Sun Devils' future non-conference opponents

Originally Published 12/4/2009
Last Updated 9/4/2018 with the announcement of the Mississippi State series.

This post starts with a strong caveat: much of this information will probably change in the years ahead. With that said, fans are always interested in examining future schedules, so I wanted to keep an up-to-date summary of what we know. I will update this article over time as new announcements are made.

This topic became especially relevant prior to the 2010 season, where the scheduling of two FCS opponents kept the Devils out of a Bowl game. Fortunately, our future non-conference schedules are much stronger.

Remember that with the Pac-12 schedule, in odd-numbered years we have five conference home games, including divisional opponents USC, Colorado and AU. In even-numbered years, we play only four conference home games (including Utah and UCLA). It's going to be a lot harder to sell season tickets in those even-numbered years. The Pac-12 will no longer announce the conference schedule years in advance. They will now wait until the end of the prior year to set the schedule for the coming season. This allows the conference to ensure good games for the new Pac-12 Network based on each team's projected performance. However, we do know which Pac-12 teams ASU will play each season through 2018.

Let's review the out-of-conference schedule. As most fans know, the traditional philosophy behind the non-conference scheduling has been to have an "A", "B" and "C" level opponent. The additional requirement is to have at least two of the games at home, especially in even-numbered years when we only have four conference games at Sun Devil Stadium. However, from 2011-13 we saw more of an "A, A, C" model. DevilsDigest.com published a Q&A with Associate Athletic Director Mark Brand in February 2010 that explains the process in a lot of detail. I never understand fan criticism of our scheduling, because most neutral parties see our out-of-conference schedule as one of the best year-in, year-out.

Jeff Metcalfe's articles in the Republic from September 2009 and February 2010 do a great job of describing the problems finding non-conference opponents, and Doug Haller's article from September 2012 explains how the college football playoff impacted non-conference scheduling.

The "A" level opponent is from a Power Five conference. In recent seasons, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin have been "A" level opponents. ASU was planning to play a home-and-home series with LSU in 2015 and 2016 but that series has been pushed back multiple times.

Ideally, we should play an "A" level opponent at home in even-numbered years to counter the lack of quality Pac-12 opponents. We have achieved that goal for 2012 through 2020 after striking out in 2010.

The "B" level opponent is from a FBS "Group of Five" conference such as the MWC or C-USA. In the past, these schools may have played twice at ASU in return for one game at their site, but is seems like we will have a harder time finding "B" level opponents in coming seasons. UTSA, San Diego State and UNLV are the next opponents in this category. Each of these series are home-and-home. The Fresno State game in 2023 will be the first single game series versus a Group of Five opponent since Louisiana-Monroe back in 2009.

The "C" level opponent is usually an FCS school, and is always going to be an opponent that does not require a return visit. We try to schedule NAU as often as possible for this slot, which is a nice way to keep the money in-state.

Coach Todd Graham has placed additional emphasis on recruiting in Texas, and games in Texas are of special value. After playing Notre Dame in Dallas in 2013 and Texas A&M in Houston in 2015, we have upcoming games in San Antonio (2016), Lubbock (2017) and San Marco (2024).

So let's review the current plans for future seasons. Click on links for announcements of specific games. Actual dates shown when known.

Year	FBS Power 5	FBS Group of 5	FCS	Pac-12 Misses
2019	@ Michigan State (9/14)	Kent State (8/31)	Sacramento State (9/7)	TBD
2020	BYU (9/19)	@ UNLV (9/12)	NAU (9/5)	TBD
2021	@ BYU (9/18)	UNLV (9/11)	--	TBD
		Louisiana (9/4)
2022	@ Oklahoma State (9/10)	Eastern Michigan (9/17)	NAU (9/3)	TBD
2023	Oklahoma State (9/9)	Fresno State (9/16)	Southern Utah (9/2)	TBD
2024	Mississippi State (9/7)	@ Texas State (9/14)	--	TBD
		Wyoming (8/31)
2025	@ Mississippi State (9/6)	Texas State (9/13)	NAU (8/30)	TBD
2026	LSU (9/12)	Bowling Green (9/5)	--	TBD
		Hawaii (9/19)
2027	TBD	San Diego State (9/18)	TBD	TBD
2028	TBD	@ San Diego State (9/9)	NAU (9/2)	TBD
2029	@ LSU (9/8)	TBD	TBD	TBD

Top Ten Wins in Sun Devil History

On the eve of a new season for ASU football, here's a list of the program's ten biggest wins, which includes last year's victory over UCLA.

