29:01)
I don't like it.
I love Sparky on the helmet. I love the Pitchfork more. It's a 1A and 1B for me. I love Sparky. For me, think the Pitchfork is really cool. Both logos to me are just something completely different from everyone else that I see. Honestly, in a perfect world, it's 50-50 for me.
I can both.
Tom Hardon (29:34)
Now are you referring to this
week's Running Sparky or the Sparky face from a couple weeks ago on the white shells?
Andrew Hayslett (29:41)
The running sparky. I'm not a huge fan of the sparky face as much. think it looks... Just... It's one those where I like the sparky with the pitchfork running better. I think that just shows sparky better in my opinion.
Tom Hardon (29:53)
It's
Austen Bundy (30:00)
The running
Sparky is more iconic, I think, to the university compared to like, if you put his face on the helmet. I always thought it looked like we were not copying Oregon when they would put the duck face on their helmets. But to me, it's like the duck face is iconic enough without his body to know that's Oregon. But if you put Sparky's face alone on a helmet, I don't think enough people recognize that as ASU. But if you got the running Sparky, people know it because of the pitchfork.
I enjoy the pitchfork on the helmet at times. I really liked the old, ⁓ from like 2015 to 2019-ish, where they enlarged the pitchfork to go across almost all of the one side of the helmet. I liked that design. Yes, the big pitchfork is a lot better than just the regular sized pitchfork they have going across the helmet.
Andrew Hayslett (30:43)
like that better than what they currently have.
Austen Bundy (30:53)
I thought it was unique. ⁓ But yeah, Running Sparky is still top for me. The one decal I think is so underrated that I think they should use more often is the Sunburst, the ASU in the Sunburst. That one, I know they only break it out when they're honoring the 75 team or any of the Fiesta Bowl winners or the Peach Bowl winners. ⁓
Tom Hardon (31:06)
Yes.
Austen Bundy (31:17)
but the sunburst is extremely underrated for ASU football and I think they should wear that at least once a year.
Tom Hardon (31:24)
Well, it's worth noting that the 75 throwback jerseys will be worn on October 18th against Texas Tech. And there's been no helmet shell released to go along with those jerseys. So let the speculation begin that we might see the sun burst on the shells.
But to go back to the debate between Running Sparky and Face Sparky, I always thought the Face Sparky looked too gimmicky. like I said earlier in my take, Running Sparky, that's a hallmark of watching ASU when I was growing up. And I love having just the Arizona State in all caps across the jerseys again. As I was seeing some of the speculation as to what the uniform combo would be, I saw a...
call back to, I believe, one of the 2014 alternates that had the more metallic gold color in the helmets and the jerseys. And that's one that I wouldn't mind seeing come back with. With Baylor wearing their Anthracite jerseys at home on Saturday, that kind of evokes memories of our own Anthracite jerseys from that same era. And I know it's two different companies. I believe we were in our Nike years then.
now with the data, so we're not really gonna get those same combinations again. But maybe down the line, would be kind of cool to see those worked in to some degree.
Austen Bundy (32:52)
You know what's a shame is when we switched over to Adidas, the fact that the Desert Hammer and Desert Ice combos had to go away because we were cursed in them. We couldn't win a game when we wore those combo, the combination of those uniforms. That was, I loved those. ⁓ Desert Hammer, I think was really nice, especially when they went with the copper, the copper chrome domes. Those were, were, those went hard, but we could never win a game in them. So they, they got rid of them.
Tom Hardon (33:14)
Yeah.
I was going say we just had that great, I think it was like a three or four year stretch where we had these really unique combinations. were almost ⁓ like an Oregon light with how many combinations they were rolling out. think we actually, we still duplicated some of our combinations where they still have one brand new one every week, it seems like.
Andrew Hayslett (33:45)
I was looking back at those, because I don't know those, the Desert Hammer and Desert Ice, by what they're called. I just know, like, ⁓ what's that? I liked seeing those when I grew
Austen Bundy (33:58)
Those were my freshman and sophomore years when they wore those.
Tom Hardon (34:03)
I was in my intermediate years between undergrad and grad school. So that's kind of one of those eras where it's just kind of like, I'm not a student, but I'm a fan. So we're just going to enroll with it. But enough uniform talk here. One big piece of news that dropped this morning is for the 2026 season, Arizona State and Kansas will be playing in the first ever college football game in London.
that game is slated for, I believe it's September 19th at Wembley Stadium in London. From some of the reports I was seeing, think Austin, you brought it up earlier ⁓ in our team chat. I think it's due to ongoing renovations at Kansas Stadium. If you can take a little more on that.
