Wyoming whipped & ASU vs. Mississippi State preview

welcome to speak of the Devils the premier podcast for sundevil football I'm Brad Denny with 3TV and I'm Joe Healey with Devils digest.com Joe that was a hell of a way to start a season man that's how you fired up that's how you activate the valley so to speak uh that win over Wyoming we were going to break it down of course but it was incredibly encouraging Brad and I of course picked a victory but by one or two scores something like that thinking it was going to be a tight game thinking it was going to be uh maybe a low-scoring game relatively speaking but the Devils came out from the very first play and completely dominated and controlled every aspect of the game and sent the Wyoming Cowboys packing and heading back to laramy with a big sundevil victory to open up this 2024 slate for ASU and I'd get that it's just one game but man that just looked like a different brand of ball it looked like a different level of talent for ASU than anything that we've seen over the last couple of Seasons so really couldn't think of a much better way to get things uh going here in 2024 for ASU yeah we talked all offseason that there's some interesting parallels perhaps to that 2012 season and that had kind of an early Todd Graham type feel of a defense that got after the opponent scored some on their own and offense that was pretty fun exciting a quarterback Mar number 10 who could run a little bit so yeah we'll break it all down lots to discuss there and also to look ahead to the big time SEC matchup on Deck Mississippi state's coming to town and to do that we're going to be going Behind Enemy Lines with Brian hey Dad Sports Talk Mississippi to get his inside and we're going be joined by a couple of sun ofevil players that had some pretty big rolls on Saturday night Cam scabo and zavon Alford and folks Sunday devil fans football is underway and if you're jonesing for a new vehicle like you're jonesing for another ASU Victory your first call your only call needs to be to Jones 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like reli brown might be yeah and you know first off you love to see it as far as Kenny Dillingham you know really staying focused and not letting anybody rest on their Laurels or get comfortable or get cocky about things and not getting caught up in statistics after week one because there are a lot of week one Champions that don't end up doing jack over the course of the entirety of the season so that's a kind of focus that again you love to see and the reactions like on social media you know people are fired up about that part as well obviously you don't want to see the practices be lackluster but you like that sort of response getting relique Brown my goodness this this could very will become such a a spoil of riches because if you looked at ASU against Wyoming a team that had a solid defense and the Devils were really imposing their will especially on the ground and there were several running backs that looked very very good last week and now you throw in a former five-star Athlete on top of that maybe he's back this week maybe the following week uh you've seen some you look at scores like Texas Tech last week some teams that can score points are up ahead on the schedule for Arizona State so you want to get all the Firepower you can get so whether it's this week or Beyond when relik Brown gets on the field for the first time for ASU gonna be a huge asset for the Devils status quo and the other injuries in terms of Prince DBA sha naah Tate Romney Jordan crook as well uh all you know in the next couple week time frame we'll see uh one recruiting note to pass along is asu's 2025 quarterback commits Michael butter tosson who had some issues getting eligible to play out in Southern California where he was uh he's actually be coming to just like lot of asu's roster he's coming back to the valley he's now transferring to Mountain Point High School and where he's going to be immediately eligible to play so we'll see if he's uh able to suit up but obviously being in proximity to his future School the staff gets a nice close look and try kind of gets to monitor his progress yeah that's that's wild stuff we're going to have to get the you know uh hod Rabino in or Chile Ralph Fs in one of these Pros as far as the local scene to to get some more information on that particular one I mean if if nothing else it's good for him to to find a spot so he can play some ball I mean that sort of thing is just just absolute chaos uh obviously gives you some encouragement as far as him sticking with his ASU pledge if he's already making his way to the Phoenix area to play high school ball that's a cool thing uh hey that's going to help asu's instate recruiting because he's going to be pegged as an Arizona recruit so you know there are some little sparkles little you know Silver Linings that can come with this but ultimately it's great that he's getting a chance to to be eligible and play and to do so pretty much in asu's backyard that's a big deal too so before we take a look back at that huge win for the sundevils over Wyoming if you want to get all the information aside from what we provide you you got to become a member of devilsdigest decom I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir I know that each and every one of you are already a subscriber but for the few of us probably listening to us for the very first time of course cuz if you have been listening to us for years then you're already locked in on Devils digest get to Devils digest.com goad and become a subscriber it's going to get you premium content across the rivals network with which get you coverage of other teams recruiting coverage multiple Sports just a a wealth of information can be found on the rivals network of course becoming a subscriber to Devils digest.com also gets you access to the Huddle The Message Board The Insider view for Arizona State athletics a great Community there so become a member become subscriber get part of the community at devilsdigest decom all right Joe let's do it let's look back at what ASU uh did to Wyoming now we we both as you mentioned off the top thought ASU would get the get the win I thought AC would win comfortably I did not think they would just beat the living hell out of the Cowboys from the jump and just be unrelenting and be come literally two seconds away from a shutout which we we'll get to maybe in a moment but just that was some like Todd Graham era like that NAU opener type of type of feel where it just like wow this this team is a schedule yeah I mean that was one of the most dominant and complete games that I've seen from Arizona State I mean you probably have to go back maybe to the 2021 season I know that that Washington win two years ago with Trent boray and and you know his coming out party there that was a massive win but as far as just a bell-to-bell tail whipping I mean a game in which nothing was ever even remotely in doubt it's one of those things that perspective is important for sundevil fans right now in in the sense of yeah there were days where you'd see those games fairly regularly especially in opening games you're putting up 50 60 points something like that just haven't seen too many of those especially in the last couple years and if you ask me the tone was set from the very first snap of course the the pick six that we'll talk about you know happen about 40 seconds into the game but my eyes were open just from the very first nap it was a real basic play my run playay I Believe by Wyoming and Kean Elliott a stud just showed speed sideline to sideline made a tackle maybe for a loss maybe for a short gain again within itself nothing too substantial but that just set the tone like that looked to me I'm like okay this is a different team this team has speed they have toughness they are aggressive and then I mean it paid off obviously uh quite a bit throughout the course of the game but there just was never a moment that there was even even the slightest bit of doubt and with all the uh with all the Flatout bad football we've seen the last two years my goodness was that refreshing to see yeah I mean you mentioned there's no doubt and this has been the last like couple years now of just nothing but doubts for this sundevil fan base in the community but to see a game like that to win in the fashion like that was just pretty eye openening now granted we'll see we it's week one a lot can change and Wyoming might turn out to be the solid team we think maybe they're something less but if if they are indeed a bad team this is what decent teams do to bad teams absolute domination let's start off with the defense you mentioned Joe overall 118 yards allowed but 74 of that was on that garbage time drive very at the very end uh in which they picked up uh you know that that touchdown two seconds away from the first shut out by an ASU defense since 2013 the 118 yards even with that 74 yards of garbage time was the fewest since the 2009 opener so these are like it's been a long time since we've seen a defense and they've played FCS teams they've played bad teams but this was just this was an impressive as you said bell-to-bell but performance by the D yeah I mean if you just look at the numbers prior to that final drive that Wyoming had for pretty much the entirety of the game leading up to that or at least you know for a significant portion of the game rather Wyoming had more penalty yardage than they had total offense which is just and and I mean they had a lot of penalty yardage but they didn't have like 150 yards of penalty yardage you know what I'm saying I mean it was just the Wyoming had had nothing I mean they really had nothing and this is again not not an FCS team no disrespect to that level of play and I know that the book's still out the jury's still out we'll see what becomes of Wyoming this year but you know I kind of put a little note on Twitter and Devils die just earlier today that this the first time since uh 2007 that ASU has opened the season with a victory over an FBS team that had nine or more wins the season before keeping in mind Wyoming was 9 and4 last year are they going to be N9 and4 this year not really looking as such but I mean that's that's that's not nothing uh but yeah I it was very evident that Wyoming was rattled they were taken out of the game at a very early Point uh they started getting like these chippy penalties ones that were just clearly born out of frustration because I would imagine that they they really thought they were going to come into Tempe and Come Away with the win and and based on you know our predictions my prediction I felt like it was a little bit you know maybe not 50/50 but like 5545 if that game would have been played in lar me I would have easily picked Wilding to have win that won that game um so you just can't say enough about how prepared ASU was and focusing on the defense just guys were just flying to the ball uh and even though AC was playing you know with out some pieces that'll be in the fold as the season progresses there was just a lot of energy a lot of swagger but Focus you know the team didn't even get a penalty I don't think until the waning moments of the the second quarter I mean it was just a a very efficient uh level of play on both sides obviously we we'll get into the the offense as well but again I'm not saying that you can crown him as national champion after this particular game but it's just so encouraging um compared to what we've seen the last couple years that it really makes you think that okay maybe this this team can do do some more than uh some folks myself included give them credit for but that's week one everybody gets excited week one Colorado was a nationally ranked team three weeks into the season last year we see how that went so you know it's it's it's something to certainly enjoy to celebrate but that next game's coming up Joe when did ASU get their second turnover as a defense last year did they have more than one against was it the Washington game or was it beyond that was that just the first the the the first turnover of the four against Washington in week seven yeah was the second it took ASU four minutes to do that this year yeah four minutes so and then you look at those turnovers three turnovers on the night you have the pick six by zyrus fiau you have another interception by kesan Elliott you have the fumble return touchdown by Justin Watley transfer transfer transfer not too shabby so I think you know we I've talked about a little bit in the offseason just the national media is seeing like Badger transferred out BJ green transferred out probably most of them most of them paid attention to Jaden rashada transfering out I and we