In chronological order:

• November 30, 1968 beat Arizona 30-7 - the "Ultimatum Bowl", leading to the formation of the Fiesta Bowl
• December 30, 1970 beat North Carolina 48-26 in the Peach Bowl - ASU's first major bowl, its first game in the Eastern time zone, and one of its first nationally televised games
• December 26, 1975 beat Nebraska 17-14 in the Fiesta Bowl – ASU finishes the season unbeaten, ranked #2 in the nation
• October 14, 1978 beat USC 20-7 - ASU's inaugural season in Pac-10; Trojans came in ranked #2 and finished the season as national champions
• January 1, 1983 beat Oklahoma 32-21 in the Fiesta Bowl - arguably ASU's greatest ever defensive unit
• November 8, 1986 beat Cal 49-0 - clinched ASU's first ever Rose Bowl appearance
• January 1, 1987 beat Michigan 22-15 in the Rose Bowl - ASU victory in the granddaddy of them all
• September 21, 1996 beat Nebraska 19-0 - Cornhuskers came in as two-time defending national champions and ranked #1
• November 23, 1996 beat Arizona 56-14 - a total destruction of the Wildcats in Tucson to cap an undefeated regular season
• November 23, 2013 beat UCLA 38-33 - ASU clinches the Pac-12 South division title

And now the season begins

Prior to the start of the season, I predicted a 6-3 conference record for the Devils, and an 8-4 overall record. So far the season has gone exactly to form. The USC game was far more important than any of the others, and we won that one.

So here we sit on October 8: 1-0 against the Pac-12 South, 1-1 in the Conference. We still control our own destiny. According to Sagarin, we're the 20th ranked team in the country having played the nation's 7th toughest schedule. Wisconsin (18) and ASU are the only two-loss teams in the top 20.

The biggest concern at this time isn't so much the Devils (we are pretty much who we thought we are) as the other teams remaining on our schedule. Colorado is still weak, but they're improving. The road games at WSU and Utah will not be easy, and the home games versus Washington, Oregon State and UNRB are all dangerous. And that's not to mention the big game at the Rose Bowl on November 23. So while my 6-3 conference prediction is still very attainable, it's also not hard to see us ending the year at 4-5.

One stat that is very much NOT in the Sun Devils' favor: ASU lost the conference opener at Stanford. In 35 seasons of Pac-10/Pac-12 play from 1978 through 2012, ASU has lost the conference opener 19 times. In those seasons the Sun Devils have gone a combined 63-82-2 in conference games (a 43.5% win percentage). However, in the 14 seasons in which the Sun Devils won the first conference game, the composite record is 69-45-0 (a 60.5% win percentage). We tied our opener in 1983 and 1986 and finished a combined 9-4-2 in those seasons.

Since 1982, ASU has only once (in 1999) lost the conference opener and finished with a winning conference record. Conversely, 1994, 2008 and 2011 were the only seasons where the Sun Devils won their conference opener but finished below .500 in the Pac-10/12.

So if ASU does finish this season at 5-4 or better in the Pac-12, it will be just the second time in 30 years that we've bucked this trend.

Note: this article updates my original research from 2008.

2012 Sun Devil Football Introduction - #FearTheFork

Season tickets are in the mail!

Season ticket holders are starting to report that their tickets are arriving in the mail. Always a good sign that football is just around the corner! This season the package includes a copper and gold pitchfork (thanks to mDevil for the picture!).

Pre-season workouts wrap up

Spring Practice Starts!

Left lane, hammer down!

Why the age bias?

Gaddabout returns with a follow up to his earlier article Why ASU needs a young coach and staff, which generated an unusually high number of comments.

Many of you have responded to my previous post. I will do my best to address my point of view on salaries as a response in that thread when I have time later in the day. I felt I needed more space here to explain my perspective about my preference for a young coach.

It’s not an age bias as much as it’s a perspective bias. Established head coaches have their own staffs and their own systems. It’s very unlikely they’re going to take input into how they run the program, and that’s a problem unless you’re hiring someone who already understands the unique challenges at ASU.

It requires a lot of money to hire a coach of good reputation, and ASU needs something else besides reputation. It does ASU no good if they receive a positive press conference review in the media only to be in the same position five years down the road. In the 31 years since Kush was forced out, ASU’s had six coaches and average about six wins a year. It’s time ASU worry most about getting it right more than winning the press conference. Instant perception should not matter. Selling a few thousand more seasons tickets next year pales in comparison to how many more tens of thousands season tickets the right coach will sell over the course of 10 or 20 years.

Why is that important? Because ASU isn’t just any school. It’s not any program. It’s not plug-and-play Top 25 football here, but I believe that’s the presumption with which we’ve been hiring coaches since Kush left.

