The House Of Heat

Ok, these last couple of weeks have been bad. Last weeks jeers of "fire Koetter!" have been replaced with detailed analyses of fundraisers making said firing possible. It sounds like a joke, but it really is happening. The excrement has really hit the fan on this one, and that can only come from huge expectations. Those taking this two-week skid the hardest are the ones who predicted a record ending with "and 0" for a team that had a cellar dweller defense last year, lost one of the best (statistically, at least) wide receivers in Pac-10 history, lost the Pac-10 defensive player of the year, and has a sophomore starting at quarterback. That's a lot of things to fall into place, no matter how much you believe in the year of the 6. It's really frustrating for me because, once again, I fell for the Dirk Koetter line about this being "the best team he's ever had at ASU." Somehow I thought the best team in the last six years would have at least kept the score respectable against what will probably be two of the top three teams in the league. Am I one to keep expectations low? Hell no! Who the hell am to keep you from dreaming? All I'm saying is to not put too much stock in your own amateur opinion. Coach had a great quote about perception, saying "everybody just took us from being the best team in the country to the worst team in the country, and we're neither of those." Well said, and I think this is his way of telling all of the naysayers that they should wait until the final record comes in before they call for his head.

All of that being said, let's look at the positives!

* Rudy Carpenter only threw one interception against the Ducks. Now see, there's something good, especially since he threw four against the Bears the previous week. At that rate, one can extrapolate touchdown passes for the upcoming game against USC.

* Terry Richardson returned a kickoff for 100 yards. That has't been done in Sun Devil Stadium since 1986, and it's a shame it was wasted in last week's effort. Keep up the hard work, Terry.

* ASU had a 100-yard rusher. Again! When did Bruce Snyder get back?! Ryan Torain has shown flashes of power and brilliance not seen around these parts since pre-neck injury Michael Martin.

* Rudy Carpenter did a good job of spreading the ball around. This sounds as tongue-in-cheek as the first positive(not even I can polish that turd of a performance), but it's factual. Seven Sun Devil receivers caught at least one pass. The problem is, they all caught only one pass. And they were all short.

* Jesse Ainsworth was two for two on field goal attempts. When you delve in to the kickers' sucess, you're really reaching.

* Hey, at least U of A lost. Fuckin' A right they did! The highlight of my saturday. I didn't even win a game of flip-cup on Shabbas.

We'll win another game, won't we?

Labels: Dirk's a horse's ass, rivalry rants, surrounded by morons, UA morons