ARIZONA STATE FOOTBALL

ASU faces biggest challenge to date at Cal

Sep 27, 2012, 8:21 PM | Updated: Sep 28, 2012, 12:52 am

The Arizona State Sun Devils are a confident bunch.

Why shouldn’t they be? Under first-year head coach Todd Graham, the Devils are off to a 3-1 start and are playing a disciplined brand of football.

Their opponent this week, the California Golden Bears, are in a much different place. Cal is 1-3 after consecutive losses to Ohio State and USC and in desperate need of a win for embattled head coach Jeff Tedford.

Despite all the turmoil, the Sun Devils know that Cal is loaded with talent and capable of putting it all together at any time.

“Their skill people are really, really good,” Graham said Thursday following practice. “Their running backs — (Brendan) Bigelow is dynamic and obviously (Keenan) Allen, their wide receiver, is as good as their is.”

The Bears average 411 yards and 27 points per game, which both have them in the middle of the pack in the national rankings, but Graham is concerned about Cal’s big play ability.

“I guess that’s the thing that impresses me the most — they’ve got so many players at running back and receiver that can take the ball to the house, and I don’t think we’ve played against anybody that has that to this point.”

Talent aside, the Sun Devils haven’t won in Berkeley since 1997 — a fact that everybody associated with the program has been bludgeoned with leading into the game. Graham and his players are not concerned with that history, but are very aware just how big this game is for the program.

“It’d be huge, we haven’t beaten those guys in a while and I think it’s going to help us stay in the driver’s seat right now for the Pac-12 South,” senior offensive lineman Evan Finkenberg said.

Arizona Sports’ Craig Grialou contributed to this report

Arizona State Football

Jeremy Schnell/Arizona Sports...

Jesse Morrison

State of the Sun Devils Podcast: Did Arizona State football get a moral victory over USC?

On the latest edition of the State of the Sun Devils podcast, the guys react to ASU's surprisingly good performance against USC.

8 hours ago

Arizona State starting quarterback Trenton Bourguet...

Arizona Sports

Arizona State likely back to Trenton Bourguet as starting quarterback vs. Cal

Drew Pyne will be out for at least Arizona State's game against Cal, but Trenton Bourguet was reportedly back at practice on Tuesday.

17 hours ago

ASU Head Coach Kenny Dillingham, Fresno State at Arizona State September 18, 2023 (Jeremy Schnell/A...

Aaron Schmidt

Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham critiques himself over play-calling vs. USC

Taking over for Beau Baldwin as play-caller this past Saturday, coach Kenny Dillingham implemented an aggressive, yet creative gameplan.

17 hours ago

Jeremy Schnell/Arizona Sports...

Wills Rice

ASU football battling moral victories vs. growth before 1st road test at Cal

ASU is coming off a positive performance against USC before traveling to play Cal, but is battling moral victories vs. growth as a team.

2 days ago

Caleb Williams...

Arizona Sports

ASU-Colorado matchup between Kenny Dillingham, Deion Sanders airing on Pac-12 Network

The Pac-12 announced start times and channels for Arizona State's football game against Colorado and Arizona at USC.

2 days ago

USC's Caleb Williams and ASU's Jalin Conyers (Jeremy Schnell/Arizona Sports)...

Wills Rice

Arizona State just misses upset bid in loss to USC, Caleb Williams

The Arizona State Sun Devils fell short of their upset dreams with a 42-28 loss to USC at Mountain America Stadium on Saturday.

3 days ago

ASU faces biggest challenge to date at Cal