It’s not enough to say ASU has to establish itself in recruiting. You have to say where. There have been three head coaches post-Kush that understood how to recruit for this program – Darryl Rogers, Bruce Snyder and Dennis Erickson – and only one of them understood the extreme nature of the problem (Rogers). You have to own turf in SoCal and the best 6 or 7 recruits in Arizona to compete at the highest level. Rogers said USC could take the best 5 recruits in this region and he’d take the next 25. If there were one line to explain ASU’s mission, that would be it. In this age that requires a whole staff dedicated to acquiring the best talent. It’s not a burden that can be carried in the majority by two coaches. Not anymore.

We’ve already tried experimenting under Cooper and Marmie in Texas, the Midwest jucos, and specifically Chicago. Those staffs had some very good recruiters who did a great job finishing second and third on key recruits. Meanwhile, the local contacts withered and Washington and Oregon cashed in on ASU’s absence in SoCal and even in Arizona.

You also have to supplement with the strong Arizona and SoCal JCs, you just can’t afford to have such major deficiencies that you’re constantly counting on juco transfers to fill key positions such as left tackle or defensive tackle. The success rate of a juco player – even a mid-year transfer – is very low. They’re best served as depth chart fillers for the four-year players you’ve recruited and had in your system from the start. If you’re taking more than 5 a year, you’re putting ASU’s program in peril.

Are there exceptions? Absolutely. Pete Carroll was pure enthusiasm and positive energy when he took over USC at 50. He was a rare gem of a hire that people mocked until he had two years to really get the program moving forward. The common myth seems to be that Carroll wowed recruits with his NFL pedigree, but that’s just not reality. Carroll had two things working for him as a head coach: He had superstar SoCal recruiters on his staff like Ed Orgeron, and he himself was the rare head coach recruiter with charisma to spare. He also understood the culture and could speak the language, in the same way Bobby Bowden understood the South and could recruit the entire region at Florida State. Recruiting involves three important things: 1) Relationship, 2) relationship, and 3) relationship. Carroll understand that in an intuitive way. He never had to think about it. It’s hard-wired into his personality.

Show me someone like that, who’s pure charisma in a coach’s shirt, who gets the culture, and who understands the unique challenges at ASU, and I don’t care what the age of the coach is.

An age isn’t an issue if you have someone like Rogers or Snyder, who came with strong California pedigrees and had a rebuilding plan that matched ASU’s needs. Without any choices like those two on the list, the coaching search requires more vetting and an explicit explanation of what works and what doesn’t at ASU. It requires finding a coach who will listen and learn before hard-coding the program agenda, and hire a staff with the energy to pull it off.

Can you make a mistake on a young coach? Absolutely.

I maintain high respect for Dirk Koetter. I still think he was one of the best offensive minds in college football while he was here and the man knows how to run a staff and a program in a general sense. How he relates to his players was a separate issue, but that’s a much more difficult thing to judge from the outside looking in. And I maintain there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with his commitment to the 4-2-5 defense; it’s worked with phenomenal success at TCU for years.

Koetter’s teams were always so close, full of “if onlys.” If only they hadn’t missed three years straight on this position or that position. If only they had one more X or another Y. There was just enough talent and execution to tease you, but fall apart against the best teams – usually the California teams. It created the perception that Koetter’s X’s and O’s were only fit for mid-major football, but that defies the reality that Koetter’s offense was well-steeped in the NFL one-back tradition, and ASU did in fact switch to a conventional 4-3. No, the one major drawback was holes in the recruiting. Small holes that became big holes over several classes, and those same holes that became canyons on the depth chart in Erickson’s second and third years.

When Koetter left, he uttered his famous assessment of ASU: “It’s not what it looks like from the outside.” Or something to that affect. And he was right, to a degree. I suspect he came here with the same assumption most people make about ASU, that the facilities, the weather, the size of this market would make it easy to recruit. He found out the hard way that it’s much more complex than that: Arizona weather is not the easiest sell to kids in California and Dallas and Houston are MUCH farther away than they look on the map the moment you ask kids to move here. There is no natural deep well of recruiting for this school, and the margins for resources spent are thin. This is potentially a very good job, but it’s not an easy one, and the constant churn of head coaching turnover shows a history of coaches who simply don’t understand the program.

I’m not trying to sabotage the school or strong-arm administration by writing this. I’m merely speaking out now based on my 35 years of intense observation of what works at ASU and what doesn’t. I believe I had an epiphany during Koetter’s years about what makes this program tick, and only now do I see an advantage to shouting my point of view as loudly as possible. I’m wholesale convinced that ASU needs to do something radical, something different to change the culture.

