Arizona State Sun Devils football visits San Marcos, Texas to play the Texas State Bobcats football team tomorrow night for their final out-of-conference game, and the game has more weight to it than what it appears to have on the surface. On the line for Kenny Dillingham and the Sun Devils is a chance to start the 2024 season 3-0, a mark they haven't achieved since 2019. For a Sun Devils football program that has won just three games in each of the last two seasons, calling that an accomplishment to match that win total in three weeks would be an understatement. It would also be three wins over teams who expect to go bowling this postseason and programs that match up well to where the Sun Devils are now. The bottom line, Arizona State Sun Devils football has a lot on the line in this game and a win can impact the rest of your season. To win the game Dillingham must place his trust in coordinators Marcus Arroyo and Brian Ward, who will be in charge of balancing the offense with Sam Leavitt and snuffing out a great Texas State rushing attack respectively. It won't come easy, but a win and a 3-0 start to the year for the 2024 Arizona Stae Sun Devils football team is on the table. Host Richie Bradshaw looks at what this game means, how the Sun Devils win, and how it affects the rest of the season on this edition of the Locked On Sun Devils podcast.
For your next listen, check out the Locked On College Football podcast! From NIL deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron! Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Factor Meals
Head to FACTORMEALS.com/lockedoncollege50 and use code lockedoncollege50 to get 50% off your first box PLUS 20% off your next month while your subscription is active!
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.
5-Hour ENERGY
Go to 5hourENERGY.com and use promo code LOCKEDONCFB to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Go to 5hourENERGY.com today!
LinkedIn
These days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That’s why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.
Ibotta
Right now, Ibotta is offering out listeners $5 just for trying Ibotta by using the code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE when you register in the App Store or Google Play.
Ultimate GM
Ultimate College Football HC is a brand-new mobile game that is completely free, has no ads and 100% playable offline. Use the promo code LOCKEDONCFB, all caps, inside the game store to receive a free boost to your program. Begin your coaching legacy today!
eBay Motors
From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.
FanDuel
Now through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOSunDevils?sid=YouTube
Locked On College Conferences, HBCU, Basketball & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnCollege
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. If you are looking to refinance or get a loan right now, let me tell you about Intercap Lending. Intercap Lending is one of the largest independent lenders in the country. They are hyper responsive. They embrace change and their borrower experience is absolutely fabulous. At Lockdown, we have our own personal loan officer, Intercap Lending. His name is Steve Carter, and if you call him and tell him you're locked on, you get the corporate discount. But more than that, what's so great about Steve Carter is the reviews at Lockdown that we continually get about Steve. Mike Curtis emailed me to say, "I just wanted to thank you for your network. We just refied with Steve Carter. It was so incredibly easy. I can attest to it. I got my loan done with Steve Carter." Who else? Richard Gordon emailed me and said. Thank you so much for promoting Intercap Lending. We used them earlier this year. Steve was amazing. And Steve is amazing. Call him at 385-885-28, 385-885-28, tell him to lock down, send to you. Intercap Lending, NMLS, number 19-0-465. For more information, visit intercaplending.com. Can the Sun Devils football team start the year 3 and 0 for the first time since 2019, and if they do, what kind of statement does that make for this program? You are locked on Sun Devils, your daily podcast on the Arizona State Sun Devils. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. Welcome back to the Lockdown Sun Devils podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. My name is Richard Bradshaw, and I will be your guide for everything, Arizona State Sun Devils. A special shout out to my every dayers who are here every day. And thanks for making us your first listen of the day. Don't forget to hit like, hit subscribe, and turn on notifications wherever you're getting your shows. Stay in touch by following me on Twitter @RitchieBrad36, the podcast at LOL_Sun Devils. Do me a favor. If you have not subscribed on YouTube yet, hit that subscribe button. Help us get to 1,000 subscribers. We are at 939, I'm not exaggerating. We've added almost 200 subscribers just within the last month and a half. We will absolutely be able to get there by the end of the month. And once we do reach that pinnacle, we will find a way to celebrate together as a channel. Today's episode is brought to you by Ultimate College GM Ultimate College football head coach is a brand new mobile game that is completely free, has no ads, and is 100% playable offline. Begin your coaching like you see today. