Arizona, ASU want to dump their misery on the other
November, 25, 2009
Nov 25
3:00
PM ET
Neither Arizona nor Arizona State arrives at their rivalry game Saturday feeling particularly chipper, though for far different reasons.
Arizona saw its hopes for a first-ever Rose Bowl berth disappear last weekend with a double-overtime loss to Oregon.
Arizona State, meanwhile, is facing its second consecutive losing season after falling at UCLA, futility the program hasn't suffered through since 1946-47.
Nonetheless, there's a lot to play for, most particularly insuring the other team doesn't feel better Saturday evening.
The Wildcats (6-4, 4-3), who finish their season at USC on Dec. 5, could play their way into the Holiday Bowl if things fall into place. They also could end up 6-6 and left home for the bowl season, despite being eligible.
The Sun Devils (4-7, 2-6) could do something they'd much enjoy: Spoil the Wildcats' season.
Fact is, winning Saturday could be enough to stamp some measure of ultimate satisfaction on the 2009 campaign for either.
"This will make it a very successful season if we can beat Arizona State," Arizona coach Mike Stoops said.
It will be interesting to see how both teams come out of the tunnel. Both coaches admitted that their teams have been drained by recent events.
Arizona has lost two in a row to fall out of the conference race. The Sun Devils have lost five in a row to insure a losing record.
"Obviously our goals were quite different at the beginning of the year than what we have accomplished," Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson said.
Neither team runs the ball terribly well, though the Sun Devils are trending up and the Wildcats, because of injuries, are trending down with the ground game. Both defenses are good against the run.
So this one likely comes down to the two quarterbacks, which favors Arizona.
Sophomore Nick Foles is third in the Pac-10 in passing efficiency and is tied for second with 17 touchdown passes.
Meanwhile, the Sun Devils likely will give sophomore Samson Szakacsy his second career start. The athletic Szakacsy made some nice plays at UCLA, but two of his turnovers ended up as Bruins touchdowns.
"It’s obvious the two mistakes that he made were costly," Erickson said. "That’s obvious to him and that’s obvious to all of us who were at the football game and watched it. You can’t just take those two out and say ‘other than those two things you played good’, but he did do some good things; obviously he gives us some mobility and gives us the ability to make some plays down the field."
They say misery loves company, but that's not the case during rivalry games. These two fan bases don't seem to like anything about each other. And they'd like to send some of their misery the other's way.
It may be a question of which team has the resilience to shake off its present misery quickest.
"When you lose close games it’s takes a toll on you a little bit," Erickson said.
[+] Enlarge
Gary A. Vasquez/US PresswireIt looks as if Samson Szakacsy will get his second start against Arizona.
Arizona State, meanwhile, is facing its second consecutive losing season after falling at UCLA, futility the program hasn't suffered through since 1946-47.
Nonetheless, there's a lot to play for, most particularly insuring the other team doesn't feel better Saturday evening.
The Wildcats (6-4, 4-3), who finish their season at USC on Dec. 5, could play their way into the Holiday Bowl if things fall into place. They also could end up 6-6 and left home for the bowl season, despite being eligible.
The Sun Devils (4-7, 2-6) could do something they'd much enjoy: Spoil the Wildcats' season.
Fact is, winning Saturday could be enough to stamp some measure of ultimate satisfaction on the 2009 campaign for either.
"This will make it a very successful season if we can beat Arizona State," Arizona coach Mike Stoops said.
It will be interesting to see how both teams come out of the tunnel. Both coaches admitted that their teams have been drained by recent events.
Arizona has lost two in a row to fall out of the conference race. The Sun Devils have lost five in a row to insure a losing record.
"Obviously our goals were quite different at the beginning of the year than what we have accomplished," Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson said.
Neither team runs the ball terribly well, though the Sun Devils are trending up and the Wildcats, because of injuries, are trending down with the ground game. Both defenses are good against the run.
So this one likely comes down to the two quarterbacks, which favors Arizona.
Sophomore Nick Foles is third in the Pac-10 in passing efficiency and is tied for second with 17 touchdown passes.
Meanwhile, the Sun Devils likely will give sophomore Samson Szakacsy his second career start. The athletic Szakacsy made some nice plays at UCLA, but two of his turnovers ended up as Bruins touchdowns.
"It’s obvious the two mistakes that he made were costly," Erickson said. "That’s obvious to him and that’s obvious to all of us who were at the football game and watched it. You can’t just take those two out and say ‘other than those two things you played good’, but he did do some good things; obviously he gives us some mobility and gives us the ability to make some plays down the field."
They say misery loves company, but that's not the case during rivalry games. These two fan bases don't seem to like anything about each other. And they'd like to send some of their misery the other's way.
It may be a question of which team has the resilience to shake off its present misery quickest.
"When you lose close games it’s takes a toll on you a little bit," Erickson said.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Ted Miller
Miller has been covering college football since 1997, starting with Auburn and then heading West to Washington and the Pac-10. His columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won first place in 2007 APSE Best Writing contest. The Atlanta native and University of Richmond graduate presently lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz.