talked about how they didn't see who was coming in yeah and some of these and ghost Rouser is a guy who really he laid some hat on a guy yeah he laid he laid some hat on a dude yeah and so I mean that's how we got his nickname and just he just appears uh out of kind of nowhere to lay these hits but you look and then you know Clayton Smith had had a big sack Elijah like just these newcomers that have been brought over you know via transfer by the staff are making big plays and really just that the front six was super impressive I mean obviously they kept the Run game in check they put the pressure on the quarterbacks and and really it was just kind of up until the literal last two seconds of the game they kept they they uh you know pitch a shut out yeah I mean it's it's it's unreal if you look at the statistics I mean rushing wise uh Wyoming had 40 net rush yards 1.3 per carry uh you know passing wise let's see they had 78 yards on you know 20 attempts 10 completions just so so very little I mean they they only had two plays on the day that went for more than 15 yards the longest one was a 23 yard completion so it's just my goodness you know or at least you start to stagger when you describe it again I I'm I I have to kind of bring myself back down to Earth because it's it's not something that you anoint a new world heavyweight champion as a result of this game but but I just felt that this game was is going to prove something one way or another because it is not your typical opening game you know that's one that if if AC would have dropped then you start looking down the barrel the following games like all right Mississippi State Texas state is good and you start going through that but now you have a different narrative which is like okay like Mississippi State that's a beatable team Texas State we'll see what happens Texas Tech had to go to overtime to beat a FCS team so just it helps keep that enthusiasm you know when everybody's zero and zero you got that energy man you got that fire you're enthusiastic ready to go you keep that going when you go one and0 and you look real good doing it yeah you can become Florida State real quick that's uh uh one I think the only thing that I didn't love about the defensive performance and this is not anything that was a bad but more of an incomplete the cornerbacks that we've talked about is just kind of being maybe the biggest question mark on that on that side of the ball really were untested because the the passing game was really kind of L Terence Welch had a nice pbu but really just they there was no threat on the outside that they had and that's we'll talk about later but that's going to change this week but other than that other than just kind of you know still having some questions about how the corners are going to hold up it was just one of the most uh impressive and just really 2012 2013 you know uh Todd Graham left lane hammer down type defense and of being disciplined generating turnovers and helping themselves with some points yeah and you got to see some guys get some time that's a beauty thing about a blowout Victory like this you know guy like Kavon Thunderbird who you know was such an intriguing recruit and not like buried on the depth chart but there's just a lot of veteran players at line linebacker so to see him get out there four tackles including a sack I mean that that's really encouraging that's the these games whether it's a blowout Victory against a group of five team or FCS whatever the case may be you know this can do a lot for players confidence especially someone who's just not at the top end of the depth chart and that can prove that can provide dividends maybe this season maybe down the road so there's small pieces that are moving around right now you know that could be highly beneficial for ASU so yeah you know defensively you got to be so thrilled with with what you saw a lot of guys got action a lot of guys contributed you know someone you mentioned Elijah O'Neal in there with the sack he's someone that again given the injury to Prince dorba that that that he's going to have that Spotlight uh at least for a handful of weeks but probably through the duration of the season so I mean good goodness gracious you got to be thrilled about it and kind of like we were talking about on Twitter after the game it's like if your biggest complaint defensively or as a whole is that you gave up one score with two seconds left left to your third fourth string players including a lot of Walk-Ons then it's a pretty good day yeah pretty good day for the offense too Joe 499 yards of total offense that's pretty good 241 of those on the ground now I did hear a uh Mississippi State show uh earlier over the last couple days that said that you know maybe overlooked because there's nobody had a big game but nobody had to have a big game I mean cam scabo after the game mentioned that he was pulled eight minutes left in the third quarter because of the big lead and like that's a good as he said it's a good feeling because asu's depth on the ground was so extensive but let's talk about Sam Lev cuz that's guy who was under the microscope winning the quarterback job I thought just excellent I mean really was poised confidence seemed prepared the pocket uh presence that he had was really impressive to me didn't turn turn the ball over at all I mean that's priority number one don't turn the ball over but also he was making plays and 61 yards rushing pre- sack total on the ground showing that Mobility um so overall I mean for a red shirt fres freshman making his first career start against what is pretty good what you know at least was coming into the air pretty good defense I thought I I mean that's you had to love what you saw yeah I mean you got to be really impressive he 14 out of 22 passing 258 yards two touchdowns ASU threw what seven touchdown passes last year you got two in the like two touchdowns is like a superstar performance compared to you know things that have been seen over the last year or two uh long as 68 yards that was a great you know screen pass uh run but to kaon Brown had the two sacks yeah as you mentioned I mean he had the the 61 gross yards 47 net I mean even the net is if you're getting 40 plus yards out of your quarterback you know rushing on the ground that's that's a big deal there you average almost six yards a carry even after those sacks were taken out of the equation if you if you you figure just the gross it's you know seven eight yards a carry he just made good decisions on when to run you s you saw some Nimble footwork some Stutter Step type of stuff and and I know that we really lean into the Taylor Kelly comparison cuz there's a lot of easy ways to do that but he just looked that way he's not helping he keeps lean yeah he keep showing those flashes so I mean that was there I mean was it a perfect performance no I mean you know there were some overthrows some timing issues and that's just that takes time to get used to all the moving pieces but there were just no glaring mistakes or there were no you know you see these especially in some of the FCS uh openers where it's just you just have too much manpower to lose you know you can still have like a a c minus game and win by a few touchdowns and making a lot of errors and it just looks good on paper because there's just such a big gap between the talent between the two teams Wyoming has has is a talented team you know well coached uh and they've had a string of success especially under Craig B over the last decade or so so that's certainly no slouch that ASU beat even though they beat them very hand handily and and yeah Sam levit you got to give him a very high grade for his opening performance it's just a different feel it's just a different feel uh at quarterback I think because over the last couple years you just I mean there's been injury there have been poor play there have been developmental issues there's just been so much inconsistency for a number of different reasons that when you watch that game you just feel like all right asu's got it starting quarterback yeah and so I think that is very promising very encouraging but obviously over the next few weeks and especially in the meat of the Big 12 schedule that that is going to ramp up a little bit but I mean you have to really tip your cap and yeah just putting up those kind of numbers keeping the ball out of Jeopardy I mean there wasn't really any any balls that were you know questionable or whatever I mean there were some misfires but like he wasn't putting the ball in Jeopardy there weren't any White Knuckle moments and after the last couple years maybe that's that's a welcome change but let's talk about that backfield Joe cam scabo touchdown 66 total yards I believe kaon Brown coming off the you know as as like the number two back maybe 2A with to Carlos but having that huge 68 yard catch and run showing off that speed I believe one of the analytics sites out there had him over 20 mph on that catch and run that's something that we've saw in practice D Carlos showing that power Jason Brown in garbage time off the bench the true freshman I mean he might be heading for a red shirt but that's that's what we've seen in Fall Camp uh you might recall there was a scrimmage in Mountain America Stadium a couple Saturdays ago where Kenny kind of praised about how uh his Jason Brown is in his balance and it was impressive that's exactly what we saw and um you know Ultima cowo got involved a little bit we talked about relique Brown now that explosiveness being added to the mix that's just a bevy of weapons and obviously you're putting up 241 yards rushing a lot of times you know you have the Workhorse back who has you know 100 150 in those situations but knows that well spread out and as you mentioned Joe levit in that in there as well this is a team that wants to run and you know 200 41 yards in a game that'll do yeah I mean cam scaboo 11 11 carries 49 yards didn't lose a single yard uh you know it's kind of an interesting statline where he averaged four and a half yards a carry but his long run was only nine yards so that just shows you that he's consistently doing it carry after carry uh and with him with everybody you could see the the grit and the determination that they had I mean how many runs did ASU have where the ball carriers essentially initiating contact and leaning into it he's not getting stuffed and pushed backward he might even be dragging guys a little bit but definitely like being the aggressor you saw that on multiple occasions heck even you know I know there a waiting moment of the game stuff that folks call garbage time but like Jeff Sims looked good running the ball to where you think maybe they could have some packages for him and then you know the fun little strategic moment and and I love the thought process getting Kona Pete a carry which was a wild deal I remember you know watching the game like who's that big dude like wearing a different Jersey and as folks know his his younger brother COA Pete who's an Elite basketball recruit a top 10 overall basketball recruit happened to be V visiting temp B over the course of the weekend and was in attendance for the game so to see his brother get to you know get a carry as an offensive lineman I like playing that game that was pretty Yeah by that time we were down on the field and looked up and yeah cuz you know sometimes if there's you know especially in special team situations that the if there's players the same number um there's like kind of those spare jerseys that are no name plate just a random number and look up and all of a sudden there's this huge hulking dude in a 35 Jersey take carrying the ball and like what's oh okay yeah and so then like pregame you know Bobby Hurley and some other folks from the basketball program were're there with COA on his uh official visit I really hope that's right that right there that brother get the o line care I hope that's like just the differentiator like sorry Duke you know like they don't ball out in Tempe and if people yeah no one else can really match that because no one else has yeah the family members doing that sort of thing and of course Pete is from the you know the the famous Pete family locally Todd Pete Andrew Pete you know ones were highly successful high school college players of course Andrew speed I believe was a first- round pick the Saints offensive tackle from Stanford so uh High Legacy cashes ped as well I mean they just they're they're some athletes in that family so again in a game like that you can do something like that if it would have been the one score game that that I predicted or you know the close game even that that you did probably aren't seeing that sort of thing so uh yeah just uh wall