But neither am I going to automatically indict any coach ASU hires. Once that guy gets to the podium, I’ll be everywhere returning to my evangelist role for the program. Every new hire gets the benefit of the doubt from me because every new hire deserves the chance to prove doubters wrong. And I will not hesitate to admit it if I’m wrong. I hope all of you feel the same way. This is not the NFL. College football is family, and you always support your family even when you disagree.

Why ASU needs a young coach and staff

Today's guest author is Gaddabout, a long-time friend of Wired Devils. This article was originally posted to the Sun Devil Message Board.

Reality check.

Howard Schnellenberger forever changed the game of college football, and he doesn't get his due credit. Before Schnellenberger (BS), the head coach was God of college football, and you could build a program pretty much anywhere. Even in the middle of the desert. Frank Kush would show up with a station wagon full of starving west Pennsylvania kids just trying to get away from bleak future in mining. Later in, he learned to steal kids out of LA and Dallas to supplement, along with making sure there was no stone unturned in places like Morenci and Ajo and Florence. A coach could do that back then because there were plenty of secrets to be kept, and could be kept.

After Schnellenberger (AS), we have an oligarchy of programs with the most money, centrally located near the best recruits, supported by recruiting staffs that are the envy of corporate headhunting culture. It's a science now. And there are no secrets that can be kept. If there's an athlete in some desolate Kansas town, he's in a database somewhere and he's going to be sent a letter from someone.

Miami was about to kill their football program when Schnellenberger stepped in. He noted that Alabama was winning national championships with Florida players, many of them right out of Miami's backyard. And Schnellenberger would know. He was Bear Bryant's offensive coordinator at Alabama in the early 60s and a big-time recruiter -- he recruited Joe Namath to Alabama. He also brought with him a pro-style passing game, honed as Bob Griese's offensive coordinator during Miami's undefeated season, but that's another story.

Schnellenberger's rapid turnaround because of keeping Miami recruits home in Miami forever changed college football culture. ESPN, a new thing, made sure of it. It's the kind of inside info they knew the fans wanted. Suddenly the average fan began to become aware of Dade County recruiting. Then they became aware of SoCal, east Texas, Ohio, etc. People everywhere started to learn about how Penn State thrived on recruiting New Jersey. Kids of Louisiana dockworkers were no longer looking for opportunity wherever they could get it -- every school in the country knew who they were and wanted them to come to their school.

This is a different game now than when I first started following. And ASU is much less of a sleeping giant. Why? Because:

• They don't have a built-in home-state recruiting advantage, partially because it's still not big enough, and partially because you have to large athletic programs feeding on it. Compare that to, say, LSU, where they're the alpha dog in a state with comparable (or often better) talent, and you get a different picture.
• That weather advantage I often hear about? It's an awesome sales pitch to a kid in Chicago, who would love nothing more than a free trip to Tempe while he makes his college plans for Notre Dame, where his family can still come see him play. It's actually a DISadvantage within the region ASU needs to make a pitch, like San Diego or LA County, where they see us as slightly crazy for wanting to live here.
• The name ASU built in the 70s and 80s is completely washed away. Think about this: The kids ASU is recruiting right now were born in 1994. They were 3 years old when Jake Plummer was leading ASU to the Rose Bowl. They have no idea who Danny White or Frank Kush is. There are likely only three things they know about ASU football right now: They have cool new uniforms, the girls are unbelievably hot, and Dennis Erickson just got fired.

ASU has to start over. Right now, it's name is on-par with mid-majors. It's a secondary or tertiary thought on the minds of the kids they need to steal from SoCal to get the program even close to where we want it to be. There are no built-in advantages to ASU other than MAYBE facilities, where it enjoys some status for the next few years.

Here's something else to think about: ASU is offering what has become the middling price for a head coach, about $2.5. That's pretty much mid-major money for a head coach. Sure, it's still probably in better half of all salaries, but not if you consider what it would take, say, Washington to replace their coach right now. If they wanted Sarkisian right now, they would have shelled out about $3.5 million. We are not even in the same area code as the Top 20 programs. That's the cost of doing business, and we're not capitalized well enough to expand into that kind of competition.

ASU has to go young, even if it means hiring a coordinator. That's what ASU can afford, and it's what it really needs, because this program is starting over. We can pretend it's still 1984 and ASU really is a sleeping giant. Or we can really look long and hard at reality and accept the failure started about 30 years ago, and we've merely been repeating that failed history over and over ever since.

It's time to do something new and bold.

