Arizona State and Arizona have just one loss each on the football field. In an ideal world both would navigate their way through the next month of games and meet up in Tucson on Friday, November 28th with plenty on the line. 1986 was the last time that both schools came into that game ranked according to Arizona State.
ASU has Notre Dame on their schedule. A win over the Irish next month(assuming they don’t stumble the next two weeks) would vault the Sun Devils into the rarified air of college football. The Notre Dame game could shape up as one of the biggest in Sun Devil Stadium since the 1996 matchup against Nebraska. I say “could” because if ASU comes up short against Washington Saturday or next week against Utah, the Notre Dame game loses much of the luster (Irish fans would disagree).
Both schools have to go through the “one week, one game at a time” mentality. Nothing wrong with that, but if you’re Arizona there isn’t another team on their schedule with the exception of the Sun Devils, that could give them a big resume builder if they win. While no one is giving either Arizona State or Arizona a chance to make it through unscathed till the Territorial Cup the day after Thanksgiving, I’m merely giving both sets of fans a view of what it would take to have something more than just a nice season and the usual trip to the Sun, Alamo, Holiday, or Vegas bowl. Arizona fans should root for ASU to run the table up to the game in late November. ASU fans should root for Arizona to have success so that when they do go to Tucson, there is much meaning to the game.
Brad Cesmat