Austen Bundy (34:58)
Yeah, so Kansas, they're going through renovations. They just built a whole brand new stadium, I believe. But they're going through some renovations out there. And apparently the facility, ⁓ it's not going to be completed enough to where they would have a full capacity of seats. They would have to severely limit the amount of fans that would be able to be at this game. And I don't know for sure if it meant that ASU fans couldn't travel period to Kansas because there wouldn't be an
section for them. But it was, there's enough seating limitations to where the Big 12 considered this option to begin with. I'm a little surprised that this is the game that gets Wembley Stadium. Like, mean, cool, we get to get, like, we get, like, we're, like, this is gonna be a cool experience. But also a little surprised that it was this game that got the nod. I don't know if it was...
I'm not complaining. It'll be pretty cool to see but I mean that's a lot of travel. That's a lot of
variables that are going to get thrown in there for Arizona State. have no idea what the team's going to look like next year. I doubt they're probably not going to have any Jordan Tyson. Sam Levin might still be around. But that'll be pretty cool. mean, going to the home of the FA Cup, lot of World Cup finals have been played there, Eurofinals. So it's a pretty historic stadium.
Tom Hardon (36:46)
Sun Devil fans and Manchester United fans are about to get real chummy, Sun Devils and the Red Devils.
Austen Bundy (36:52)
Yeah, well Manchester is not that close to London so you'll have a lot more Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, they'll all get chummy together there.
Tom Hardon (37:03)
That shows my knowledge of the Premier League.
Andrew Hayslett (37:08)
Couple things to note for me is that this report has been reported by a lot of people but isn't officially official yet. I just wanted to put that out there. Yeah, I would still tend to believe that this is happening and rather it's not.
There's still a potential that things could fall through. know TCU and North Carolina are going to be playing the Ireland game in week 0. So this game I believe is, if memory serves me, would be week 3. And ASU, this would be coming off of the game where they played at Texas A And I saw a possible report that would have
ASU flying to London after the A game and not coming back to town B which would be very interesting to see how what they would do for practice and everything like that I obviously
want to be there. there's a will, there's a way, and there's certainly a will. hope, fingers, I can be there. But regardless, I think this is cool. In my opinion, as long as you're not sacrificing a home game to go play somewhere across the world, it's fine. I would not call it optimal from a Sun Devil's perspective.
think going to Kansas is lot easier than going to Wembley Stadium in London, England. But I think this part of the Big 12's initiative and growing the game, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yoramark said on
the big 12 media days that the big 12 is open for business and this was the of business he was talking about. He wanted to bring the big 12 to foreign markets. We'll see what other foreign markets might be in the works. I don't know everything with that exactly, but it is it.
It is interesting to see college football go globally. Some of the purists out there hate it. I don't. I'm more indifferent on that. It's like, OK, cool. mean, if I can travel, that would be cool experience. know.
If you're a part of the team or band or cheer or whatnot, I think going to England's gonna be cool for all of them. But for the rest of us, I don't know. It's just kind of there for
Tom Hardon (40:20)
I know I've got my passport at the ready, so ready and raring to go.
Austen Bundy (40:21)
Yeah, I'm...
Yeah, I would consider going, but I am one of those people that's like, I understand we're growing the game. We want it to go international, but at some point I feel like the quality of the product of the game is going to go downhill with the traveling. mean, obviously like with the Brazil game for the NFL, I mean, they play in Germany, England, now Spain this year. It's, I feel like we're going to get to a point where they're trying to make fetch happen. And I don't think it's really going to happen.
where making football an international game, soccer I think is way too big to drown out, even if you're gonna try and get a foothold in any of those countries. I think the only countries that might actually bite and like actually grow a significant amount with American football is England and Germany. Germany eats it up. I don't know what it's about, but the Germans love American football. ⁓
And so I feel like if Brett Yormark is looking for any kind of expansion for foreign markets, he's going to have to go to Germany. And I think Big 12 football might be something the Germans have an appetite for.
Tom Hardon (41:34)
military in tier one.
Andrew Hayslett (41:34)
I'm going to add
two more places. One is Mexico, the U.S. and southern border. I think there could be a market there. I know there's been some football games played there before. I know there's a lot of with Arizona and Arizona State. Those two schools in particular are very close to the border.
Texas Tech, your Baylor, your Houston, TCU, I think they could be candidates for that game as well. And I know there's a lot of US influence in Australia as well for US football. You've got a few Australian punters, believe. Mitch Wyschnowski is Australian and a few in college football as well. know Nebraska has.
one and Arizona State has their own Matt McKenzie. He's Australian as well. So I think that's those are a couple other potential markets that the big 12 hour college football as a whole might want to break into. And then for the rest of the college sports landscape, it's obviously different with each sport. But I, I do believe your mark is trying to get other sports to foreign markets as well.
