The atmosphere was unprecedented.
There was a different feel around Sun Devil Stadium as thousands of fans filed through the turnstiles on Sept. 9 for the ASU football team’s highly-touted game against Missouri.
The 70,236 fans in attendance joined the players in donning a new look in the Sun Devils’ (6-4, 4-3 Pac-12) 37-30 win over the Tigers. That night marked the first blackout game in school history, and it made for quite the environment.
The sea of black provided deafening noise throughout the game especially overtime when the Sun Devils sealed the victory on an 11-yard touchdown catch by Jamal Miles.
ASU now hopes to duplicate that atmosphere in its biggest home game of the season, the Territorial Cup. In-state rival UA comes to Tempe this Saturday for the 85th meeting between the two schools.
Similar to the Missouri game, Saturday’s contest will be a blackout with players set to wear the all black uniforms and fans asked to trade in the traditional gold for black.
The decision to blackout the rivalry game stemmed from an abundance of positive feedback from fans, students, and even athletes.
“We received a lot of feedback from the students both in person, over the phone, via email, saying that it’s a fabulous thing,” associate athletic director Steve Hank said. “We want to do it again. Then our student athletes obviously loved the environment and the energy that it brought to them. They came back and their feedback was, ‘Hey, we want to do that again.’”
After the original blackout produced a thrilling game environment, junior quarterback Brock Osweiler anticipates more of the same in the Duel in the Desert.
“It’s fun,” Osweiler said. “I know the first blackout there was a lot of excitement going into it. It was early in the year. That was the first time. I expect the same thing this time.”
ASU athletics partnered with Nike to create an official blackout shirt that went on sale prior to the inaugural blackout game. Those shirts were an instant hit and are available to fans for the UA game as well.
Holding a blacked out game is not just about loud fans and popular t-shirts for ASU, as it hopes to form a connection between the student fan base and the athletes. More than 10,000 students attended the team’s first blackout of the year.
“That’s what we want to do more is create an environment where our student athletes and our students unite,” Hank said. “That’s the purpose as to why we’re here. The rest of the crowd feeds off of the energy that our student athletes and the students generate.”
The energy inside Sun Devil Stadium was palpable as ASU took on Mizzou. The Tigers returned to Frank Kush Field in September after suffering a 27-24 loss to Iowa in the Insight Bowl to close out the 2010 season. Following his team’s loss to ASU, coach Gary Pinkel called Sun Devil Stadium “a tough stadium” and stated “I don’t think I’m going to come back here.”
The Sun Devils hope the Wildcats feel the same way following this weekend’s game.
“UA doesn’t have a choice,” Hank said. “Every two years they need to come here. So we want to create an environment where after they leave they say the same thing. I never want to come back here again.”
One year after stunning the Wildcats in Tucson in a 30-29 overtime victory, ASU is anxious to resume the historic rivalry in front of the home crowd.
"It is a huge thing for the state of Arizona,” senior wide receiver Aaron Pflugrad said. “It seems like the whole state divides during this week. You have a lot of people who went to UA and ASU so it's a huge thing for the state, this university and our football team.”
Each year, there is no shortage of hype surrounding the 112-year-old rivalry. ASU hopes the blackout makes it even better.
“It will take an already fabulous environment and just take it two and three notches higher,” Hank said. “It will grow and take something three levels past insane. That’s the environment that we want to create. We want to create the most hostile venue in college football to play.”
Reach the reporter at greg.dillard@asu.edu
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