to- wall and again just going through the list I mean De Carlos Brooks looks so good I mean he he's a solid player I mean that for him to be healthy is a big deal Jason Brown as you mentioned just you know not the biggest guy out there even though he's got a good stout frame for the position and he was just running with a ton of confidence kaon Brown almost getting to 100 allpurpose yards man when he caught that screen pass I just remember saying like all right something can happen here it's just one of those ones where you see it kind of reminded me I mean it was a different type of deal but just those you know Sam Kelly to Rudy Rudy Burgess screen passes from the Sun Bowl in 2004 uh that was just a beautiful play but I mean you look down the stat line you just love to see like a bunch of dudes carrying the ball Derek eabo getting involved in the action Jake Smith man he looked quick he looked like like he is that guy he is that dude from from his high school days you know Jordan Tyson getting a done Shan Mater getting a touchdown grab just people contributing you know they were just especially going back to you know compared to a year ago in that opener just that ominous Omen of the haboob delaying things for a couple hours and a and that was like a what three or seven it was a one- score game I mean that was ultimately very much in doubt up until the end so I think Sunil fans just don't take this kind of thing for granted anymore because these last few years have offered quite a bit of perspective what kept like occurring to me during the game and watching things unfold is that this is exactly what we've seen in Spring and fall camp and watching these practices that this is a defense that swarmed to the ball uh this was an offense that obviously thrives with their their their backs but you know they didn't have to do it too much and you know but Sam Lev was P was able to push the ball downfield to to Jake to Jake Smith to Jordan Tyson melan sville had a nice uh catch and run as well but everything just seemed heightened like plus like kind of like how I thought there'd be a win but not to this degree that they look good in Fall camp but not like this so very promising and maybe that there's an element that you know it's game day little extra energy they're hitting guys that aren't their their teammates for the first time um but it was just a very promising debut now you speaking of the offense I one area that I a little worried about is that because it is exactly on that theme what we saw in practice is the offensive tackles gave up some sacks Josh Atkins at left tackle Maxi Honore at right that's still a big worry for me uh just like kind of the corners on defense and you know we should take a moment to talk about the Special Teams there uh two Miss field goals now now Kenny did say that the the last one with Carson kefir late in the game kind of put an as Risk by because kefir came in a little bit of cold but Ian Hershey under I mean under 40 yards I think at the P4 level you got to make and you know unfortunately that kept ASU from put acrossing 50 points Joe do you remember do you know the last 50 point game that ASU has had uh I think that I do but I will let you be the one to disclose that to our uh listening and viewing audience yeah it's also the last 60 and last 70 point game that asu's had the of course the U OFA game back in 2020 so uh we talked about you know kind of those three key areas with the offensive tackles corners and special teams being question marks and you know if you you want to be objective here that those are still big question marks heading into week two and of course in the SEC team in town you know that's going to be just ramping up but overall I mean you just you can't I don't think you if you're an ASU fan you can't come away from Saturday not feeling good about the course of this season potentially or the rebuild maybe you know maybe the season is not something that is huge but in terms of just the upward Trend and the building of this rebuilding of this program this was a great step in that direction yeah and some else throw out there on special teams because again last year especially you saw play that just wasn't up to expectation Canyon Floyd averaging 46 yards on two punts you know that's that's not a bad thing right there uh yeah they left some points on the board no doubt between the the Miss field goals and just some occasions where ASU got you know fairly deep into into Wyoming territory and either settled for a field goal attempt that wasn't made or that was I mean AC realistically you know this is being you know just very greedy about things they could have gotten to 60 points with relative ease you know just a couple things here and there so yeah I mean as far as an opening game um honestly it's tough to It's All Things Considered if you're talking about just the way the recent pass has been for ASU an opponent that came in on the heels of a very good season an FBS opponent that you know has challenged or beaten some some pretty solid teams it is among the more impressive opening games for ASU that honestly I can remember because even if you go back to like the Todd Graham blowouts that you know of 60 to single digit very impressive but against FCS opponents so again one for one a very impressive ballg game to get things started for ASU but yeah this the Special Teams the offensive tackles those areas that we had the major questions about we had the questions about them for a reason those were not miraculously solved in one game so we will see what comes of that um I'm eager to see if maybe Parker Lewis ultimately becomes involved in the field goal kicking so there are certainly of course still things to monitor still things to be you know somewhat concerned about but the week one in the books uh very very successful performance by ASO so Sun fans are definitely feeling that maroon and gold pride and it's Al also a really great time to Dawn some new maroon and gold apparel from HomeField apparel.com some exciting stuff that will be renewing our partnership with the good brand so more information on that in the coming weeks but also Saturday Joe was the first time in over a thousand days that ASU safety zavon Alford was able to play in a game we've talked about his story so much and he is such an essential part of this defense and also a critical uh team leader he gave a fiery and emotional uh pregame speech as well so just a really cool story to see him back in action and he his talent he's been waiting so long for this so his first game back on Saturday night so after practice had a chance to catch up with with Alford talk to him about the emotions of the night and what was like to ring that Victory Bell just ask Jake just uh get your feelings what did it feel like being back on the field Saturday I mean it felt great obviously you know thousand days coming out first game for really was a shut out you know really was a shut out uh but uh just uh honestly it was just good just being out there moving around you know flowing just getting back in that game feeling and I'm really excited for this week I'm I'm really excited just to get back out there like I feel like that first game I kind of got the Jitters out and it feel like I'm just back in season mode too so it was just a blessing to see Jake out there smiling running around catching passes over the middle running fast doing what he usually does so just all the hard work and dedication you know dark days that we put in last year in the weit room you know every day coming out here like man we want to taste of it now we finally in it so we just going to try to keep building off it your your team opened a lot of eyes Saturday did they open your eyes were you surprised uh no my eyes been open on this team since I since I got here I mean I know the work like I told them in the pregame speech like we put in all the work everybody in this locker room you know uh we put in the work so it don't matter what's outside the lock room crowd liks fans you know anything it's just just about us executing on every play you know just having each other back like we did all camp we uh we pushed each other all camp like this probably was the hardest Camp I've ever been through in the years I've been in college so I was I was very excited to get out there Saturday and Go full speed and as you seen like it was ugly for the other team so we just going to keep building on that you got to you got to speak to the team before the game talk about what how did that make you feel and what did you tell him uh I mean it just made me feel like myself honestly uh a guy that hasn't played in a, days uh you kind of got to be a selfstarter so even when I'm talking to the team I'm kind of talking to myself too trying to get myself going so I look at myself as a motivational inspirational guy you know with my story and everything so I try to spread that amongst my teammates and light a fire under them to keep going because at the end of the day we all out there together so I know we all got the same mindset that no matter what happens good uh good bad or ugly we all going to be all right so you're out there taking that field for that first snap and what are the emotions you know as you're waiting for that ball to be hike man just uh just just it it was real emotional you know just especially me being in the back like just roaming by myself kind of locking into the game it was just like man like all all like I don't know it was it just really inspirational for me because obviously Nobody seen kind of what I went through like it was a lot of long nights you know hard nights where I was like man and it was sometimes where I wanted to give up but uh just me knowing that somebody's out there watching some kid some teammate some maybe grownup adult you know just going through adversity and uh just being able to battle through that a th days you know th days of doing something you don't get the results you want to do most people quit and give up but you know that's just the type of person I am dedicated you know motivated so just getting back out there in that field it feel great like I said I'm I'm excited to get out there this this week how many hits or how many plays that it for that kind of you know that emotion maybe subsid just to feel like it's football again uh really one really took one play like took one play once I seen uh and to be honest I really don't think when I'm in the game really I kind of just through all my thinking uh in the week preparing and I kind of just flow so once I see you know the running back bounce out with the ball I'm kind of just following them you know just in it just kind of floating around so it it felt good just being out there like I said I'm so excited to you know play play play I guess competition you know just get out there and play play real football so how gratifying was it to see the the defense just dominate from the jump you know obviously the early turnovers but then just like all game long putting the clamps on them man it it was it was great cuz I mean this defense like we we sat and talk in the dark you know with each other like man about where we really could be and we really want to be a top defense in the country like uh no if a but so you know that that starts today like I tell tell the team like you win you win the game throughout the week you don't just show up on Saturday and win the game like it's about how you practice the preparation so defense-wise I mean we got guys like Zar ke any room any room I'm I'm I'm super confident work walking out there with any room any group however deep we are like it it doesn't matter I know defense we the mentality that we have just talking to those guys we all alike they're my brothers and I I love going to war with them you go it's going to be ramping up this week against Mississippi State Jeff lby offense High you know Fast Pace like to throw that ball around a lot what are some of the things that really kind of jumped out to you in your preparation uh really just you know getting lined up I feel like you know with these guys like like I said my brothers on defense I feel like long as we get lined up it don't matter if the New England Patriots was in front of us like I feel like we could you know get the job done with all those guys like one through however many on defense 33 like all the way to the 3D I feel like we can line up and and and play with anybody the best in the country so uh just stay on those guys about our preparation like being prepared and then when we go out there you know just just doing it full speed lot bullets what what are the keys like going up against trying to slow down a you know a really uptempo team like that uh you know like I