Guest author: Defending June Jones

By @a_zone. The views expressed in this article don't match my own opinion, but I wanted to give the author a forum to express his point of view.

NOTE: ASU’s head coaching search is constantly in motion, so much so that I started writing this on Sunday night [December 4] and it is already probably irrelevant. Still, this is my defense if June Jones gets hired by ASU, which seems less likely to happen as of this morning.

I see you ASU fan, I see you on the ledge. I know what put you there, the thought of ASU hiring June Jones as their head coach. I'm here to talk you off the ledge. I understand why you are there, but I believe you are there for faulty reasons.

I know why you are down. You've had dreams of Kevin Sumlin dancing in your head this holiday season. You spent a week reading rumors that Sumlin was practically on his way to ASU, only to have the rug pulled out from under you by Texas A&M. ASU has turned their attention to other coaches, with June Jones leading in the clubhouse. To you he is a “retread” an “old guy” and “another Erickson.” But let me tell you what he really is . . . Kevin Sumlin 10 years form now.

In my opinion, the only argument for Sumlin over Jones is age. Jones is in his late 50s, Sumlin in his late 40s. Don't bring Houston's 12-1 record this year into play, because I'll just counter with Hawaii's 12-1 record and BCS bowl appearance in 2008. But Hawaii didn't play anyone, you say? Well, take a gander at Houston's schedule this year.

Let me tell you what June Jones has done: rebuilt awful programs. People point to his 23-28 record at SMU as “average,” I see it as a borderline miracle. Since its death penalty in the late 80s, SMU had gone 58-153 since Jones' arrival. Take out Jones' first year with an awful team (1-11) and his record at SMU is 22-17. Still not impressed? I give you the 1999 Hawaii Warriors, who were 0-12 when June Jones took over and went 9-4 with a bowl victory the very next year. He also led Hawaii to back-to-back 11 win seasons and a BCS appearance.

Jones is known for being a disciple of the Run & Shoot offense, which is sort of a pre-cursor to today’s spread offenses. His offense is QB friendly, just ask Timmy Chang and Colt Brennan. From his days at Hawaii and SMU, he has experience recruiting in California and Texas - which is vital for someone coaching at ASU.

June Jones’ isn’t a sexy hire, but people are confusing “not sexy” with “terrible,” which simply isn’t true. Jones is a hell of a coach, and I would love to see what he could do with a BCS school with an existing talent base. Jones has spent his entire college career turning terrible programs into above average ones, it’s time for him to turn an average program into a great one.

Also, when UofA fans make fun of the hire, you can just tell them that the last Pac-10(12) coach from Hawaii was their beloved Dick Tomey. What's their comeback to that?

TV coverage and kickoff times for 2011 Sun Devil football

Whether you live out of state or are planning road trips, it's important to keep an eye on the potential kickoff times.  Remember, the TV networks decide some gametimes during the summer, but the majority of TV selections are made 12 days prior to gameday (and, in some cases, 6 days).  For 2011, four games have been confirmed for TV prior to the start of the season (compared to eight at the same point in 2010).

I'll keep this article updated as the season progresses.

Remember, the new TV contracts recently announced by the Pac-12 come into effect in 2012, so we have one more season to go under the old, restrictive contracts.

For those games still listed as TBD, you can check the Pac-12 composite schedule and the conference website's listing of all the available 2011 Football Telecast Windows.

For a comprehensive, accurate listing of all games on TV, Matt's College Sports on TV Website is by far the best reference.

Here's how thing shape up for the 2011 season (all times local to Arizona):

9/1 UC Davis (Thursday): kickoff set for 7:00 p.m.  with coverage on Fox Sports Arizona (in AZ) and Fox College Sports (nationally).  Because this would be a Fox Sports Arizona production (not Fox Sports Net), this game will NOT be shown on other regional FSN affiliates.  This may well be FSN AZ's last production of a Sun Devil football game (all telecasts in 2012 and beyond will be national).

9/9 Missouri (Friday): kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. with coverage on ESPN.

9/17 @ Illinois: kickoff set for 4:00 p.m. with coverage on the Big Ten Network.  You need to get the BTN to see this game - no exceptions. This will be ASU's first appearance on the BTN.

9/24 USC: kickoff set for 7:15 p.m. with coverage on ESPN.

10/1 Oregon State: kickoff at 7:30 p.m. with coverage on Fox Sports Arizona (in AZ) and Fox College Sports (nationally). Because this is a Fox Sports Arizona production (not Fox Sports Net), this game will NOT be shown on other regional FSN affiliates.

10/8 @ Utah: kickoff set for 12:30 p.m. with coverage on FSN. Confirmed for Fox Sport Arizona; other regional affiliates can be found here.

