Late Saturday night I re-watched the Territorial Cup(I’m one of the few with Pac-12 Network) To say that the quality of football in the game wasn’t the best, would be a little bit less than truthful. But here we are tonight with maroon and gold fans celebrating a win. I’m more into the idea that winning Pac-12 South titles and going to big bowl games should be happening with regularity at Arizona State, rather than once again beating a broken-down program.
(By the way, Lincoln Riley was just named head football coach at USC)
So here are some cold, hard recent numbers around Arizona State football, where the scoreboard doesn’t lie. 43-35 record since 2015. Three bowl game losses on the ledger in that span. Not ranked in ANY of the final Associated Press polls from 2016-2020(guessing the BIG win over Arizona may vault them into the “others receiving votes” category) BUT, they’ve beaten perhaps the worst program in college football five straight times(25-51 record for the Arizona Wildcats since 2015) so all is well I guess. Keep up the Herm-train to El Paso, San Diego, or Las Vegas every December and beat Arizona. That is the secret sauce when it comes to being 8 games over .500 in a six-year span.
(ICYMI Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for USC tonight)
What does the scoreboard read on Pac-12 South titles for Arizona State since 2015? Zero
126th in penalties out of 130 Division One programs this year(Arizona finished 127).
(Oh, and by the way, Lincoln Riley is now the head football coach at USC.)
If you think I enjoy watching the same script coming out of Tempe every year, rather than them becoming the Pac-12 South bully, you’d be wrong. With Lincoln Riley now the head coach at USC, the move that Dr. Crow and Ray Anderson made 24 hours ago has to be looked at with a titled head even by the most loyal Sun Devil fan. Do you really believe that this football program IS GOING TO knock Kyle Whittingham and Utah off its perch? Out-recruit Lincoln Riley? You don’t think that the national media love fest with the USC news tonight won’t carry over across the country for months on end?
43-35 since 2015. The scoreboard doesn’t lie…
