Tag: Arizona State Sun Devils

Arizona State fans rush the field too early in the most chaotic moment of the college football season

This was so close to an absolute disaster!

What is it with college football fans rushing the field too soon this season?

The latest trend in college football feels like the fan equivalent of dropping the ball before crossing the goal line. Saturday saw Arizona State become the third fanbase in the last month to commit the absurd sin — but it was easily the most chaotic.

As the No. 21 Sun Devils hosted No. 14 BYU in a game with Big 12 championship — and College Football Playoff — implications, Arizona State fans thought the game was after running out the clock on fourth down near midfield with a 28-23 lead. In fact, there was one second left on the clock, which meant BYU still had a chance at a Hail Mary to pull off the comeback.

But all of that had to be sorted out while fans were actively rushing the field, creating absolute madness as coaches, players and fans tried to spread the word that the game was not over.

Getting all the fans back to their seats wasn’t exactly realistic. Instead, the officials decided to clear the field as much as possible. Which meant packing fans along the sidelines in a truly bizarre scene.

 

About 20 minutes after fans first rushed the field, play was finally able to resume. BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff dropped back, bought himself some time and heaved a ball all the way down to the two-yard line. Game over. Arizona State wins. And the fans got to rush again — this time without any barriers.

Thankfully this worked out for Arizona State, but we’ve really got to chill on this trend. Just wait til the clock hits zero before you celebrate a win.

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Top three in PGA Tour University Class of 2025 standings grouped together at Williams Cup

The race for a PGA Tour card is heating up.

It’s shaping up to be the tightest race for a PGA Tour card in the history of PGA Tour University.

In 2023, Ludvig Aberg dominated his competition en route to becoming the first college player to earn a PGA Tour card via PGA Tour U. Last year, after dealing with an injury in the fall, Michael Thorbjornsen also had a relatively straight path to earning his card.

This time, it’s all up for grabs.

The race for the top spot in the PGA Tour University Class of 2025 standings has numerous players in position to earn a PGA Tour card, which is awarded after the final stroke-play round of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship. And this week, the top three players in the standings got a first-hand look at their competition in North Carolina.

The Tar Heels men’s golf team is hosting the Williams Cup at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, North Carolina, featuring some of the top teams from across the country in one of the last events this fall.

Included on those teams are some of the top players, like the top four in the PGA Tour University standings.

And Nos. 1, 2 and 3 were grouped together Sunday in the first round.

Auburn’s Brendan Valdes, North Carolina’s David Ford and Arizona State’s Josele Ballester played their opening 18 holes together in the Williams Cup. As if the three of the top amateurs in the world didn’t have enough pressure to perform for their teams, there’s also the competition for guaranteed job security straight out of college.

Arizona State’s Preston Summerhays is also competing, sitting at No. 4 in the standings. He debuted at No. 1 when the Class of 2025 rankings were announced this summer. Also in the field is Louisville’s Sebastian Moss, who’s No. 8.

Florida’s Ian Gilligan, No. 11 in the standings, made the cut this week at the PGA Tour’s Shriners Children’s Open, or else he’d also be in the field at the Williams Cup.

With roughly seven months remaining until one of them earns his PGA Tour card, every tournament, round and stroke matters. And at the Williams Cup, the top three are paired together have a little extra pressure than being a counting score for their team Sunday.

Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham apologizes for calling for kicking tryouts after Cincinnati loss

Ouch. Kenny Dillingham not-so-subtly threw his kicker under the bus after losing to Cincinnati.

Arizona State lost Saturday to Cincinnati, 24-14. Afterwards, Sun Devils’ coach Kenny Dillingham not so subtly pointed a finger at his kicker – never mind the fact that if two missed field goals had been makes, Arizona State would have still lost.

“Our kicking game is atrocious,” Dillingham said. “If you can kick and you’re at Arizona State, email me. Right? We’re going to have kicking tryouts on Monday… I’m dead serious.”

Ouch.

It’s worth noting that kicker Ian Hershey made both of his extra points on Saturday and is 18-of-19 on those for the year and 7-of-10 on field goals – which, for college kickers, ain’t all that bad. For whatever reason, Dillingham felt that Arizona State’s kicking game deserved some of the blame for the loss.

However, Dillingham seemed to immediately regret his choice of words in the postgame presser and posted an apology to social media on Saturday night.