10/15 @ Oregon: kickoff set for 7:15 p.m. with coverage on ESPN.

10/29 Colorado: kickoff at 3:30 p.m. with coverage on Fox Sports Arizona, Root Sports in Colorado and Fox College Sports (nationally). Because this is a Fox Sports Arizona production (not Fox Sports Net), this game will NOT be shown on other regional FSN affiliates.

11/5 @ UCLA: kickoff at 4:30 p.m. with coverage on Versus.

Clocks change on 11/6, which is significant because most kickoff times are anchored in Eastern time.

11/12 @ Washington State: kickoff at 8:30pm (7:30pm local time) with coverage on Versus.

11/19 Arizona: kickoff at 7:30 p.m. with with coverage on Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Prime Ticket in Southern California and Fox College Sports (nationally, but joined in-progress). Because this is a Fox Sports Arizona production (not Fox Sports Net), this game will NOT be shown on other regional FSN affiliates.

11/25 California (Black Friday): kickoff set for 8:15 p.m. with coverage on ESPN.

12/2 (Friday) Pac-12 Championship Game: kickoff set for 6:00 p.m. with coverage on Fox (the over-the-air network, not one of their cable channels).

The Sun Devil Photo Archive - 1962 in color

Another picture from osulmb.  In the original post, this picture is labeled as being from 1962.  It's one of the few color pictures I have ever seen from that early.

If it is from the 1962 season then I have no idea who the opponent is.  Incredibly, we played eight home games that season, and only two on the road.  So the opponent could be Colorado State, Washington State, West Texas A&M, San Jose State, Texas-El Paso, Utah State, Utah or New Mexico State.

The Sun Devil Photo Archive - 1967 @ Utah

Thanks to osulmb on the Sparky's Pigskin message board for these great images.  Consensus is that these come from the 1967 game at Utah, which the Devils won 49-32.  Love the socks!

Here's All-America Ron Pritchard coming in for a tackle:

The Sun Devil Photo Archive - Goodwin Stadium

This generation of Sun Devil fans needs to preserve our heritage.  It's very difficult to find a lot of photographic content on the web from anything earlier than the '90s.  So when I do come across some great images I'm going to try to publicize them.

I do not want to infringe any copyright, so if you own any images used on this site please let me know and I'll be happy to remove them.

To start, here's a truly beautiful image of Goodwin Stadium.  Someone sent me this link a few years ago, but I forgot to make a note of who.  So thank you to the kind person, whoever you are!

Here are two more pictures of Goodwin Stadium from the ASU Libraries archive:

Please contact me if you have images you would like to post.

Once you go black...

Quick thoughts from the public unveiling of the new ASU identity.

What I love:

• The new Sun Devil Bold font. Very clean - looks good both in the lettering and the uniform numbers.
• The consistency. One shade of gold; common look for all programs.
• The way that black was introduced. If you are going to bring black in to the color scheme, do it right. And this is doing it right.
• The matte black football helmets. Possibly one of the best helmets in college football.
• The basketball uniforms. Sharp, clean, tasteful.

Meh:

• The new "trident with flames" logo.  It may grow on me, but I feel like the handle is too short in proportion to the prongs.
• The all-white football combination (although paired with the black helmets, it could look good).
• The "ASU" lettering on the football sleeves. Not sure what the point is; would have preferred numbers.

As expected, the message boards have exploded with people whining about the changes and bemoaning the loss of "tradition". ASU has very little tradition when it comes to branding and uniforms. Heck, we were the Bulldogs for many years, then wore numbers on our helmets (Alabama-style) for some of our "glory years". Sparky has only been on the helmets since 1980.

Change is good - embrace it and let's have some fun in 2011!

Kickoff times / TV coverage for the 2010 football season

Whether you live out of state or are planning road trips, it's important to keep an eye on the potential kickoff times. Remember, the TV networks decide some gametimes during the summer, but the majority of TV selections are made 12 days prior to gameday (and in some cases, 6 days). For ASU, 2010 is unusual in that 8 of the 12 games are already set before the season even starts.

I'll keep this article updated as the season progresses.

For a comprehensive, accurate listing of all games on TV, this is by far the best site.

Here's how thing shape up for the 2010 season (all times local to Arizona):

9/4 Portland State: kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. with coverage on Fox Sports Arizona (in AZ) and Fox College Sports (nationally). Because this is a Fox Sports Arizona production (not Fox Sports Net), this game will NOT be shown on other regional FSN affiliates.

