bjorks
Secretary of Fondy Fanclub
I'm back for a single post, but will do my best to answer questions. My lock of the bowl season is Hawaii -7 (Bodog on the 20th) over ASU. I've got some information that hopefully will take us to the bank.
We all know about Hawaii's high powered offense and to be quite frank, they're going to be able to score points on anybody in the nation. ASU's defensive statistics are a bit misleading. Despite being 2nd in the PAC-10 in total defense (just under 300 yards/gm) their secondary is their weakness regardless of what the stats say (3rd 181yds/gm). This team has the tendency to give up the big play through the air. Before lines came out I fully expected Hawaii to be a 2 TD favorite.
ASU has never been known as a strong defensive team and what has equalled this out in the past is Koetter's offense and the passing attack behind Andrew Walter and Sam Keller and even Rudy Carpenter via last season. This season the offense is a mess. ASU has turned into a running team (2nd PAC-10) as the passing game has fallen to 6th and Carpenter is 5th in the conference averaging 194yds/gm with 21 TD's (3rd) and 14 INT's (1st). Carpenter has struggled with confidence all year and has not shown the ability to lead ASU back when down, but has done an admirable job with inconsistant receivers.
What always worries me a bit around Bowl season is lame duck coaches. Does the team rally around the coach one last time and play above their heads or do they pack in? New coach Dennis Erickson will/has already made his pressence felt around Tempe and the attitude around the team is not real high. Numerous players (including some starters) have already been told a) they aren't making the trip, b) they will not be on the team next year due to rules, c) they need to look elsewhere.
Dennis Erickson was met leaving his press conference by ASU fans who had snuck up to the conference with a "Go Home Erickson" sign and "Erickson = Corrupt" signs so the the fans aren't exactly warming up to Erickson either. Koetter has basically worked with 1st team offense and defensive teams and key reserves during the break focusing on only trying to win one last game. There has been zero player development for the younger guys who have basically been ignored since the end of the season, adding to the already volatile atmosphere. To put it simply, there are a LOT of unhappy campers in Tempe.
Despite all this the line keeps dropping with ASU +7 (-115) on the Dog and +6.5 and 73.5 on the book. I don't understand this, but Vegas is obviously banking on public perception of the ASU and Dirk Koetter name, which is the name of the game. This is however a very average to bellow average PAC-10 football team that has grossly underperformed all year with a very bad secondary going up against maybe the greatest passing attack ever created. Hmmmm....
ASU has no ability to rally or comeback when behind against teams...
ASU has a very poor passing attack and will rely heavily on the run game...
ASU has an average to slightly above average defense but a bad secondary with very little depth...
ASU will be in nickle and dime packages most of the game keeping a strength of theirs (LB's) on the bench...
ASU has a lame duck coach that has somewhat said to hell with some of the players...(Shoot, the band isn't even making the trip!!)
ASU has a coach coming in that is cleaning house, and when I say cleaning house, there will be a lot of changes in Tempe in the next year...You talk about distractions and lack of motivation, will ASU is the poster child.
This is getting too long and I could go on, but unless Hawaii has lost their touch this game is going to be ugly if you're an ASU fan. In what has been a turd of a season, ASU WILL LAY THE BIGGEST TURD Christmas Eve. Stick a fork in Sparky, their done!
Hawaii 54
ASU 23
My biggest play of the year and probably only play of the bowl season...10 dimes.
Good luck to all. I'm not on much, but will do my best to answer questions/comments/criticisms.
We all know about Hawaii's high powered offense and to be quite frank, they're going to be able to score points on anybody in the nation. ASU's defensive statistics are a bit misleading. Despite being 2nd in the PAC-10 in total defense (just under 300 yards/gm) their secondary is their weakness regardless of what the stats say (3rd 181yds/gm). This team has the tendency to give up the big play through the air. Before lines came out I fully expected Hawaii to be a 2 TD favorite.
ASU has never been known as a strong defensive team and what has equalled this out in the past is Koetter's offense and the passing attack behind Andrew Walter and Sam Keller and even Rudy Carpenter via last season. This season the offense is a mess. ASU has turned into a running team (2nd PAC-10) as the passing game has fallen to 6th and Carpenter is 5th in the conference averaging 194yds/gm with 21 TD's (3rd) and 14 INT's (1st). Carpenter has struggled with confidence all year and has not shown the ability to lead ASU back when down, but has done an admirable job with inconsistant receivers.
What always worries me a bit around Bowl season is lame duck coaches. Does the team rally around the coach one last time and play above their heads or do they pack in? New coach Dennis Erickson will/has already made his pressence felt around Tempe and the attitude around the team is not real high. Numerous players (including some starters) have already been told a) they aren't making the trip, b) they will not be on the team next year due to rules, c) they need to look elsewhere.
Dennis Erickson was met leaving his press conference by ASU fans who had snuck up to the conference with a "Go Home Erickson" sign and "Erickson = Corrupt" signs so the the fans aren't exactly warming up to Erickson either. Koetter has basically worked with 1st team offense and defensive teams and key reserves during the break focusing on only trying to win one last game. There has been zero player development for the younger guys who have basically been ignored since the end of the season, adding to the already volatile atmosphere. To put it simply, there are a LOT of unhappy campers in Tempe.
Despite all this the line keeps dropping with ASU +7 (-115) on the Dog and +6.5 and 73.5 on the book. I don't understand this, but Vegas is obviously banking on public perception of the ASU and Dirk Koetter name, which is the name of the game. This is however a very average to bellow average PAC-10 football team that has grossly underperformed all year with a very bad secondary going up against maybe the greatest passing attack ever created. Hmmmm....
ASU has no ability to rally or comeback when behind against teams...
ASU has a very poor passing attack and will rely heavily on the run game...
ASU has an average to slightly above average defense but a bad secondary with very little depth...
ASU will be in nickle and dime packages most of the game keeping a strength of theirs (LB's) on the bench...
ASU has a lame duck coach that has somewhat said to hell with some of the players...(Shoot, the band isn't even making the trip!!)
ASU has a coach coming in that is cleaning house, and when I say cleaning house, there will be a lot of changes in Tempe in the next year...You talk about distractions and lack of motivation, will ASU is the poster child.
This is getting too long and I could go on, but unless Hawaii has lost their touch this game is going to be ugly if you're an ASU fan. In what has been a turd of a season, ASU WILL LAY THE BIGGEST TURD Christmas Eve. Stick a fork in Sparky, their done!
Hawaii 54
ASU 23
My biggest play of the year and probably only play of the bowl season...10 dimes.
Good luck to all. I'm not on much, but will do my best to answer questions/comments/criticisms.
win for yas.