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back and on today's edition of the Walked on Sun Devils podcast, we turn our attention to ASU heading to San Marcos, not San Marcos. I was corrected by some Texas natives on the big 12 game day preview, which will drop tomorrow. So if you guys want to see what I had to say and a really good roast that I had in the middle of it, I'm just saying I had a really good time with that. You guys should check that out. It's a really fun time. It's a big old round table with all the hosts in the big 12. I was able to make it this week. With that being said, you were going to say San Marcos tomorrow night for your first road game of the year against a pretty darn solid Texas State football team. Now I know on the surface, this is like a G5 team. They are some belt, you feel like you should be able to roll these guys. And I don't think that's going to be the case. Excuse me, they have been outstanding this year. They have almost a thousand yards of offense in their first two games. They have five passing touchdowns, six rushing touchdowns. They're averaging 8.7 yards per attempt. They're averaging 4.7 yards on the ground. They are a very balanced attack. They've got pretty good defense as well. They have seven sacks on the year. They have two turnovers, but they've been overall a really good unit that plays sound and they match this offense really well. There's a reason they're 2-0 and there's a reason that they are blowing out their opponents. They absolutely dominated UTSA, another really quality G5 team, 49 to 10 last week. They are more than capable of crushing whoever they go up against. Now ASU hits the road to take on the Bobcats. This is not a walk in your trap, take your trap game. Like that's not the way ASU should be going into this. They need to go into this understanding, "Hey, this is our first road game of the year. This is a big test for us. It's the final game before you'll want a big 12 play. How great would it be to start off the year 3 and 0?" And that's a really good talking point here is, once again, this is a really good benchmark game for Kenning Dillingham. I said this last week, talking about Mississippi State, along the lines of it's an SEC team. It's a team that's in a similar situation as ASU. They're coming off a bad season. They have a bright future with the pieces they have on offense. It's an SEC team. It was a good benchmark game. So when I call this game a benchmark as well, it's a little bit different. Rather, this is a really good opportunity to show that you can go on the road now and be quality opponents. Last year, ASU of their two of their three wins, they got two of them at home against, "Oh, God, who did they play week one?" Southern Utah and against Washington State. And then they got a solid win in the Rose Bowl over a had UCLA team. But they really struggled on the road to be able to pull out close wins over Washington, over count. They should have been able to take home those games, but they weren't able to. So now you're going to San Marcos. You're going to play a very good Texas State team that, similar to what I said about Mississippi State last week, I think they should be able to go bowling this year. They're one of the heavyweights in the Sunbelt Conference. This a good football team from top to bottom. ASU, are they more talented? I would assume so, considering you're a power 14. But that doesn't mean that Texas State won't play up to their competition. This is not a gimme game. I didn't see this as a gimme game during the offseason. This is not a gimme game in week three with ASU looking as terrific as they do. And Texas State looking also like a very good football team. So this kind of benchmark game is to see whether or not you're ready to go on the road and beat teams that are quality. I don't know if I would say beat teams you're supposed to beat. Of course, again, it's a power 14 against a G5 team. In theory, this is a, you're supposed to win this game. But this is a rebuilding program in ASU. This is a good test for them. You're also going to see how you stack up against a dynamic offense. ASU has been a great defense, if not elite defense. They've been at worst one of the 50 best defenses in the country. I don't know statistically how high they are. I would imagine that they are seriously flirting with top 15, the top 10 in like run defense and stuff like that. They're certainly up there for turnovers and their number one in defensive touchdowns when it comes to turnovers. This is a great start to the year. You're going up against an offense, like I said, in Texas State that nearly has 1,000 yards in two