said really just getting lined up I feel like as long as we get lined up we going to be fine like we we we know we kind of know what to expect you know watch a film like over the weeks over the weeks over the weeks and then at the end of the day you know just showing up when the lights and the lights is bright you know like this this time for us to make history you know uh first we could be the first ASU team to be the SEC team so like I take that as a challenge so I'm going challenge the guys and we going we going to try to step up to this challenge is that something you guys have been talking a lot no not really like it don't matter like I said it don't matter the New England Pats came through here like we going I'm going preach the same thing to the guys you know just just being tough being smart the team and the ball that's what we uh that's what coach dham implemented into this uh culture and I told him before the game like that's what we did you know we changed the culture obviously as you can see coming out like that with the first game but that means nothing at all like got to keep moving on keep keep getting better each week each week and uh no matter who it is we going to do our job sorry sorry this question was already asked but let talk about that first snap that you took after a th days man it felt good like you know like I said especially just being back there kind of roaming like kind of being in my element I feel like you know I was back at home literally I feel like I was back at home but uh I'm really excited to get out there this week like I like I feel like the type of player I am the more I play football the better I get so uh just you know me stepping in there for the first time I'm I'm really excited about this week especially they throwing the ball around so you know I feel like it's my type of game we we less nervous more nervous than you thought you would be no I I really wasn't nervous at all you know I I had the little tears before the game you know it was what it was emotions you know just all the workouts late nights you know put it in but hey once once I strap up it's go time so how much of a factor was the the crowd obviously the student section was was packed but the the crowd throughout was pretty good it was it was really loud out there it was sometimes you know you can't hear you can't hear each other you know you screaming you could be this close screaming trying to get the calls and stuff get lined up but they really don't know how much of an impact they make like that atmosphere that just makes us you know this amp up you know the the uh the energy in there it was great you know especially after this guy Zar you know that first touchdown just being back there in the post and I just heard it erupted like it was like an earthquake and I was like man that's that's great so we we want that feeling to stay in that stadium for for a long time so we going to keep doing our job keep coming out here preparing each and every week you know to get that job done on Saturdays you expecting it to be even more turned up this Saturday yeah I I definitely do I expect to be about more 15 10 to 15,000 more people in there you know especially after that and then know I I I know we got fans but I feel like the extra people might come to see us lose you know so they just you know it it is so Ken Kenny said that you do a much better job than him in the pregame speech yeah I bet yeah yeah I know I do he he he gets a little emotional but uh I do as well but it's you know it's more it's different coming from a player you know like coaches can get you motivated but the players play obviously you know me being a leader like I said being a guy that they seen go through adversity you know so I feel like my voice kind of carries more like you know just them watching me's just like man he's been through stuff he's worked through it like so you know like that's just B being battle tested that's what we that's what we uh breed here basically you want to be an adversity response team so um man I just try to get them motivated like I said a god at have to played in a thousand days you got to be a selfstarter so even when I'm talking to the team I'm talking to myself you know I look at myself as a motivational inspirational guy why not spread throughout the team and create a fire you know before we run out there to get ready to go whoop some ass so so speech like that you don't really plan ahead you just like speak from the heart on no yeah it's all off it's all it's all off the Dome literally it's all off the door same same thing at this week like I've always been that guy you know like that just hey just step up you know to make that speech or do whatever to get us going so uh it's going to be a good one this week so that week one hype video came out yesterday and it showed that fre game hype speed specifically and you were talking about how you were pointing specifically at the sign that said the team inside the locker room and trying to like motivate everybody do you feel like especially when you're going maybe against tougher competition that those speeches need be more necessarily do you feel like it's just a collective I think it's just necessarily a part of us like I think it's just here at ASU because if you really look at the roster really a lot of guys that's kind of been snapped on or maybe that was uh highly recruited guys but went through some type of adversity or like guys that came from smaller schools but as good players like I feel like our whole team is really like guys that's assembled from adversity so you know like we're going to use that as our field our fire you know like all the things that we've been through and we going to play like we've been through something you know so obviously as you can see out there defense offense special teams like it was all explosive you know it was all like like we was like putting our foot down out there so we going to try to keep playing that's that's just that's going to be our identity and we going to try to stick to our identity throughout this whole year so with the defense you know you have a lot of transfers and you know new faces on all three levels of the you know starting defense and with the new culture and mindset of takeaways and all that how's it been kind of getting everyone to kind of buy into that throughout this off season and you know really play together and fly around um it was pretty easy especially because with some of the transfer guys that we came they were already experienced and they was guys that you know wanted to get to a spot to work you know not get to a spot to kind of relax your days going and go through the Moes like we really want to we really want to win like this whole team cares like coach D said like everybody on this team cares about winning and playing football like the passion that we have like playing lining up with those guys like it makes it easy makes it easy just to do your job like you don't have to focus on anybody else because you know that we all have the same mindset so it it it really didn't take long for guys to really Buy in you know and the takeaways for on defense you know uh we we proud oursel on trying to get three or more game so uh that's a standard we going to hold our to St to you know how special was it for you to get to bring that vict fre B uh it was very special you know it it was an honor just first game back especially them chos and me you know uh it was real special you know uh we plan on bringing it a lot more you know this season but uh it was a great honor for me and I love these guys love the teammate coach D I love the school tempy everything you know so uh it it was just great in just a moment we're going to go Behind Enemy Lines to talk about Mississippi State but this one is for the homies if you're looking for some fire food from a restaurant owned and operated by Die Hard sundevils Burrito Express your local burrito joint be is a family-owned business that began in 1995 the combination of authentic recipes competitive prices and a comfortable atmosphere that all makes dining with Burrito Express a unique experience you've seen their passion on Twitter you've seen how incredibly active they are in supporting sundevil student athletes with a multitude of nil deals so it's safe to say if you're part of the sundevil family Burrito Express is a business well worth your support and oh by the way the food is top tier all the way nowadays they've got seven Valley locations two in Gilbert one in Mesa one in Chandler one in Scottsdale a Tempe location near kyne and Elliott and that ASU location near Rural and University just about a half mile from Mount America Stadium they're open 7:00 a.m. to 3: p.m. Monday through Friday while some locations are open as early as 6:00 a.m. during the week and they're open from 8:00 to 3: on Saturdays and Sundays you can order online at the burrito express.com for pickup or delivery and be sure to give them a follow on Twitter and Instagram at burrito ex and on Tik Tok at Burrito Express a joining us now for this week's know your enemy segment to give us an inside look at the Mississippi State Bulldogs is Brian hey Dad of super talk Mississippi Brian thanks for coming on the show how are you tonight doing well are we going uh Rage Against the Machine know your enemy or are we going Green Day know your enemy the initial Genesis was uh initially Green Day but actually now that you bring up the rage yeah I mean that might be a better fit I think that would be a better fit yeah greate I agree so going back just a little bit obviously it's been a couple years now since the tragic passing of Coach Mike Leech you know right now you know obviously you know for some coaching changes but you know what is the lasting impact that coach leech you know his time there his legacy and perhaps his passing has had on this program to this day um you know with with Coach leech I I think that the Legacy was one of Mississippi State fans are eternally grateful might be the way to put it I don't know that we got to be a chapter in the book of Mike Leech um you know this is a man who whose career kind of was bigger than the sport itself uh at times um and to know that he was here it was just a short while but he he he did a lot in his time here he was beloved in the community um and you know we now you know we get to be part of that group with Texas Tech and Washington state that can say Mike Le was our head coach and and you know got to to experience the the the joy that he he he coached with and the uh the fun that uh he had with uh with all of us here uh I think that's that's the the biggest lasting impact of him of course you know Zack Arnett was then elevated to take over the program under those you know very trying circumstances uh obviously you know last year didn't end as as anybody had really hoped out there what were some of the really kind of the factors that led to coach Arnette being uh uh removed after 10 games you know I knew Zack Arnett and covered him as as leech's defensive coordinator for three seasons and he was a fiery intense guy you watched him Coach on the sidelines and he was very uh very into the games and you watched him as a head coach and you saw a guy who he looked like he was just watching the game at a bar and really wasn't that into it I mean just didn't it didn't seem to be the same person and you know talking to him at press conferences the the change in him from defensive coordinator to head coach he was almost like he was trying to to play a head coach in a movie and it just it just didn't work he wasn't ready for the jump he wasn't ready for the big job uh I give Mississippi state's athletic director Zack Salman a lot of credit for realizing that and making a move you know a lot of ads would have come in and said it's just his first year he'll figure it out and gone from there I don't think you could have afforded to do that with Zack arette because I just don't think he was ready to be a head coach and it's it's a shame it didn't work out because I liked Zack and I thought he was a really great defensive coordinator but uh he's moved on now Mississippi State to Jeff leby and uh a new definitely a new style of of offense that we're not used to here in starville yes of course speaking of Jeff leby you know bringing that offense that he had at Oklahoma and Miss as well uh what was kind of the initial reaction to the hire of coach lebby and what's the kind of the early returns in your evaluation of the the job he's done to this point I think people were excited because state was so bad offensively a season ago one of worst teams in the country the worst in the SEC and for for leby you knew you knew coming in that he brought that that