9/11 Northern Arizona: kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. with coverage on Fox Sports Arizona Plus (in AZ) and Fox College Sports (nationally). Because this is a Fox Sports Arizona production (not Fox Sports Net), this game will NOT be shown on other regional FSN affiliates.

9/18 @ Wisconsin: kickoff set for 12:30 p.m. with coverage on ABC in much of the country and ESPN2 everywhere else.

9/25 Oregon: kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. This is a Fox Sports Net production, so it will be on most of the regional FSN affiliates, including Fox Sports Arizona. Check your local listings!

10/2 @ Oregon State: kickoff set for 3:30 p.m., televised by FSN Northwest. Will be shown on Fox Sports Arizona (in AZ) and Fox College Sports Atlantic.

10/9 @ Washington: kickoff set for 7:00 p.m., televised by FSN Northwest. Will be shown on Fox Sports Arizona (in AZ). For unknown reasons, this game was not picked up by Fox College Sports nationally.

10/23 @ Cal: kickoff set for 12:30 p.m. This is a Fox Sports Net production.  It will be on many of the regional FSN affiliates, including Fox Sports Arizona, but large parts of the country, including the entire North East, will not get this game.

10/30 Washington State: kickoff set for 4:00 p.m. No TV coverage.

11/6 @ USC: kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. This is a Fox Sports Net production, so it should also be on most of the regional FSN affiliates, including Fox Sports Arizona, although we're now into the NHL and NBA seasons so this game could be pre-empted in some markets.

11/13 Stanford: kickoff set for 5:30 p.m. with coverage on Fox Sports Arizona (in AZ) and Fox College Sports (nationally). Because this is a Fox Sports Arizona production (not Fox Sports Net), this game will NOT be shown on other regional FSN affiliates.

11/26 UCLA: kickoff set for 1:30 p.m. This is a Fox Sports Net production, and given the unusual day/time it will be shown on most of the regional FSN affiliates, including Fox Sports Arizona.

12/2 @ UNRB: kickoff set for 6:00 p.m. on ESPN (national).

Sun Devils' future football schedules

Originally Published 12/4/09
Last Updated 4/18/10 with the announcement of a home-and-home series with UTSA in 2016 and 2018
This post starts with a strong caveat: much of this information will probably change in the years ahead. With that said, fans are always interested in examining future schedules, so I wanted to keep an up-to-date summary of what we know. I will update this article over time as new announcements are made.

First, let's start with the Pac-10 schedule. Since the conference moved to a full round-robin schedule in 2006, the home-and-away lineup has been set. ASU's schedule in odd-numbered years is significantly easier than in even-numbered years (which makes the 2009 season even more disappointing). In odd-numbered years, we have five conference home games, including USC and AU. In even-numbered years, we play only four conference home games (Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and Washington State). It's going to be a lot harder to sell season tickets in those even-numbered years.

Next, let's review the out-of-conference schedule. As most fans know, the basic philosophy behind the out-of-conference scheduling has traditionally been to have an "A", "B" and "C" level opponent. The additional requirement is to have at least two of the games at home in even-numbered years when we only have four conference games at Sun Devil Stadium. However, starting in 2011 it looks like we're moving to more of an "A, A, C" model. DevistsDigest.com published a Q&A with Associate Athletic Director Mark Brand in February 2010 that explains the process in a lot of detail. I never understand fan criticism of our scheduling, because most neutral parties see our out-of-conference schedule as one of the best year-in, year-out.

The "A" level opponent is from a BCS conference. In recent seasons, Georgia, Colorado and Iowa have been "A" level opponents.

The "B" level opponent typically was from the MWC, or a strong school from the WAC. These may be schools that will play twice at ASU in return for one game at their site. In recent years, we have played UNLV, San Diego State and Nevada, but is seems like we will have a hard time finding "B" level opponents in coming seasons. San Diego State has downgraded their schedule, and does not have any future games with ASU scheduled. Boise State was looking for an opponent in 2011, and I'd love to see them visit SDS, but their requirement for a $1 million guarantee made that impossible. As predicted in this article, New Mexico is the next opponent in this cateogry in 2014-15. We may focus on finding two "A" level schools each season, such as Missouri and Illinois in 2011 and 2012.

The "C" level opponent is usually a FCS school, and is always going to be an opponent that does not require a return visit. We try to schedule NAU as often as possible for this slot, which is a nice way to keep the money in-state.

Ideally, we should play an "A" level opponent at home in even-numbered years to counter the lack of quality Pac-10 opponents. In 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 that will be the case, but in 2010 we play at Wisconsin, so the home schedule is particularly bad this year.