games. So it is a classic case of that old saying you have an unstoppable force that meets an immovable object. We're about to find out if this unstoppable Texas State offense can roll past an immovable son doubles defense. Brian Ward, who I've said many a times on the show recently, is going to get opportunities for a step up if a bigger program wants to call him and hire him as a defensive coordinator or maybe even hand coaching opportunities. Here's a great testament for him to come out and show you. Yeah, no, I am absolutely worthy of getting those kind of calls. If a big name program, I don't know who and I'm going to speculate, were to be looking for a defensive coordinator, you have to imagine Brian Ward is going to be high up there on his list. If ASU starts the year 3 and 0 and they dominate three teams that can run the ball at a very high and efficient rate. That's about as good as it gets. Again, this is your first road game of the year. It is a legit hostile environment. I was told that this is the party school ball. I don't know too much about Texas State. If you guys jump into the video, please let me know. I have been told that Texas State is way up there with ASU. So I guess we're going to find out who the better party school is, but ASU, come on boys. We got to show them that we know how to party better than any other college in the state or not in the state in the nation. Finally, there's a chance to start the year 3 and 0. Now, I don't know if you know this, but ASU has won three games in back to back years. 3 and 9, 3 and 9, you are already 2 and 0. You are one win away from matching your win total from each of the last two seasons. That's pretty nuts. This would also be the best start to a season that ASU has had since 2019, which was the debut of one Jaden Daniels, the super high 4 star/5 star quarterback. One of the highest recruits the program has ever had and opening a new era of Sun Devils football. You started that year 3 and L, which included a win in East Lansing over who was number 18 Michigan State, I believe. They had really big wins to start that year. This team sure they don't have a ranked opponent, but you have much better opponents across the board. These are three teams that could easily finish sixth in section go bowling this year. Wyoming may be the worst team of these three, still won nine games last year. Mississippi State, I anticipate they are going to be significantly better this year. Texas State might be the best of these three. You start the year 3 and L with two really quality home wins, including over an SEC team. And then you get your first road win of the year and you do it in the state of Texas against a very underrated Texas football team, the state of Texas football team, obviously it's Texas State. This is a huge opportunity for you to build that momentum, especially because right after that, you are going into conference play. Your first year in the big 12, going into conference play 3 and L is going to be significantly better than going into one. Of course, towards the end of the show, we'll talk about what a win means, what a loss means towards the end. But right now, we're going to talk about how ASU wins this game offensively, defensively, and from a coaching standpoint. We're going to hop into that in just a moment. This is a locked on Sun Devil's podcast, part of the locked on podcast networks, your team every day. Want to talk to you about our friends over at Ultimate College Football Head Coach, Sun Devil fans, locked on Sun Devil's fans. I want to give you guys a brand new mobile game I think you're going to love as much as I do. And it's a ton of fun Ultimate College Football Head Coach. In this amazing game and simulation, you step into the shoes of the Head Coach, all of your favorite college program, lead its glory. Imagine getting to lead Arizona State University, or maybe a different program that you would like to try out, from recruiting and hiring to overseeing training camps and handing out school scholarships. You control every crucial detail of your program, it's all in your hands. Will you be able to handle the pressure? Here's what I really love about the game. You are responsible for calling offensive plays during the games. That means your strategy not only determines the success of your football season, but it shapes the future and the legacy of your program. One of the most enticing aspects about this game is the fact that it's completely free. There are no ads in my personal favorite part. It is 100% offline play as you go as you want when you want. Of course, we have a special offer here at Locked On for our Locked On Sun Devil's fans. Use the promo code LockedOnCFB, all caps inside the game store to receive a free boost to your program. Take advantage of this perk, it's going to help you get out to a strong start for your program. To download the game, visit ultimate-cfb.com or look it up on the app stores. Again, use my promo code LockedOnCFB, that's all caps inside