Everything.
If ever Coach Kelly needs to bang on his "Our next game is a Super Bowl" mantra, it's now.
Besides Arizona, ASU is the other Pac-12 team that has dedicated itself to begin playing like Oregon, training like Oregon, and winning like Oregon. Their new coach Todd Graham has it figured out in that he began conditioning his team to a faster pace on day one in the Spring, and not the week before they play the Ducks.
Read the bulk of this Arizona Repubic article: ASU Football Counts on Fitness vs. Oregon Ducks. Tell me if anything rings a bell.
....But there is one really big difference between the Sun Devils under Todd Graham and the past several teams under Dennis Erickson, including his 2011 team that started 6-2 and then imploded.
They're in shape.
Yeah, it seems pretty basic. But although Graham publicly hasn't said much about it, privately members of his staff were taken aback by the physical condition in which they found the Sun Devils when they took over the program.
Tired players make mental mistakes and commit stupid penalties. And they're apt to quit when a game or a season turns bad. Does that sound familiar?
We all saw just how bad it had gotten when linebacker Vontaze Burfict showed up at the NFL combine in terrible condition and embarrassed himself so badly that he went undrafted.
To his credit, Burfict got back to work and made the Cincinnati Bengals roster as a free agent.
And to the credit of Arizona State's players, they have bought what Graham is selling. And selling. And selling.
"Look at this," linebacker Brandon Magee instructed. "When it comes to the second half and the fourth quarter, we're dominating. We're in better shape than we've ever been.
"The fourth quarter starts, and I feel great. I'm not even tired at the end of games. So we just keep giving the ball to our offense, and with their tempo the other team wears down."
Sound familiar?
It's true. The Sun Devils have outscored opponents 98-30 in the second half this season and 64-7 in the fourth quarter.
Of course, that isn't apt to happen against the never-blink Ducks. This is the first real measuring stick for the Sun Devils and their pedal-to-the-metal approach.
"Oh, it's huge," Magee said. "They want the same thing in the third and fourth quarter that we want. But I think we're going to be fine. It's going to be a lot of fun."
It will be more fun if the Sun Devils can rise, as Graham said they must, to "a different level" against an Oregon team that will test their conditioning and resolve.
"You could play 65 snaps against these guys in a half," Graham said. "It's a huge, huge challenge Thursday."
When Graham took over and popped in tapes of last year's team, he knew he had a different challenge.
"Oh, no doubt," he said. "We knew we had to get in a lot better shape, and (strength and conditioning coach) Shawn Griswold is the very best at doing that.
"But I'm telling you we're not even close to where we need to be. We can't run the tempo we want to run. But we were pretty fast last game, and there's only been about five plays on defense all year where guys were saying "Coach, I'm about to fall over.' So that's pretty amazing."
Maybe more amazing, the Sun Devils are seeing in opponents what their opponents used to see in them.
"It was huge in the Illinois game," senior tackle Brice Schwab said. "You could look over and see their defensive line was dying. Same with the Cal game. If you look at the whole season, the second half has been ours. We kick it into gear."
"To be honest, we were just an all-around undisciplined team. We're in a whole lot better shape this year. We wouldn't even condition during a bye week before. We were doing a lot of conditioning during our bye week this season."
Senior Andrew Sampson, who starts at guard alongside Schwab, has seen it, too.
"I think the focus that came in with Coach Gris and his staff really turned things around," he said. "Their mind-set changed our mind-set. You can't take any plays off. Not in games. Not in practice. Not even in warmups or training. Never.
"It's the advantage of our no-huddle offense. It wears them down. It's nice when they're dead, and you're not dead, and you can see it."
The first sign, Magee said, usually is silence.
"They're talking so much smack at the beginning of the game and then in the third, fourth quarter I'm like, 'Are you guys still there or what?' Are you still playing?' " Magee said, smiling. "It's kind of funny."
Oregon players say stuff like this all the time.
A fast, deep, well-conditioned Oregon team isn't going to break like some of ASU's earlier opponents did. Yet the Sun Devils are still eager to test their left-lane, hammer-down approach against the Quack Attack.
"We're not doing anything different against Oregon," Sampson said. "It's the same way we do things against everybody. It's not like we're going to try to go faster than usual. We're always trying to go faster, so it's going to be a high-tempo game. And we're ready for it."
And then there's the defense
Forget Arizona, Coach Graham has installed the new Desert Swarm at ASU. As explained in this excerpt from today's article in the Oregonian:
The Sun Devils' defense will test all that [Mariota] the redshirt freshman quarterback has learned to date with an eclectic array of schemes and blitzes.
"That's probably the best defense we'll have faced all year," Mariota said.
And they will be coming for young Mariota, who turns 19 on Oct. 30.
"They bring everybody from everywhere," offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said. "I think they've brought literally every player at some point."
How is Mariotta and Co. to handle the Devils' aggresive defense? I have the answer in two magical words:
SHOVEL PASS.
That's right. Anytime they blitz from the edges as the article says they are often wanton to do, just shovel it to DAT up the middle and "Whoop! There it is.".
And just to remember that you heard it from me first, let's make the rule that whatever beverage you're sipping through the game Thursday night, you have to chug the whole container whenever Oregon pitches the shovel.
Breaking News:
Aloha's Thomas Tyner decommits from Oregon Ducks
Oregonian Sports, October 16, 2012 10:11 p.m.
Record-setting Aloha running back Thomas Tyner has decommitted from Oregon to take other recruiting visits, the website Duck Territory reported Tuesday night.
After the news was reported, Tyner posted a message on his Twitter account: “How do I know where I'm truly happy if I haven't put myself out there yet? Still love my ducks. Gotta do what I gotta do.”
Tyner made national headlines this season when he ran for 643 yards and 10 touchdowns in a win over Lakeridge. In seven games, he has rushed for 2,328 yards, averaging 12.7 yards per carry for the Warriors (7-0).
Tyner is rated as the No. 4 senior running back in the nation by Scout.com and No. 6 by Rivals.com. He orally committed to Oregon in November.
Aloha coach Chris Casey said Tuesday night that he wasn’t aware of Tyner decommitting from Oregon, but that schools have continued to pursue him, as well as Aloha senior lineman Brayden Kearsley, who committed to Brigham Young in Sept. 2011.
“He and Brayden have stayed open to those schools, so people are going to stay on them,” Casey said.
OK. Let's all just take a breath. Nobody panic. Chip Kelly can't talk about recruits; but what would he say? He would say that every recruit should explore all his options before making a final decision. That is how DeAnthony Thomas changed his mind about USC and came to Oregon.
Tyner is doing the prudent thing. He's not saying 'no' to the Ducks. He's just making sure all his avenues have been explored -- the sign of a smart man.
But I swear, if he decides to go to Washington, USC, Oregon State or any SEC team, . . . well as Master YoDuck would say:
 |
| Have fat angry kittens I will. |
Gametime at ASU, Thursday Oct. 18th, 6pm Pacific on ESPN.
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