offense with him that fast tempo that explosive play uh obviously Mississippi State paints had seen what he had done at Old Miss where that he and kein came into a program kind of like what state is in year one there where you there was not a lot of excitement at Old Miss when they took over and without the use of the transfer portal by and large he just kind of took what he had and they went from a team that could barely score on anybody to one of the the best offenses in the country automatically um you know his reputation kind of kind of spoke for itself uh through one game he's delivered on what he he talked about you know state was incredibly quick on offense this past Saturday they scored the first touchdown a minute and four seconds into the game and that was on a three-play drive so they got three plays off in 64 seconds that that that's pretty impressive um offensively I thought that state just they looked completely different they looked organized uh they looked like they knew what they were doing shapen looked like he had complete control of the offense um you know there's still some question marks there obviously I don't think that they were as explosive in the Run game uh as as Jeff leby wanted them to be uh but by and large I thought for just for the first game Mississippi State looked like a Jeff leby coach team and Blake shapen looked like a Jeff leby quarterback and speaking of that first game obviously you know just one game and playing an FCS opener can obviously uh lead to a lot of caveats but just overall what were some of your big takeaways from what you saw on Saturday yeah I said all week last week that if you take anything away from a game with an FCS team it's probably bad uh so for Mississippi State there weren't a lot of takeaways I thought off they looked pretty much the way I had predicted them to look throughout the off season I thought offensively they moved quick uh they spread the ball around they had some big plays maybe didn't run it quite as effectively as I would have thought they would have but if you go back and watch the the tape you know East Eastern Kentucky spent most of that game in seven men boxes and they were they were you know loading up and trying to stop the run that's what made them a little susceptible to the pass defensively this is a team with a ton of question marks coming into the season and if you watch that game they didn't do a a great job of answering they only gave up seven points they were good in short yardage situations but first and 10 you know second and five that there were some some plays to be exploited against this defense they didn't get a lot of pass rush uh which was surprising considering you wouldn't think Eastern Kentucky would have a very strong offensive line um but again you know the main thing is they only gave up the seven points uh forced a turnover and got a touchdown out of that were able to block a punt uh and get a touchdown out of that so if if States defense can put some points on the board that's going to go a long way for them uh this Saturday as Arizona State found out this past Saturday I know that there were some defensive touchdowns in that game those are those are back Breakers when you can get points off of of plays not on the offensive side of the ball your your chances of winning go up dramatically so for state that's what Coleman hudler the defensive coor talks about a ton is getting the ball back to the offense uh so if State can go out and do that this weekend and the weekend's coming forward they can have a successful season but if they just have to you know if they are just out there not getting turnovers this defense is susceptible to giving up some yardage and points and talking about Blake shap and ASU folks know him a little bit one time ASU football and baseball uh commit as well but you know had a solid opener and had some success in his previous stop at Bor as well uh what's your evaluation of him so far and his overall fit perhaps in this Jeff lebby off offense I think he's a great fit you know because he has the big arm he can throw the ball down the field and he has some Mobility he's not you know is is he a uh Jaden Daniels type Runner no nothing like that but he is a fantastic uh athlete and he can get H free had had I think 40 plus yards rushing which I mean if he's GNA do that every game that's gonna be fantastic for State um but the main thing you see from him that that state hasn't had the past few seasons is that big arm he was he had the 65 yard touchdown pass to uh Mosley early in the game took some shots down the field was very accurate 15 of 20 I know he had at least one drop in there so just looked like he was in in command and and didn't you know I I only remember one play that I could say he made a mistake where where he he he threw to the wrong guy threw it into coverage when he had a guy open I was very impressed with with Blake shapen uh all offseason long lebby has told us that those two guys have been on the same page that he really likes what shapen brings he compared him to Matt carral who he had at Old Miss so I I think that that he's a good fit you know with shapen the biggest concern is to keeping him healthy that was a problem for him at Baylor uh if he can play all 12 games for Mississippi State though I don't see a reason he can't be statistically very very good this year look at the offensive skill position Talent you know some some losses from last year but also some notable additions through the transfer portal you know overall how do you feel that these the set of Playmakers for shap and kind of compares to what the Bulldogs had in 2023 I think they're they're a lot of new faces as you said you know if you go back and look at last year's final game against Old Miss I think offensively it's 11 new starters that nobody is back from that game which you know can also be a good thing when you consider how bad state was offensively a season ago um at the running back position like I said they they weren't as explosive as I thought they would be I like Devon Boo the transfer from Utah State I thought he was the best of that Bunch on Saturday the receiver position is where State really went out and was able to upgrade um both through the transfer portal and through recruiting uh a couple of big- time transfers Kevin Coleman you saw him on H Saturday uh was really good uh five catches in the game also really good in special teams uh had some some big punt returns in this game uh Kelly aari is was State's top recruit or top transfer receiver out of UTP uh averaged over 20 yards a catch last season for the miners well over a thousand yards injured week one I I expect him to play this week they might hold him out I I but I think he's going to play this week um and then from the Freshman Class Mario Craver is a guy to keep an eye on for sure a true freshman out of out of Alabama he has the top end speed that this State team has lacked over the past couple of years the ability to get down the field the ability to make some guys miss uh he had a touchdown catch on uh on Saturday I expect him to to continue to get a bigger piece of the action each week so those guys you know state has not had a relatively deep receiver room over the past few years I think it's as deep this year as it's ever been there still unproven but I think the talent is definitely there so obviously going from Eastern Kentucky to Arizona State you know ASU has a had a pretty solid defensive showing in the opener what kind of game plan are you expecting the Bulldogs to bring to the Mountain America Stadium yeah I mean I think you know leby kind of is what he is there you know he's going to he's going to go fast uh he's gonna you know run Tempo he's going to run want to run the football I think people have this misnomer about his offense and sort of by by definition Lane keen's offense over at Old Miss that they it's a more of a passing offense it's not and it's hard it's really a run first offense and they get those big passing playes because teams load up the box to try to take away the Run um so States got to find some more consistency in the Run game I think they averaged near six yards a carry last week but that's kind of skewed they had an end round go for 41 yards so that that you know if you take that out probably closer to five yards per carry I know leby would rather have that around that six uh and then in the passing game continue to spread the ball around a little bit and and you know we'll see if aari can come back I think he's a big differen maker for Mississippi State and then shapen you know what does he give you in the Run game last week he was very good in the Run game I thought he could have did a better job of protecting himself but at the same time I always feel like if you tell football players hey be careful out there that's the the one way ticket to getting them hurt you you got to let them got go out there and do what they want to do so I think State can can have success offensively against this Arizona State team uh but at the same time you know we saw last week Arizona state did a great job against Wyoming and the way they were able to force turnovers and I feel like they're very and leby talked about this on his Monday uh press conference very confident unit right now and they're going to have that crowd behind them uh so it should be State needs to come out and get that crowd out of the game early you know it's sort of a cliche to say you want to score early yeah everybody does but when you're on the road you want to get that crowd out of the game going up seven nothing is a huge key for them so flipping over to the defense you mentioned some some question marks there I believe seven out of the eight tacklers from last year's Squad Gan how do you feel that the the group is kind of you know replenished and uh you know that how that unit is looking so far so far I mean like I said they they just they didn't look particularly impressive um you know I think from a talent perspective it's weird if you look at them from a high school recruiting perspective there's a lot of four-star guys over there guys who were highly recruited out of high school they just don't have a lot of experience Zack Arnett and that staff they just did not do a great job of rotating guys over the past few years that's why you know bukie Watson and Jet Johnson two guys who graduated last year I think they combined for a combined 270 tackles it's because they were just on the field for nearly every play of the game and I don't know if that was a trust issue or just the coaching staff not doing a good job of rotating guys in and out so you know guys like trevan Williams from Mississippi State really highly recruited had offers from most everybody in the SEC he just hasn't played a whole ton uh you know your most experienced guys are Damonte Russell who's been here for a few years Stone Blandon who transferred in from South Carolina but he started some games for the gamec last year and then in the secondary uh Hunter Washington Bryce Pollock have started games for Miss Mississippi State but there's just not a lot of experience against SEC and and power for opponents now I gotta get used to keep getting used to say power four um I I think that you know when I look at what Arizona state was able to do last week you know that that gives me some concern I think we're g we're in for a shootout between these two teams to be honest with you if you're if you're listeners or gamblers taking the over might be the right call this week for them because I think we're going to see some points I I see Mississippi State probably going to struggle a little bit with this Arizona St offense so you know doing some role play and put putting you in the shoes of ASU OC Marcus aroyo what kind of game plan are you drawing up uh for you success for the sundevils against that Bulldog D I'm definitely going to try and run the football quite a bit I I think that this defensive line showed last week that they can be had in the Run game uh and then on top of that you know I don't think state was very aggressive last week but from what I know of Coleman hutler he wants to be aggressive so I'm going to try to use that against him I'm going to go some play action I'm going to run some screens and try to get them out of position uh I don't know about trick plays you know ins rounds and stuff like that I feel like that's that's kind of in the moment but I'm definitely going to be running the football against this Mississippi State uh uh defense I I just don't feel on the defensive line they're going to have some problems there this year uh and I think that Arizona State can have that success in the ground game you mentioned some of the guys on