the store to receive a free boost for your program. Ultimate college football head coach be in your coaching legacy today. Also want to talk to you about our friends over at Game Time, they have a new feature called Game Time Picks, and that's going to make getting tickets for your favorite live events, not just football and sports, even easier. Game Time Picks is going to filter out the fluff and show you incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste your time searching through thousands of tickets. They make the curation process so much easier, so you can save on sports, concerts, comedy, theater, and more. They have an all-in pricing feature. You toggle this feature, it shows you the total up front, and then there's no surprise fees for you at checkout. You see exactly what you're going to pay. You can get a panoramic view of your seat in the app before you buy, so you know what to expect when you arrive. Their lowest price guarantee, best in the industry, they are going to credit you 110% of the difference if you find tickets in the same section and row for less, and of course your purchase is covered with the most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again, create an account, redeem code LLCKEEDONCLLEGEE. That's locked on college for $20 off to download Game Time today. What time is it? It's Game Time. Wherever you're getting your shows, hit like, hit subscribe, and turn on those notifications so you get an update whenever we post new content. I appreciate you guys for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. A special shout out to my every dayers who are here every day. Let's get back into our conversation now and take a look at how ASU is going to win this football game. Taking a look at what they have to do offensively first. They need to stay run heavy with the caveat that Sam Levitt needs to remain in a rhythm. What I mean by this, last week ASU absolutely killed it on the ground game and at a ridiculously high rate for the program and in the history of what they've been able to do. ASU totalled the ball 57 times, including 33 carries to Cam Skataboo. Skataboo by himself ran for 262 yards, second most ever in program history for a single game. ASU as a team ran for 346 yards, scored two touchdowns both of them courtesy of Sam Levitt. They killed it for all intents and purposes on the ground game. The problem, they did not throw it. Then 10 completions on 20 attempts for Sam Levitt, only I threw pass. 69 passing yards, so 50% completion under 4 yards per attempt. Under 7 yards per completion, no consistency there was no one that stood out in the passing game. Cam Skataboo led the team with 3 receptions and 35 yards. After that Xavier Guillory had 2 for 14, Jordan Tyson had 2 for 7 and then he had 3 other guys catch 1 pass. That's not going to get it done. So as great as your running game is, unless your army or navy or any other military academy, you still need to find a way to throw the football. You need an army throwing the football every year, they've got some crazy plays. You just aren't winning a lot of football games unless you remain a balanced offense. So sure, you could have another 300 rushing yard game in this outing. But that doesn't mean you abandoned the passing game early on. Because guess what? When Mississippi State started mounting their comeback, one of the things that they did so well was stacking the line of scrimmage, putting 6, 7, 8 guys up there, suffocating the run, because they knew the Arizona State was going to run it. They knew that Skataboo was going to get the ball. And they go from allowing 7, 8, 9 yard pickups on a routine basis to Skataboo to limiting him to 2 to 3 yard pickups. And then when ASU tries to pass the football, they can't do it. And a big reason for that is because Sam Levitt's been handing the ball off all game, and he's not in that rhythm. When you go for 15 to 20 game minutes, game minutes, by the way, not even like real time, without throwing the football, it's going to be a little difficult to get back into the rhythm, especially when you are pressured to do so. It's not like ASU was like, okay, let's throw it in there a little bit kind of thing. No, it was ASU was like, oh crap, we need to throw the football because we can't move the ball right now. And then everything is messed up. Your concepts aren't there. Sam Levitt isn't able to get back into that mentality of I've got to stand in the pocket, this, that, and the other. So you need to maintain some kind of balance. Now this is, to me, still playing like a 60, 40, 60% run, 40% pass, that's perfect. Run the football really efficiently, be able to pass the football when you need to. You saw this perfectly against Wyoming, where ASU passed for 258 yards and ran for 241 yards. Guess what? They ran the ball 49 times, it passed at 22. The difference in that game is at no point in time did they take the ball out of Levitt's hands. It never turned into a, I'm going to hand the football off to you, I'm