Tom Hardon (42:59)
Well, Nelson, to your point about Germany being a place that's a hotbed for American football, NFL Europe had a huge presence in Germany for most of their existence. There were consistently teams in Berlin, Rheing, Cologne, Frankfurt. So you've got that foundation there. Granted, NFL Europe ended almost 20 years ago, but...
I think your point still stands. The NFL games in Germany have been, at least as far as I can tell, fairly successful. And I don't see those ending anytime soon. We also forget that NFL Europe had a presence in Spain, both in Madrid and Barcelona. So it's not unheard of that the NFL and maybe eventually the NCAA is...
expanding to other locations within Europe. But I think the worry comes where the NFL has really established their foothold in London. I'm not entirely sure that the NCAA can establish that same foothold or at least compete with the NFL there. Arizona State does have one of the largest international alumni followings, but I think
when you're looking at it outside of the scope of just ASU and looking at the NCAA as a whole, or even just the Big 12 as a whole, I don't think there's quite the demand for an extreme amount of international games. I think what has been established with ⁓ the Dublin game and with the Bahamas Bowl late in the season, to me, I think that is maybe the extent that
College of Propulsion go I really don't want to see that international product get diluted and that's coming from somebody who attended the first ever Major League Baseball games in London in 2019. Now that that product was not the baseball that I'm used to it was unique to be at but it's definitely not a sustainable opportunity. Major League Baseball had the Paris games planned and had to scrap that opportunity. I believe they're still exploring Australia and Eastern Europe.
for, not Eastern Europe, Eastern Asia, for international games. But I think the novelty of international games, and this is across all sport, I think it's getting far too diluted for what the leagues hope that it will be.
Andrew Hayslett (45:46)
I think one, two, three seasons is the right amount in terms of each sport. know NFL has a lot more than one season alone.
And then you've got LLB, I know they have usually one series out of the country a year. Memory serves me right. College football now, the two that you've mentioned, Tom, and now this would be the third. And then basketball is something I'm not really into. So you guys might know probably no more than me there. I don't think there's been anything for him. I know hockey has, I believe,
there they've had a few years where they've kicked off internationally in Europe as well. One more thing I do want to bring up is ASU was originally scheduled to host Hawaii in week three. So with this game coming in, would mean that I believe it wound up being that ASU would host Hawaii in week five or six.
Those are the two that I've seen tossed around obviously but we don't know the schedule in full. But the non-con would look at the league morrigan state week one at home, then on Texas A &M, then you have the international game, then a few weeks later and then have Hawaii at home. Kind of sprinkled in with conference play. Kind of like how the SEC does with some of their teams is that Alabama
some FCS school in November for whatever reason. So this would be kind of similar to an extent, but it's it.
Tom Hardon (47:38)
I've seen some rumorings
that Hawaii could be moved to week one, but again, we don't really know how this is all going to flesh out. Still waiting on the official confirmation that this is for sure happening. This can all be speculation for now until then, but it is worth noting that Arizona State has played on the road internationally once before in Tokyo. It was in the 1990 season, so I was all of...
coming up on three months old when this game was played. But we lost, ironically enough, to Houston. Or not ironically enough, but to a future Big 12 opponent. Lost to Houston 62 to 45. And this could be an opportunity to even up the record if this does go through.
Andrew Hayslett (48:31)
Yeah, I don't think 107 points will be scored in this game. I'll take the under there.
Austen Bundy (48:38)
Yeah, when you're playing in a soccer stadium in England, take the under.
Tom Hardon (48:44)
Well, now that we've completely gone down that rabbit hole, ⁓ I want to close this episode out with our final score predictions for Saturday's game. Andrew, I'll go ahead and start with you. What's your prediction and who are a couple of your players to watch?
Andrew Hayslett (48:45)
Okay.
Yeah, I think this will be a very, like I said, kind of that medium high scoring game. I'm going to say 30, in the 30s for both teams. I think Arizona State will pull off the victory. I don't know if you guys have the same thought. I'm going to go with 37 to 31 ASU. I wrote it down for me so I remember to send that in.
for that's David's thing. He's got that down. But regardless, 37-31, who I think will stand out is defensively I'm going to start there. We've seen
Week week 3 Jordan Crook has had good games. Week 2 was Keyshawn Elliott so the trend would be going back to Keyshawn Elliott for this week. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go something different. I am going to say CJ Fight has a breakout game. think he's going to get a sack or two.
establish his presence in the middle. He's kind of established it little bit, but he hasn't really...
think he's had a sack yet this season. Maybe a tackle for a loss or two. Yes, he did have that forced fumble and recover fumble last game. But I think this is the time where he's going to have a multi-sack game. Offensively, I think I could go just say Jordan Tyson for the easy play, but I'm not going to do that.
going to go something a little bit different. I'm going to say we're going to see some passing. I mentioned 25 to 30 I think is the range that we should expect.