Kicking woes and this latest defeat aside, Arizona State is outperforming expectations in Year Two under Dillingham. In their first season in the Big 12, the Sun Devils are 5-2.

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Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham apologizes for blasting kicker

Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham had to apologize for ripping his kicker

Arizona State fell into a first-half hole against Cincinnati and wasn’t about to climb out on Saturday.

After the 24-14 loss, coach Kenny Dillingham went off on kicking. Ian Hershey was 0-for-2 on field goal attempts.

Hershey missed wide left on attempts from 48 and 41 yards, respectively.

“You know you hope you can make a kick one of those, but our kicking game is atrocious,” Dillingham said. “If you can kick and you’re at Arizona State, email me. We’re going to have kicking tryouts on Monday. Seriously, let’s go. We’re going to put it out on social (media).”

Once Dillingham had a chance to cool if he took to social media to apologize.

Arizona State vs. Cincinnati: A battle of two Big 12 teams exceeding expectations

The Big 12 Conference continues to put out the most exciting games every week. This week? It will be the Arizona State Sun Devils, led by Cam Skattebo, and Cincinnati Bearcats.

The Big 12 is as exciting as any college football conference in America. Every weekend there are comeback wins, last-minute victories, and incredible individual performances.

The Arizona State Sun Devils’ lone blemish this year was a one-score loss in Lubbock to the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Outside of that, the Sun Devils have spent the year laughing at a preseason ranking that had them dead last in the Big 12. ASU is 5-1, doesn’t play a ranked team until mid-November, and has a realistic shot at 10 wins on the season.

But standing in their way this weekend are the Cincinnati Bearcats. Cincy has a similar one-score loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, but they also let the No. 20 Pittsburgh Panthers, an undefeated Power 4 team, come back and beat them by one point. Cincinnati faces a similarly tough November, but also has a chance at really shocking the world by breaking through the nine-win mark.

The matchup between ASU and Cincinnati is the game of the weekend in the Big 12 because it will propel ONE of these teams to a year that far exceeds expectations and the other, well… the other may be who we thought they were.

This game features two of the most electric athletes in the Big 12 who aren’t getting enough national attention. The running backs, ASU’s Cam Skattebo and Cincinnati’s Corey Kiner, are different runners stylistically but they are similarly dominant. Skattebo is averaging 5.8 yards per carry and more than a touchdown per game. Kiner gets 5.9 yards per game himself.

The difference is going to come down to who gets more out of their quarterback, and Brendan Sorsby of Cincinnati may be the Sun Devils’ spoiler. When given time to throw, Sorsby has scorched teams. His 13 touchdowns to three interception ratio is strong and could easily be the difference maker in this exciting Big 12 matchup.

Arizona State continues turning heads with big win over Utah

Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham was fired up postgame after a win over the Utah Utes put his team at 5-1 on the year.

Quite a few college football programs have performed unexpectedly this season – a testament in many ways to the difficulty predicting how teams will do in the NIL and transfer portal era.

Some programs are wildly underperforming expectations, like the Florida State Seminoles, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Kansas Jayhawks, while others are playing at a much higher level, like the Indiana Hoosiers who became the first bowl eligible team in the country.

Another program in the latter category is Kenny Dillingham’s Arizona State Sun Devils, who entered the Big 12 coming off a 3-9 campaign in 2023.

ASU is now 5-1 on the year and 2-1 in Big 12 play after a stunning victory over the No. 16 ranked Utah Utes, who despite having veteran quarterback Cam Rising back were unable to generate much offense against Dillingham’s defense.

Rising did not look ready to return to the field, although a first-quarter leg injury contributed to his struggles. The seventh-year senior had a trio of interceptions, completing just 16 of 37 passes for 209 yards.

“Those guys did a great job of getting open, but I wasn’t able to get them the ball and throw it accurate,” Rising said. “We just weren’t able to move it because of that.”

The Sun Devils are now 5-1 on the season, with the only loss coming on the road at Texas Tech, 30-22.

However, some of the wins are a bit dubious. Mississippi State is the worst team in the SEC, while Kansas is arguably the worst team in the Big 12 – and Arizona State beat each of them by one score or less.

The Utah win is the first really good W for Dillingham this season – and arguably the biggest of his first two seasons as head coach after coming over from Oregon ahead of the 2023 season.

Dillingham, who went to Arizona State, sure knew how to celebrate the moment after the game – screaming through his postgame interview and getting caught in the student mosh pit.