both sides of the ball already but maybe who's a who's a guy or two maybe a little bit under the radar they could play kind of an x- Factor role in really kind of determining Saturday's outcome I'll give you two I'll give you from the from the offensive side of the ball it's tough to say uh Kevin Coleman because of you know he's already going to be one of the top guys on The Scouting Report but what he was able to give State last week in special teams is something that they're gonna need to kick away from him uh Eastern Kentucky I don't know if you've watched the film of that game Brad but they their punts were more like throws they it was like they were just throwing it directly to Kevin Coleman and he took full advantage I think he had 117 punt return yards in that game so I mean that's just a huge factor for state uh so Arizona state would be wise to stay away from him in the return game on the other side of the ball a guy to watch out for is one of state's cornerbacks Kelly Jones really physically does not look like a cornerback he's six foot4 and 200 pounds that is not a typical cornerback that's usually a guy who either converts to receiver or he puts on some weight and becomes a linebacker or safety but they've got him out there on the perimeter so physically I think he can provide he's a mismatch with guys if he can stay with receivers it's going to be tough for them to to get catches with them uh so that's somebody to keep an eye on he this will only be his second start he's a red shirt freshman didn't play much last year played okay on Saturday but this is a much bigger step up for him you know ultimately when you you see these two teams and what they were able to do in week one and you still early in the season but how do you see Saturday playing out and do you think there's going to be a lot of cowbells in the stands here at Mount America Stadium well I hope not because I as something I always tell Mississippi State fans never travel with your cowbell that's that's an easy way to get it taken up cowbells are for Davis White Stadium only and then if you go to a bowl game if they'll let you bring them that's fine but taking them on the road is a great way to never see your cowbell again um I think it's going to be a close game I think it's gonna be a high-scoring game um I saw Bill Connelly from ESPN the S&P Plus at it Mississippi State 2825 I might add 10 points to each team score in that one something like 38 35 I really do think the offenses will dominate the day at the end of the day you know I would normally tell you that an SEC team would be able to come in and and physically dominate both lines of I don't know if that's the case uh in this one if if if Arizona state is able to get a couple of early possessions and get a couple of early scores I think they can ride the crowd to Victory I'll I would take state to win in a close one right here but if Arizona State comes out and wins this game I won't be surprised by that at all well Brian definitely appreciate your time your expertise and your insight into the Bulldogs and we'll have to get you back on the show next year when the devils are making the return trip to Mississippi absolutely be happy to do it so before Brad and I jump into our preview of Miss Mississippi State you got to get ready as well with cactus Sports while many ASU stores have come and gone Cactus Sports is a community staple founded owned and operated by ASU alumni since 1992 every purchase made through Cactus sports results in royalties that help support Arizona State University many of their competitors have been bought out and operated by out ofate corporations while Cactus Sports stays locally owned and operated they considered a privilege to be able to work together with their guests 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B local so now Brad that uh that Victory opening night over Wyoming that means quite a bit right but I reckon that when it comes to this game coming up on Saturday it just means more there there it is the Bulldogs coming to town SEC football brothers and sisters coming into Tempe to see what ASU has to see what this sundevil team is all about a lot on the line here a lot of intrigue a lot of folks looking at this game and saying all right I'm happy about that opening win against Wyoming but I'll wait to see if ASU for real to see what they do against Mississippi State coming to 10p yeah and uh a lot of folks externally are taking note of the as the ASU victory over wyomi because I believe as of this recording ASU is a six and a half Point favorite and that went up I think it was only about a field goal to beginning with minus three and then now yeah it's almost encroach on a touchdown so maybe people are starting to realize that uh you know they they were sleeping on the Devils a little bit but this is a Mississippi State team that you know obviously not a whole lot of expectations in year one of new head coach Jeff Levy but this is still an SEC roster I mean this is still there's a lot of very talented guys you for those folks who like the recruiting rankings a lot of blue chippers on this roster so this going to be a significant Step Up in opposing talent for the devils and this is the first time in nearly a decade that ASU has played an SEC opponent I know people are hearing a lot of narratives uh about ASU versus the SEC all time and they might be kind of questioning it a little bit but I got the logic for you I got it got all figured out if there's still question marks uh because we're hearing about asu's never beaten an SEC team so that's technically correct correct if you look at it within the context of ASU playing that team and what conference that team was in when the two teams played ASU is 0 and five all time against active SE teams and and kind of oddly those all those games have happened within the last 20 years uh it began with that Heartbreaker against LSU in 2005 I remember being the stands for that one as a student at ASU those losses to Georgia in ' 08 8 and 09 Missouri in 2012 that was their first year in the SEC and then that neutral site game to open the 2015 season against Texas A and M now ASU is 4 and 11 all time against the teams that currently comprise the SEC but some of those are games against the likes of Texas and Oklahoma which obviously just joined the conference this year as has several games against Missouri from years ago well before uh they joined the SEC so that's kind of how it works out to where you kind a couple different statistics you can talk about yeah and I believe this is the first of 10 total SEC matchups over the last next like eight or nine years you have a like ASU heads to Starkville next year then there's an A&M home and home Florida home and home maybe that LSU series finally gets it's on the schedule we'll see uh and then the Texas uh in somewhere in the early 2030s right yeah that that LSU game it kind of reminds me of like that what is it back to the future to when the guy comes out at the end and he's like we had this running bet that you we didn't know if you'd show like this you know years and years of of of hype and expectations and delays and things like that so obviously naturally this is the first ever meeting between Arizona State and Mississippi State and you know looking at the Bulldogs looking at the program over the last you know decade or so you really kind of cut it into different chunks you know from 2014 to 2018 uh they had at least eight wins and four of those five seasons I remember I believe it was 2014 with Dak Prescott like they were number one in the country for a period of time that first yeah the first playoff rankings yeah Mississippi State one ASU 6 yeah so that's like probably image we'll use you know leading into this game then you fast forward 2019 to to last year only one season above seven wins and that was when they were 9 and4 in 2022 obviously a a tragic occurrence not only for Mississippi State but the the college football the Sports World over uh when Mike Leech head coach from 2020 to 2022 for the Bulldogs passed away on December 12th of 2022 Zack Arnett took over as interim head coach for the bowl game of that season than the first 10 games of last year uh but he was dismissed after a 4 and six record you heard about that in our no year enemy segment Greg Knox took over and split the final two games that that he was head coach last year and then uh you know moved on to to a new head coach but if we're looking at that 2023 season it was a back and forth deal last year for the Bulldogs started with back-to-back wins and hey including a victory overtime win against the U OFA so good for them but then that was followed by three straight losses then two wins then three straight losses before splitting the final two games including a season ending loss uh in the egg to rival Old Miss so just a back and forth type of thing last year moving ahead to this year Jeff leby hired as head coach this off season most recently the OC and quarterback coach at Oklahoma from 2022 to 2023 and he had the same roles at Old Miss from 2020 to 20 one uh so the main objective there was to kickart this Mississippi State offense and and they got a accomplished mind to do that yeah and so this lby offense off to a good start putting up 56 now it wasn't it wasn't an imperfect game and leby was not happy at all with the the ground game and you know it is a spread game and there's going to be a lot more passes uh on Saturday than ASU saw in the opener but this is still an offense that likes to run the ball a little bit and uh you know they're kind of running with a running back rotation no no lead back but uh also have a dual threat quarterback Joe with a familiar name yeah and if we're looking at this team kind of from the the macro perspective entering the season Mississippi state was picked next to last in the SEC in the preseason media only head of Vanderbilt now they did come into this season with tied for the number 23 transfer class according to rivals.com and the number 26 traditional recruiting class according to Rivals so you know they're getting some uh talented players in the mix several key departures from both sides of the ball it's a very very different looking team from last year between the coaching staff and the players 56 to7 win over FCS Eastern Kentucky last week you know a lot of similarities between these two teams and how they won their games Mississippi State jumped out to a 14 nothing lead fewer than 4 minutes into the game had a 35 to7 halftime lead outgained Eastern Kentucky 450 to 295 uh but moving ahead and looking toward the Personnel that you mentioned there on offense Mississippi State lost their two top quarterbacks their top running back they all transferred between transfers and graduation they lost their top five pass catchers in terms of receiving receiving yardage from 2023 so a lot of guys out the door and a lot of new pieces into the fold and getting to that quarterback you talked about about Blake shapen some of the semi longtime you know followers of recruiting uh know that name recognize that name formerly a verbal commit to Arizona State for both football and baseball in around 2019 ended up decommitting signed with Baylor was there from 2020 to 23 threw for over 5,500 yards but made his way to Mississippi State for this season which I believe is his final though there are guys that are spent a lot of time in college these days yeah I so he actually was on the show after he committed so I might have to go through the archives and maybe dig put that back out there just for some fun but yeah he's a a guy who's won some big games Health has been a kind of concern uh throughout the course of his career but uh you know good showing early on very strong arm obviously with great athleticism uh with the two sport athlete there and uh you know kind of like Sam l a dual threat not necessarily a guy that you're going to look at to be as a big time runner but somebody who had great success against the Eastern Kentucky and uh can make his mark on the ground so asu's defense got to be cognizant of that threat and statistically week one for a very sharp game 15 out of 20 passing for 247 yards three touchdowns no interceptions uh 44 rushing yards on seven carries with a touchdown he was the team's leading rusher uh at running back ion Lee ran nine times for 40 yards Devon boo eight carries for 39 yards and a touchdown so again as you alluded to and as was the case for ASU and is often the case in these you know blowout week one wins uh a lot of guys like single digit carries uh you know but they they had some ones that performed fairly well maybe not quite to the level of ASU as you mentioned the the Run game is something that they were looking