And I think they're going to go to the other guys in that stretch. And I think a lot of those targets are going to go to Malik McLean. I think Malik McLean is due for a game. He's been with the ones all year long. I don't think any drills for twos. But he hasn't had that game that Tyson's had on the other side. I think he's primed for a breakout game outside of Tyson.
Austen Bundy (51:35)
I like where you're going with that, Andrew. ⁓ I had CJ Fight as well on my defensive side there, so kudos to you. But I'll go different on offense. I think...
Why not? We're going to have a Shaman Matea breakout game. think we're going to have a little bit of a secret weapon usage here because they're going to key in on Tyson. I feel like Levitt's going to have to use a safety valve more often than not in this game if he's not able to go downfield. I think the running game is going to be the bread and butter for this, but there's going to be instances I feel like where they're going to have a third and short or they're going to have a third and four type of situation. Maybe on the other
side of the field where you're not necessarily in field goal range yet and Kenny's gonna be in four down territory mode I think you're gonna see Shimon Mateyar come up big in some of these moments where you got to have a conversion and you got to have ⁓
Safety valve for Sam to use when Jordan Tyson's covered up when the running game may have been plugged earlier on the first two downs ⁓ So I think we're gonna see that come for Mateo and I think we've already seen his pass blocking has been incredible so far So I feel like he's the type of dude that could open up a heck of a lot more on offense for Sam He could even open up the running game by protecting the edge a little bit better for ⁓ for the offensive line so
So that's where I'm going to go with this and see if that finally pans out for our guy. Overall in the game, do believe ASU's, I'm optimistic, I ASU's going to pull it out. I'm going to go 34-24 ASU. I think the defense is going to do just enough, at just the right times, to keep enough of a distance between ASU and Baylor. And I think the offense is going to click.
Tom Hardon (53:29)
as the as the ranking member of the Shimon Mater fan club, you stole my thunder with your offensive player to watch. But I'm going to I'm looking at Relique Brown to be the star of the game on offense. I think that we are going to see him go for over 150 yards against a particularly porous Baylor run defense. And on defense, I'm looking at I'm looking at Boogie Wilson to step up and
Austen Bundy (53:34)
Ha!
Tom Hardon (53:59)
really show that he is the next man up for the secondary and do everything that he can to shut down Baylor's passing game.
Andrew Hayslett (54:09)
What's interesting, I'm gonna interrupt you right for a minute, Tom, is Jermon Mater actually had his career high in receptions last week with six against Texas State. Just throwing it out there, is that, y'all are targets, so, might see more. I like where you guys are going, though.
Tom Hardon (54:30)
⁓ But yeah, looking at Boogie Wilson to step it up on defense. For my final score, I've been going back and forth on this. think we're gonna see, I'm gonna go with 41-38 Arizona State, and I'm going to throw a wrinkle into this one. I think we see an overtime game.
Austen Bundy (54:54)
Bold, I like it.
Tom Hardon (54:54)
I
think we could see the same go to overtime. I don't think it goes past one overtime. Fingers crossed that ⁓ Baylor has the ball first. We can stop them and then we just go for the field goal to win it. That's my vision. That's what I'm going to be manifesting the next couple of days before kickoff.
Andrew Hayslett (55:20)
You know what's interesting is Baylor's coming off of a 14 point comeback win where they won I believe double overtime. I think they went to think that that's right.
Tom Hardon (55:32)
Double
overtime against SMU week 2.
Andrew Hayslett (55:38)
They obviously like to play overtime games. We've seen it 1 for 3 this year. So maybe they go 2 for 4 in that and this time they come out on the other side of the
Tom Hardon (55:53)
This is shaping up to be an exciting week for the Big 12 opener. Don't forget to stay tuned to Devils in Detail for all the remaining covers leading up to kickoff. Saturday's game will be at 4.30 p.m. Arizona time broadcast on Fox, so we won't have to deal with any of that pesky ESPN Plus streaming issues. But I'm really excited for this game. I always love conference play. It's...
We've gotten through the warmup to the season. Now we're into the meat and potatoes. And this is where it really counts. This is for conference bragging rights. These are the games that matter.
For Austin Bundy and Andrew Hazlett, I'm Tom Harden. Thank you all for listening. And as always, forks up and go Devils.