“I was one of these guys,” Dillingham exclaimed while the crowd pulled him away. “I was doing this!”

The Sun Devils are on the road in Week 8 against Cincinnati before a bye to close out October.

Joyous Kenny Dillingham vanishes into sea of Arizona State fans after upset of Utah

Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham was jubilant after upset of Utah

A season ago, Utah pounded Arizona State, 55-3. Coach Kenny Dillingham and his Sun Devils served a plate of revenge to the Utes on Friday, upsetting them 27-19 in Big 12 play.

After the win, the coach was fired up as were ASU’s fans. What followed was a classic, fantastic interview and great TV.

The Sun Devils are 5-1 and heading to a stop in the Top 25. Hopefully, Dillingham resurfaces before next week’s conference game at Cincinnati.

Michigan hockey has epic comeback to trolling ASU on social media

There’s no coming back from this, Arizona State. #GoBlue

Michigan hockey is off to a 1-1 start after a two-game series to open up the 2024-25 season against Minnesota State at Yost Ice Arena, but now the Wolverines are on the road in Tempe for two games against Arizona State. And though it’s sunny and temperate in southeast Michigan, the Wolverines hockey social media posted about how beautiful it is to sit outside for team meetings in Arizona.

For some reason, that elicited something of a comeback from the Wolverines’ next opponent, the Sun Devils, who posted ‘exceptional for you, normal for us.’ But you know that wasn’t going to be the end of it.

Because Michigan hockey made sure it had the final word with this gem of a response.

Absolutely epic and there’s no coming back from that if you’re the Sun Devils (on social media — on the ice is another story).

With 28 appearances in the Frozen Four, no other school has more than Michigan. And with zero Frozen Four appearances, Arizona State is tied with schools that don’t even have a hockey program. So a pithy comeback on social media may be one thing that could garner some attention, but if you come at the king, you best not miss.

What NCAA violations ruling means for Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce

What NCAA penalty for violations means for Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce

Thursday the NCAA came down hard on Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce for recruiting violations during COVID protocols. Here is what ESPN’s report stated was Pierce’s violations.

Most of the violations were related to what the NCAA referred to as a “scheme” orchestrated by Pierce to circumvent restrictions in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pierce facilitated impermissible recruiting contact with 35 prospects, including “tryouts, football facility tours and entertainment.” It was also determined he directed an assistant to engage in tampering with a player enrolled at another school and traveled out of state to observe and meet with prospects during a recruiting dead period.

In response to these violations, the NCAA has slapped Pierce with an eight-year show-cause order for what they say was his role as “the ringleader in orchestrating the recruiting violations.”

Among those who were recruited by ASU during that time include Washington QB Jayden Daniels and Raiders CB Jack Jones.

This isn’t a good look for Pierce to be sure. And more negative press and distraction for the Raiders.

Outside of that, the NCAA’s penalty will not affect Pierce as an NFL coach or the Raiders.

What it means for him personally if at any point during the next eight years, he wishes to return to the college ranks as a coach, he would first have to serve a one-year suspension which includes no contact with any of the program’s coaches or players during that time.

USC’s Jasmine Koo gets first win at Windy City Collegiate, Arizona State claims team title

It was only a matter of time.

It was only a matter of time.

USC freshman Jasmine Koo picked up the first win of her college career Tuesday, capturing the individual title of the 2024 Windy City Collegiate at Westmoreland Country Club in Wilmette, Illinois, outside Chicago. Koo, ranked ninth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, shot 5 under over 54 holes to win by two shots over Purdue’s Natasha Kiel.

Koo was one of the top recruits in the 2024 class, and the U.S. Curtis Cup team member didn’t take long to make her mark on the college game. She was 9 under after two rounds of play, and even after a closing 76, she held on for win No. 1.

Oregon’s Suvichaya Vinijchaitham placed third while Arizona’s Charlotte Back came in fourth. There was a big group who tied for fifth, including South Carolina senior Hannah Darling and Oregon sophomore Kiara Romero.

As a team, USC placed third, but it was another former Pac-12 team taking home the trophy in Arizona State. The Sun Devils had all four golfers finish in the top 20, with GB&I Curtis Cup member Patience Rhodes leading the way at T-5. Paula Schulz-Hanssen and Beth Coulter tied for 10th.

South Carolina placed second with USC, Northwestern and Oregon rounding out the top five.