going to hand the football off to you, I'm going to hand the football off to you. They still mixed in some stuff. So you should be able to do this again against Texas State. And quite frankly, you're going to need to because with two games worth of tape that the Bobcats are going to have going into this game, they're going to know the tendencies that ASU has when it comes to running the football. That means that you need to be able to mix it up, throw the ball at an efficient and effective rate. That's where it starts. The best way to keep Sam Levitt in an RPL, or an RPL, spoiler alert, the best way to keep him in a rhythm is to run some RPOs and my personal favorite, get him some bootleg options, get him out of the pocket, get him moving, because he is a dual threat. Allow him to beat you with his legs, but make sure that he is still looking down the field the past, because all of a sudden, Jordan Tyson or Melcon Stovall are wide open across the middle of the field for a 15-yard pickup. You know where they did that really well? That's Wyoming. What a coincidence. Get him back into a comfortable system that he can run efficiently, you're going to be fine. Defensively, this is nice, short and simple. How do you win this game? Maintain the gap integrity from the interior of the defensive line, so Jeff Clark, CJ Fight, Jacob Richkungaika, Zach Swanson, whoever else you want to put in there. Maintain the gap integrity. This is from the interior. Edge rushers, that's their own thing. The interior needs to do this, so the linebackers and the safeties can plug holes. Keep their jerseys clean. They have done this well all year long, plus when you take away the middle of the field, now the running backs have to bounce it outside. You know who has been absolutely swarming the outside? Shamari Simmons. You know who else is playing really well on the outside? Miles Rouser. You have guys who are going to be able to chase down the football and eliminate the run game. You can't run it up to the middle because there's a stone wall in front of you and you can't run it to the outside because these safeties are so freaking fast that you just don't have time to develop anything. So against the Texas state team, that's going to run the football in this game. And they're probably going to be better than the first two teams that you have played. You need to make sure that you execute at such a high level with the gap integrity in this game. That is by far the way that you win this game. Bonus points for sacks, double bonus points for turnovers, bottom line with turnovers real quick, just win the battle. ASU, they've been pretty good on offense with not turning the ball over. They have not committed a turnover this year. Same limit doesn't have any interceptions. They don't have any lost fumbles. In the meantime, ASU has forced for turnovers scored on three of them. That's an efficiency rate. You're not going to be able to maintain just win the battle. So if ASU does have a rare turnover on offense, the defense needs to force to find a way to make sure that Texas state is not getting extra opportunities. Finally, from a coaching standpoint, how you win this game? Can you do any ham? Let the coordinators do their thing. He said last week, "Look, I got way too involved, and I was telling Coach Royal or offense coordinator, I want to run the football. Just run the football." It happens. Totally understandable. But again, by the time that you need to start throwing the football, guess what? Now you can't. Nobody is in any kind of position to just snap your fingers and, "Oh, crap. We got to start passing the football again." This isn't college football 25, this isn't Madden 25. You can't just flip that switch in real life. You need to make sure that these guys are consistently prepared, which is where you go to the 60/40 approach. Speaking of the 60/40 approach, this is the way that Marcus Royal needs to run the game. This is his key to victory, a balanced attack that leans on the run game. 60/40 is perfect. 70/30 might be a little too much. But again, against Wyoming, you were still able to run the ball at a ridiculous rate. But you maintained the ability to pass the football when you needed to. You also were able to dial up plenty of options for Sam Levitt to get out of the pocket, which is where he's at his best. Those RPOs, those bootlegs, maybe some good old-fashioned, not play action. Oh, my God. What's that called? Read option. Some good old-fashioned read option and allow Sam Levitt to not just put the football and scatter those hands and call it good. Make sure that whatever you're trying to do offensively, that you still are able to keep Sam Levitt involved. 