for improvement in but uh you're going to see two quarterbacks that at least after one week now shapen obviously has much more experience than Sam levit but looked efficient looked effective took care of the ball and also ran the ball yeah and so that asu's got to be uh having if they can get another similar effort to what they were able to do putting the clamps on the Wyoming run game a team that also wants to run now this is of course going to be a different style you know Lee is a guy that brings some some nice heft to to the uh ground game as well um but I think you know outside of the run this is going to be a real good interesting match up between asu's defensive backs and a much improved group of wide receivers uh for the uh the Bulldogs there Kevin Coleman Jordan Mosley had some big games on Saturday but uh you know as you heard in our prior segment Kelly aari from utap a deep threat a guy who can really stretch out that defense uh it looks like he's trending to play so you know we'll track that next couple days but you know we talked about in the the review of the win asu's Corners are going to have to really kind of get their game going yeah Jordan Mosley five catches 104 yards and a touchdown last week U very explosive game for him he's worked his way up the depth chart for Mississippi State because he transferred in from Northwestern after the 2021 season only caught five combined pass in the last two season obviously he did that in one game with a triple digit effort as well Kevin Coleman five catches 88 yards and a touchdown he also had 117 punt return yards so 205 allpurpose yards if you remember that name um his name was being thrown around as a as a plausible recruit for ASU if you remember like the AJ Duffy recruitment at quarterback uh and Coleman end up being one of those fourstar recruits along with the likes of Travis Hunter who Deion Sanders lured to Jackson State he began his career at that FCS program even though he was a fourstar uh recruit now he didn't obviously follow Sanders to Colorado he went to Louisville last year and then of course transferred to Mississippi State for this season true freshman Mario craer had a a 54 yard touchdown in his first action so even though they're a lot of new faces there for Mississippi State as there are for ASU uh some guys were making plays last week for sure yeah and another area where there's a lot of new phases along that offensive line they really kind of overhauled everything with I believe four new starters coming in as well another guy kind of kicking and changing positions so I think that's going to be real interesting to see asu's front six had some big time success and of course you know with Elijah O'Neal and Clayton Smith and you know the backers and you know what Brian Ward likes to dial up you know maybe kept things a little vanilla maybe keep some things you know close to the chest that he's going to deploy on Saturday because I think this this an opportunity if a really kind of wants to slow shapen and the uh Mississippi State aerial attack down I think they have the Personnel in order to do that yeah and so so AC is going to be facing an experienced accomplished quarterback some Playmakers on offense uh this will be a test for sure now flipping over to the defense man between graduation and transfers Mississippi State lost seven of their top eight tacklers from 2023 Bulldogs had three total players drafted into the NFL draft in 2024 all three came from the defensive side they have some wild stats if you look at things from last year they had two players with 130 plus tackles that is nuts like if you get to 100 and they played 12 games they didn't go to ball game you know like that's wild one of them the team's only First Team all sec pick defensive back Nathaniel Watson I mean this dudee is just an absolute Beast defensive back 137 tackles and 10 sacks this is like like David fure type stuff and he's a big dude but he's gone Cory Ellington he's the team's leading returner in terms of tackles and sacks he had 6 66 tackles and two sacks last year uh Saturday last week uh in the first game of the season free safety Isaac Smith led the team with 11 tackles in the pass breakup Brandon Jennings and zakari Tilman each had six tackles Elijah Cannon had a 51 yard pick six as a team they had four tfls two sacks one blocked kick um so there are a lot of questions to be answered on defense for Mississippi State and this is going to be an area where ASU really needs to take advantage and try to control the pace of the game especially on the ground and then of course with efficient play from Sam lit yeah mississipp Mississippi State lost a lot up front I think the ASU can continue their success and they might need another 200 plus yards on the ground as you mentioned can kind of control the tempo the game but also just you know some of their best Playmakers offensively are really stacked in that back field but you know they do I will say that you know they they brought in some some interesting players through the transfer portal to bolster that uh Bulldog defense and stone Blandon which a is just a great linebacker name but an accomplished guy from South Carolina kind of in that middle of the defense so you might be seeing a lot of stone Blandon and cam scabo getting acquainted on Saturday night and before we jump into our keys to the game and our scoreboard predictions you already know a key to being a sundevil fan is eating food at spaghetti Shack which of course as you know by now not just owned and operated by sundevils but by a former Sparky the sundevil the spaghetti Shack is a community focused tog go pasta Concepts started right here in Tempe Arizona by five lifelong friends they serve a menu starring spaghetti meatballs garlic bread and a few other fan favorites they make it their mission to provide quality affordable food as quickly as possible so you can spend less time cooking and spend more time with your loved ones they offer a variet of Italian American options for you to choose from whether you want to pick one of their delicious options or build your own Shack by choosing the amount of pasta type of sauce and protein they have options for anybody and any family they have two locations one in Tempe at 6340 South r Road near the intersection of R and Guadalupe which is open every day from 11:00 to 9: and for those up north they have that Pinetop Lakeside location at 592 West White Mountain Boulevard open daily from 11: to 8: you can follow them on Facebook Instagram and Tik Tok at the spaghetti Shack and on Twitter at spaghetti Shack so Brad is this huge match up with ANC team uh again a lot on the line because the difference for ASU in starting one- one versus 2-0 I think is going to really tell a lot for this season what is your first key to this year ball game ASU is going to need to control the tempo on both sides of the ball or at least adjust the tempo as best they can offensively talked about you know continuing to hammer away at the Bulldogs with that run game but really I think the big Tempo issue is going to be on the defensive side cuz this Jeff lebby offense as he's done they are uptempo they like to run a lot of plays very fast and ASU got a a very deep defense they have talked all off season long they don't have starting 11 they have starting 22 so there's a lot of rotation but you're going to you're probably going to need that rotation to keep these guys fresh because the Bulldogs are going to get after you and they're going to be running a lot of plays quick so you got to be ready for that Onslaught in that Tempo and we don't compare our notes or anything like that but had one it's control the pace on both sides as you mentioned you know ASU showed the ability to run the ball with some ferocity and aggression last week you keep that going and you milk that clock and you keep their offense off the off the field and in the process you move yourself down the field score some points defensively you have to do what you did last week and swarm to the ball bring guys down on First Contact uh you know get them shorter yardage gains than they were intending to get or thought that they would get there were a lot of occasions last week where it was just like a Wyoming Ball Carrier hit a brick wall you need to have that sort of thing happen you can't give them extra yardage and once again on offense you can't be getting three and outs or or missing out on opportunities because that's going to be your real way to strike within this game and you're going against a Mississippi State Defense that again has a lot of question marks so you should be able to do those things all right my second key is uh have those cornerbacks be ready they need to elevate their game they need to uh kind of step up cuz they're going to be throwing that ball a lot and uh you know this is going to be an offense that likes to run the ball but I think this is going to have this is has the makings of a shootout there's going to be a lot there's be some points scored on Saturday night in asu's Corners we still have some questions I'd like to have some of those questions answered Keith Abney Javin Robinson Lut Terrence Welch Rodney bimage the true freshman it's going to be his biggest test early in his career but you got to see those guys kind of Step Up I feel pretty good about what we're going to see from the safeties Shamari Simmons at at nickel Kamari Wilson and zavon Alford uh at the safety spots but those cornerbacks as we talked about there's a number of quality wide receivers they might be getting some reinforcements back as well so those Corners got to be ready the second one for me is don't lose the quarterback battle and I worded it that way intentionally not saying you have to go out and win the quarterback battle between Sam levit Blake shabin just don't lose it Sam L doesn't have to go out and throw for 350 yards in five touchdowns but he can't throw for 50% completion rate and three interceptions and and a fumble or two or something like that with ASU strength being on the ground play to that feed into that and then feed off that you know play action take advantage of those opportunities you just can't have if you know you can't have the quarterback be a liability of course as we talked about incredible great across the board for Le in his first career start but it is that it is still his first career start so you can't have him out there under the lights what hopefully is a big crowd at Mountain America Stadium playing an SEC team in a game again that a win could give ASU tremendous momentum that just simply hasn't had in the last couple years you don't need to go out there try to be Superman you know rely on your running backs just don't make mistakes he'll make his plays I'm confident of that again just when the game is over don't have the side-by-side comparison the quarterback say yep that one is the reason that that team lost Lo the game all right my final key is at that third phase of the game special teams I did not necessarily like what I saw in a couple key areas that you can't be missing those field goals sub 40 at this level I feel should be automatic Ian Hershey's a a solid kicker so we'll see if he can Elevate that to be a good kicker and to do that you got to be able to consistently nail from 38 from 28 from 45 this this is a a team in a season that's probably going to have some tight margins and ASU just can't afford to lose points like that Canyon Floyd at at punter now he had a good net average but he had that one where ASU had an opportunity to pin him deep and to maybe it was the the first game and first punt Jitters getting a little extra energy kick that one into the end zone now granted Justin Watley made sure that uh that was kind of rectified pretty quick with two good plays and taking it for a defensive touchdown but Canyon Floyd has a strong leg and the ability to kind of flip that field that's something ASU sorely lacked a year ago so just all around I think you need to clean up the Special Teams a little bit you have Parker Lewis on those kickoffs strong leg you should be able to Rifle those for touchbacks but in the the I feel pretty good about the returners but I think for the Specialists and when you have those field goal opportunities you got to convert especially sub 40 and you got to be able to flip that field or pin the the opposing team inside the 10 every chance you get my third and final key it it's an important key no matter what but especially on the heels of uh the Tuesday practice for Arizona State you got to stay focused continue to attack heard the comments from Kenny Dillingham about not being thrilled in any capacity with the Tuesday practice you you can't get ahead of yourself you can't get