Jeff Metcalfe's articles in the Republic from September 2009 and February 2010 do a great job of describing the problems finding non-conference opponents. We came close to scheduling a 2010 home opener with Cincinnati and it sounds like we're trying to schedule more games with Colorado.

A final note: very little of this information comes from official sources. ASU's website has stopped showing future schedules. A good source is NationalChamps.net, but that site is not 100% accurate. A lot of the data right now comes from this article in the Arizona Republic from July 2009 and this press release from February 2010, which also includes the full schedules for 2011 and 2012. The Republic also keeps an updated future schedules page.

So let's review the current plans for future seasons. Click on links for announcements of specific games. Actual dates shown when known.

Year	A	B	C
2010	@ Wisconsin (9/18)	--	Portland State (9/4)
			NAU (9/11)
2011	Missouri (9/10)	--	Cal-Davis (9/3)
	@ Illinois* (9/17)
2012	Illinois (9/8)	--	NAU (9/1)
	@ Missouri (9/15)
2013	Wisconsin**	--	Sacramento State
	Notre Dame*** (10/5)
2014	Notre Dame (10/25)	@ New Mexico (9/13)	Weber State (9/6)
2015	@ LSU (9/12)	New Mexico (9/5)	Cal Poly (9/16)
2016	LSU (9/10)	@ UTSA (9/17)	NAU
2017	@ Notre Dame (9/16)	TBD	TBD
2018	Colorado (9/15)	UTSA (9/1)	TBD
2019	@ Colorado****	TBD	TBD

* There was some uncertainty about the sequence of the two games with Illinois. Most sources show ASU playing the Illini at home in 2011, and on the road in 2012. I am pretty sure this was the sequence when the series was first announced, but the schools later switched the years in which they would host. Many Illinois fan sites still have the 2011 game listed in Tempe but it is confirmed that the 2011 game will be in Champaign.

** The home game with Wisconsin was originally scheduled for 2012 but was later moved to 2013.

*** The 2013 game with Notre Dame is going to be played at Cowboys Stadium as part of Notre Dame's barnstorming tour.

**** The game at Colorado was originally scheduled for 2013 but was later moved to 2019 to allow ASU to play Notre Dame in 2013.

2010 schedule completed: don't blame ASU

As expected, ASU was unable to find an FBS (1-A) school willing to come to Sun Devil Stadium in September, so the Sun Devils will be playing two FCS (1-AA) schools to start the season.

Portland State visits on September 4, followed by NAU on September 11. Portland State will now not be visiting in 2011, so we now have two spots to fill next season.

The Athletic Department does not deserve much criticism for this one. San Jose State pulled out of their contract with ASU for a bigger payday elsewhere, and with only 4 home conference games in even-numbered years we had to have two non-conference home games.  From all accounts, Mark Brand, the ASU associate athletic director who does most of the hard work with football scheduling, tried hard to find a more attractive opponent.  Unfortunately, until we, the fans, start filling Sun Devil Stadium regularly for every game, we can't pay out-of-conference opponents the same type of money that other schools can offer.

Guess who's coming to Sun Devil Stadium?

Still no announcement of the 12th and final opponent on the 2010 football schedule, but there was a significant development today. ASU published a revised schedule showing the NAU game (previously announced for September 4) moved to September 11. So the "TBA" opponent will now be visiting Sun Devil Stadium on Labor Day weekend.

The other notable announcement is that the Oregon game on September 25 is confirmed for a 7pm kickoff, so no risk of this game being moved to daytime for TV.

2010: The Year We Make Contact (with the top of the Pac-10?)

I have posted the 2010 schedule on the main page, primarily to get rid of memories of 2009 as quickly as possible.

Keep in mind that the Pac-10 opener will be Oregon on September 25 -- this game was moved up from its original date so that both schools get a bye week in the middle of the season.

With 2009 wrapped up, the conference opener predictor worked again. Counting conference games only, since joining the Pac-10 in 1978, ASU has lost the conference opener 18 times, and in those seasons has gone a combined 59-77-2 (a 43% win percentage). However, in the 12 seasons in which we have won our first Pac-10 game, the composite record is 60-36-0 (a 63% win percentage). We tied our opener in 1983 and 1986 and finished a combined 9-4-2 in those seasons.

Since 1982, ASU has only once (in 1999) lost the conference opener and finished with a winning record in the Pac-10. Conversely, 2008 and 1994 were the only seasons where the Sun Devils won their conference opener but finished below .500 in the Pac-10.

Next season's home schedule is ugly, with five Pac-10 road games and our "A" out-of-conference game at Wisconsin. Remember, we are still looking for a replacement for the September 11 game at SDS.