60/40 is perfect. You can run the ball 45 times again. I'm good with you passing it 20 to 25 times again. But make sure that you're not going 20 straight plays, 15 game minutes without passing the football. Finally, on defense, we already talked about it. I don't want to talk too much more about it, Brian Ward. You need to suffocate this run game. That's the difference here. ASU, we know they can win in the run game. This defense, we know we can suffocate the run. Here's another test. You have started off the year with three quality running games. Texas State, they're the best that you face so far. Here's your opportunity to show that you can absolutely shut down the run on the road against a run-heavy team. Now, Texas State can pass the ball, too. This is not going to be a one-dimensional offense. But if you continue to take away the run game, you're going to allow your safeties and your linebackers and your corners, most importantly, to pin those years back, attack the football, and hopefully create some interceptions in the secondary. ASU has two picks on the year, both of them have come from the linebackers. Safeties corners hasn't happened yet. It's going to happen. Maybe this will be the game to do it, but the way that you do it is by continuing to take away the run game, forcing your opponents to throw the football. Last week, they kind of got to take advantage of it by Blake Shaping, though. So you need to be able to find a way to mask those weaknesses in your secondary. Not impossible. They can absolutely do it. I have the faith that they're going to, once again, call a really good defense against a really good offense. Next up, we're going to talk about what this means for ASU. What happens next with a win? What happens next if they lose? That's coming up next. This is the Lockdown Sonables podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. You have heard us talk about Fandall America's number one sports book, but we have something a little different for you. Now through September 22, all Fandall customers can debt $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with a YouTube TV base plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season game on Sundays, even the out-of-market ones. So if you're a fan of someone on the East Coast, like me, I'm a Baltimore Ravens fan, you can still tune into those games. You don't need to be in market. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment you can cancel at any time. And guess what? If that's not enough, be sure to check out Fandall's profit boost in the app and use Fandall's double your winnings for all of Sunday, 9/15, so that's this upcoming Sunday pre-game money line bets. Profit boost will be starting tomorrow on 9/12, do your account page now to learn more about your boost. Visit fandall.com, download America's number one sports book, Fandall, America's number one sports book. One last time, wherever you get those podcasts, hit like, hit subscribe, turn on notifications so you get that update whenever we post new content. I appreciate you for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. A special shout out to my every dayers who are here every day. Let's round out this conversation now how we've talked about how ASU wins. We've talked about what this game means for ASU, but now the question is what happens next? What happens if ASU wins this game? Well, first of all, you're 3 and 0. You're 3 and 0 for the first time since 2019, the beginning of the Jaden Daniels era, which was a heck of a start to ASU's football program. The sky felt like the limit for this team when you started the year 3 and 0 with a ranked win on the road. That was huge. Do you have a ranked win here? No, you don't. But the difference is ASU was not writing back-to-back 3 win years when the Jaden Daniels era started. In the second year of her med words, they were still a quality football program. So when you added Jaden Daniels to the mix of a team that was already talented, you started the year 3 and 0 and you go, yeah, no, not only are we picking up where we left off, we're going to be a really good team in the back well. This year, the expectations were literally at the bottom with ASU being picked to finish dead last in the big 12. Starting the year 3 and 0, you are matching. You're matching what everybody said you were going to win throughout the year. Three wins was what everyone had. I think Vegas Moneyline was like 4 and 1/2. Starting a year 3 and 0, that's huge, man. Especially for this team that is stuck in a rebuild, like it's not a reload. It's not a retool. This is a program that is rock bottom. Starting the year 3 and 0, that's huge. You are matching your win total from the last two years each. You have statement wins. It's not like you beat Arizona Tech, A&M, University, blah, blah, blah. It's not like you're beating a bunch of Richie Bradjaws on the field. You are beating a 9 win program from a year ago, an SEC team, and a team that is going to be a heavyweight to win their conference this year. That's as good as it's going to get for ASU's out of conference to start this season, because you're not ready for those big names. You're not ready for Bama, LSU. You're not ready for Ohio State. You're not ready for probably Oregon or USC right now. But showing that you can go up against