arrogant by a large margin victory in week one you got to just clean the slate and focus on the team at hand but but you need to attack you know continue to do what you did defensively just go after it you know pin your pin your ears back and just fly like they were when you're running the ball make the tackler reg regret tackling you and some of the guys were doing that so they have the ability obviously to do that but it's imperative that the team stays focused because one way or another I think this game is going to really determine a lot for ASU for the entire course of this season all right I guess it's time for our predictions uh I'll start things off and I I kind of you know off off your final point there I think this has some interesting narrative implications now I think in the grand scheme a win or loss is not too terribly important in in like the rebuild of sundevil football but I think right now you have an opportunity you've got some excitement coming off the big you know relatively surprising win over Wyoming especially the fashion that it was you got people excited you got the student section that was near capacity and near a record size so I think there's some some excitement that ASU needs to take advantage of and I think they're going to come out they always play better at home and they always are able to kind of you know come up and maybe clip an opponent that they shouldn't but this is a team I think that they match up pretty well against and when I look at the four principal units in this game the offenses and defenses I think asu's defense is right now probably the one I have the most confidence in I do think that this is going to be kind of a back and forth shootout Affair maybe not necessarily like a you know a shootout between those legendary offense like Arizona and New Mexico or something along those lines along that but I still think that this is going to be a a game where both teams are going to be having their moments ultimately though I think asu's defense is going to be the one that's going to be able to maybe get that one stand they need at a critical moment or force a key mistake get a critical turnover uh get a sack that puts him you know really behind the sticks so ultimately I think you know it's going to be a lot of fun a lot of you know kind of White Knuckle moments for fans of both teams if this game was in Starkville I'd probably flip the score or keep the uh score the same flip the the winner but ASU 2-0 3428 go to Echo a lot of that you know I think there should be some energy some enthusiasm um for those of you listening to and watching this man get on out there Saturday because this team really earned it last week they they they earned the the cost of admission for as many sunville fans as humanly possible obviously when Mountain America Stadium gets rocking that is a very difficult place to play for opposing teams uh ASU seems to have very good fortune against visiting teams from Power conferences I mean we know the whole deal with the the Big 10 now granted that's a different you know climate than the southeast but there is something special about ball being played in Tempe when there's some momentum on the side of the sundevils really looking for Sam levit to have this you know kind of be the the game that might you know kind of get him on the map a little bit uh that quarterback battle I really can't highlight that enough about how important it is that the the Lesser experienced quarterback of the two of course being Sam levit uh plays at that level of his counterpart Blake shapen who has a tremendous amount of Collegiate Experience but uh like you were saying Brad I think that they're a lot of matchups that favor ASU um especially when the sundevils have the ball I believe that they should be able to run with Effectiveness they can do that you milk the clock you just demoralize the defense and you keep momentum on the side of the home team but I feel like this one is going to be a tight contest uh because the SEC teams these are prepared you know you've got a very good head coach in terms of just uh offensive uh credentials in Jeff lebby and they can bring that to the desert here so it's really tough to predict because both these teams are so different night and day personnel-wise from last year so you really can't look at anything from last season from Mississippi State and you know draw these conclusions because there's just so much roster turnover just like there is for Arizona State but but again I think this is going to be a back and forth one but the sundevils make it out 2 and0 little bit different score from Brad but not too far off I'm calling 3124 now before we wrap things up here we want to spend a spend some time to give a huge thank you to our wonderful friend at sundevil Family Charities a 501c3 nonprofit organization created primarily for the purpose of raising funds to provide financial assistance to Arizona State University alumni students staff and immediate family members adversely affected by medical issues their sdfc cares program allows qualified individuals to request financial assistance by completing an application and submitting verification of medical expenses which are evaluated by their patient services committee sdfc cares is the flagship program through which Sun of Family Charities provides financial assistance to qualified applicants individuals and their immediate family me families who have an affiliation with Arizona State University and are facing financial hardship due to a serious health or medical condition are encouraged to submit an application monetary donations are always appreciated and support those in need due to an unexpected medical condition volunteer and sponsorship opportunities are also available and these opportunities can all be found on online on their website sundevil family.org follow them on Facebook at facebook.com/ sundevil Family Charities and on Twitter at sundevil forfamily all right before we close things out today you know we both talking about how asu's Run game is going to be critically important on Saturday so might as well talk to the man top that running back depth chart here's Cameron scabo last year even after we won so um it was good to see I mean the confidence is high right now le need to make sure we keep our heads screwed on straight and focus on each week one at a time you said something wrong L after the game there was a different team you guys saw I felt you kind of hold matches what was how nice was to see that to know that you guys have turned that page and things were truly different yeah I mean it was beautiful I mean we we executed on all cylinders um defense I mean just like last year played their butts off um and offense finally got it going uh we had a lot to work on coming out of last year and bringing Sam in and bringing Jeff in and having guys that come in and uh fulfill those shoes and being able to make plays um number 10 did a great job and I mean you see the difference now what going I mean um we're we're here to play you know um we're not going to be here to take lightly um teams that team probably came in here thinking we were going to be terrible um and people can't think that anymore cuz we have a team with us we have a a tight team um guys that like each other and guys that want to play football for Coach Billingham and for each other say what the assignment level is playing on SEC team on your home field Saturday yeah I think the biggest thing is is is playing another team um we get the opportunity to play another team um no matter who it is we played the Mountain West team last year last week like like we were playing SEC team so um we're ready to battle against whoever we we ever whoever we play and um we're hoping that you know whoever steps in front of us they can defeat and take take on take on great Pete carry offens oh all right we had talked about that I'm going to no comment on that one and then students actually here it's going to be a rowdy crowd what's that going to be like I me set a record problem almost setting a record last week and then potentially doing it this week that'd be awesome you know um the more we win the more people are going to show up and um with people with all the students coming and 14,000 fans come out um just them alone you know bring brings a loud brings a loud crowd of the roar I mean loud roar to the crowd so I mean I'm excited to hopefully break it and if we do then grats to them um we still got more games to play so let's keep it going see the rest of the guys in that running back room really kind of contributed Ka and Carlos getting in the end zone as well Jason even doing some good things well how did you see kind of the your evaluation of the rest of the the running backs I mean I told you in Spring ball you know I told everyone in Spring ball that we have five guys in that backfield that can play football um and even now with Jason Brown in there that that he can play um he's not scared of nobody he's he's athletic he can play football like he's a good ball player um just developing and getting those guys out there is just the biggest part and I mean they all played great you know s sip did an excellent job coming in D Carlos great job I mean I you can't really downplay any of them they all had they all touched the ball five plus times and they all did something with the ball so I'm I'm super happy for those guys and super excited to see what they're going to do in the future you made comment after the game that you know it was kind of nice you know getting out in the third quarter on a positive note and just having guys that can you know maybe help you carry that load what kind of impact do you expect to have that as kind of the season and the grind wears on yeah it's huge cuz you know take taking the ball 30 times a game and taking 300 snaps a game or 300 snaps you know a week in practice and then going out game and taking 100 snaps it's hard on your body so having those guys not only in the game but in practice is huge cuz we're all rotating everybody knows what's going on everybody's getting the the hang of things and I mean it's huge having those guys cuz they're here for me and I'm here for them what do you think that win on Saturday night they kind of said maybe to people that maybe were little skeptical about this suevel team um I mean we're one and0 you know um I look at it as 0 and0 that was a Mountain West team we're a big 12 team we're supposed to beat that team that's not that's not a win that we should be excited exced about but even though we got the win you know we still have another week to play now it's an opponent so we go from Mountain West to so we'll see how that plays out what jumps out to you in your early preparation about this Mississippi State Defense um they're big they're physical um we just got to work hard uh we got to play our brand of football I'm not worried about anybody else who play against if our offense worries about our offense and defense worries about ourselves and we do our jobs right there's not many people that can be were going to be the the keys to you know keeping up that momentum and the offensive success that you guys had on Saturday uh I mean just working every day I mean if you're constantly working and getting people to see you and you have your teammates on your backside working just as hard as you are um I mean it comes it comes along and that's going to do it for this episode of speak of the devils like to thank Our Guest Brian hey Dad Cameron scabo and xaven Alford this game this week's game will kick off at 7:30 another National TV game Joe ESPN like Prime like the flagship ESPN none of this it's so great just not being in the in the Pack 12 Network sphere anymore you know what there are some good people that I'm not not thrilled that they're not affiliated with that anymore but you know what from the fan perspective the viewer perspective it is a wonderful thing so make sure you stay with the show on the social media side lots of good stuff coming all week long you can follow the show on Twitter at SD podcast on Instagram at speak of theed devils subscribe on YouTube like us on Facebook and give me a follow on all things social at b29 and you can follow me at Joe hey 42 and once again just a huge shout out and and a big time thank you to our incredible sponsors and once again that list is Jones Auto Group Devils digest.com Cactus Sports Burrito Express spaghetti Shack sunville Family Charities and HomeField apparel and then when you're done supporting our amazing sponsors drop us a festar review on the podcast platform of your choice Joe and I will be back next week to wrap up the battle against the Bulldogs and look ahead to a road trip to San Marcos I