The ASU football team was in this situation before.
The Sun Devils have been decimated by one of the country's top teams and bounced back in a week's time to win its next game. And they believe they can do it again after being embarrassed by California, 27-0 on Saturday.
Following a 45-7 shellacking at the hands of No. 1 USC on Oct. 16, ASU outclassed UCLA, 48-42, the following weekend. The team hopes it can repeat the trend against Stanford on Saturday. With the Golden Bears and Trojans in the rearview mirror, ASU will likely be favored in each of its remaining three games.
"We have a great chance to finish 9-2, and that would be the most amount of wins we've had at Arizona State in quite some time," senior quarterback Andrew Walter said following the loss. "So I don't give a damn about this game. It's over; now we have to move on."
With Saturday's loss, the Sun Devils missed out on a chance to play in the Rose Bowl and now must win the rest of its games in order to get a possible bid for the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 30.
On Monday, Walter got a chance to calm his nerves and put things in perspective, although his attitude did not change much.
"Our chance as a team, and for the seniors, to taste the Rose Bowl has probably come and gone," Walter said. "But not everybody gets the job they want, not everybody gets the raise they want, so that's life. It's how you respond to adversity. So we have three games left and a bowl game; that's all I have left in my Sun Devil career, so I'm going to make it the best I can. As a team we're going to finish strong."
Head coach Dirk Koetter was quick to say his team would recover after the Cal game, and that it had been done before.
"Our mental attitude will be fine. These guys will come to play. We have good character on our team," he said. "The two games we lost have been to excellent teams. It's no fun to lose period, but we've done some good things and we'll do some more good things."
At his weekly press conference on Monday, Koetter added, "For those that say we haven't beat anybody, we have beat two other teams that are in the top 25 right now (No. 20 Iowa and No. 25 UTEP), plus the two Oregon schools are no slouches, and UCLA is no slouch."
Bad numbers
Koetter said that the Sun Devils either committed a turnover or a 15-yard penalty on eight of the team's 11 drives against Cal.
And even though the defense had one of its better efforts of the season, missed tackles accounted for 98 of the Golden Bears' 399 yards. Koetter said most of the missed tackles came as a result of Cal wide receivers getting crack blocks on ASU senior safeties Riccardo Stewart and Emmanuel Franklin. He added that Sun Devil cornerbacks didn't do a good enough job of "flattening" the receivers.
"At this point in the season, it's difficult to practice tackling because you're thin at most positions," Koetter said.
Best receiver around?
Junior wide receiver Derek Hagan was named one of 11 semi-finalists for the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the nation's top wide-out, on Monday.
Hagan has caught 50 passes for 735 yards and eight touchdowns in eight games. His 91.2 yards per game rank second in the Pac-10 and 16th nationally, and his 6.25 receptions per game rank 18th in the NCAA.
The Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation will announce the winner in December. Three finalists will be named on Nov. 15.
Personnel update
Koetter said that junior tailback Hakim Hill would likely start against Stanford on Saturday. Hill ran for 104 yards on nine carries, including a 57-yard run, after serving a one-game suspension a week earlier.
Redshirt freshman safety Josh Barrett will probably do some running at practice this week, but likely will still be out of the lineup on Saturday after suffering a dislocated shoulder against UCLA on Oct. 23. Koetter said Barrett will return when he regains strength in the shoulder.
Sophomore guard Zach Krula was examined Monday to see if the size of his spleen had gone down, but his status is uncertain. Krula's condition was caused by mononucleosis, which was diagnosed three weeks ago.
Reach the reporter at christopher.drexel@asu.edu.