teams that you stack up well against that are in very similar situations to you. Sometimes that, in theory, you should win. In previous years, you do expect them to win. There were no expectations ASU was going to start the year 3 and 0. If you do, I feel like suddenly this is a team that the nation is going to pay attention to. They're going to go, "Hey, what's going down at 10p?" I think depending on how you start the year, or not start the week here, depending on how you win this game, you might be able to find yourself a few votes for the top 25 poll. In the coaches poll, ASU got two, they might have got three votes. Isn't that bad? No votes in the A people. You start the year 3 and 0? Come on, you've got to give them a vote. You've got to give them one or two votes. Colorado is getting votes. You have to give ASU a vote. Come on. Give them their flowers, give them their respect they deserve. Bottom line though, three statement wins, no handout games. ASU proves they can win football games. That's what I have been saying all off season, ladies and gentlemen, if you have been here for a minute, you know that the one thing that I have said on a repetitive basis to the point where if you're watching this show, you hear me say, "Can ASU win football games?" And you go, "Ah, ah, he said it. He said the thing." It's everything. It's everything to this program because you could have beaten plenty of teams last year and you just couldn't, you couldn't finish games, you couldn't play 60 minutes. They didn't know how to win football games. That doesn't look to be the same this year. Last week against Mississippi State, ASU loses that game last year. They almost blew it in the second half, but then they figured it out. They do not crush Wyoming the way that they did. Hopefully you still win, but it doesn't look like that. Now you're going on the road to play a good football team. These are statements that you can win football games. If you lose. Now again, this is always kind of predicated on how you lose. You lose by 30. I wouldn't say the sky is falling, but you definitely kind of go, "Ah, ASU is probably flooky." If you lose by three and you go for strike with them, whether that's a 35 to 32 win or a 10 to 7 win, you're showing that you can still hang in there, but maybe you're not ready to win the tight games when you need to win them. So it does depend on how you win or lose this game. When at bottom line, I feel like that kind of does the same thing for you no matter what. If you crush Texas Tech or Texas Tech, if you crush Texas State, you definitely have to take a look at this team and go, "They might be legit." So we'll see. If you lose this game, depending on how you lose, you start your two in one and then you immediately start Big 12 play, heading to Lubbock to play Texas Tech. Who is slumping? And that looks like a very winnable game for a game that I did not think you could win to start the year. This is not an ideal way to go into conference play because you could easily see the wheels fall off. ASU could lose this game to Texas State and maybe they let it seep into their head kind of thing. You lose by 20, the wheels might fall off. You might lose the momentum and the confidence that this team has, especially to go on the road, by the way, where you face three of the preseason, top 25 ranked Big 12 teams. You go on the road to play K-State, you go on the road to play Arizona, you go on the road to play Oklahoma State. Those already feel like two losses. You're beating Arizona, by the way. That's tough. Finding wins throughout the rest of the year in an absolutely loaded Big 12 schedule. I'm not saying you have to start the year 3 and L, but I'm kind of saying you have to start the year off 3 and L. Say as you're going to win this game, what do you think the ramifications are? Let me know in the comments. You can hit me up on Twitter as well at Richie Bratz 36, the podcast at L.O. underscores Sun Devils. Wherever you're getting your shows though, hit like, subscribe and turn on notifications so you get that update whenever we post new content. I appreciate you guys for tuning in, making us your first listen of the day. A special shout out to my every dayers who are here every day and if you have not hit subscribe on YouTube yet, do me a favor, hit that subscribe button, be the subscriber that gets us to a thousand and then we'll find a way to celebrate together as a channel. I appreciate you guys for tuning in to this edition of the locked on Sun Devils podcast. We will be back again tomorrow bright and early as we have our game day preview. We're going to look at the offense and the defense for the Sun Devils. Players to watch make some bold predictions and a final score prediction for this game. I will see you tomorrow bright and early till then you keep it locked right here on locked on Sun Devils. A Prime members, you can listen to this locked on podcast ad free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today. (upbeat music)
