With Starbucks releasing their pumpkin-flavored items as the fall semester starts, that can mean only one thing: Football is back.
The Sun Devils start their 2024 campaign on Saturday at home against the Wyoming Cowboys. The Cowboys will be a competitive, non-conference opponent for ASU at the beginning of the season.
What Wyoming did last year
Wyoming still plays in the Mountain West conference and last year they finished 9-4. The Cowboys started the season off 5-1, with an upset win against Texas Tech, and their only loss coming to Texas in week three.
With eight wins at the end of the regular season, they participated in a bowl game against the Toledo Rockets. The Cowboys took down the Rockets 16-15.
The team wrapped the season with the return of seven starters on offense and seven on defense.
Players to Watch
Starting with the quarterback position, junior Evan Svoboda, is taking the reins and looks to build on the success that former QB Andrew Peasley had last year. Standing at 6-foot-5 inches and 245 pounds, he is expected to be mobile.
With a young quarterback, a sustainable running game is vital. The running back from 2023, Harrison Waylee, is returning for his senior season. Last year, Waylee was an honorable mention for All-Mountain West running back with 947 yards on 164 carries and five touchdowns.
The senior defensive lineman, Jordan Bertagnole also returns for the season. He earned Second-Team All-Mountain West honors last year with 58 tackles and two sacks.
The safety tandem of senior Wyett Ekeler and senior Isaac White who combined for over 130 tackles in 2023 is also back. Ekeler had 77 tackles, two interceptions and seven passes defended. The team tends toward fast, downhill plays and is not afraid to make tackles.
Coaching Staff
During the off-season, former head coach Craig Bohl retired after 10 seasons with the team. Promoted from within, new head coach Jay Sawvel was the team's defensive coordinator last season.
The Cowboys also filled the defensive coordinator position with an internal promotion. Craig Bohl's son, Aaron Bohl will take over the defensive coordinator position after being the team’s linebacker coach since 2019.
The offensive coordinator position was filled by former Michigan State offensive coordinator Jay Johnson.
It's still unclear how Johnson will run the offense. ASU defensive coordinator Brian Ward has an idea of what to expect come Sunday.
"Very program and culture-oriented," Ward said. "They wanna run the football. This new offensive coordinator, he'll spread the ball out a little bit. We're gonna get a lot of motion and shifts, and things to get our eyes bad. We've been repping that a lot and we wanna get our guys to play fast."
How ASU can find success
ASU knows the Wyoming players have more experience. To keep the Sun Devils away from upset watch, they will have to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and contain the new quarterback.
"He's a big strong kid, we're expecting a downhill run game and downhill quarterback run game," said Ward. "I can see them using him like that ... We're gonna try and challenge the routes and stop the run and make sure we're affecting the quarterback every play."
The Sun Devils have the opportunity to take advantage of the Cowboys' defense. They struggled to defend on third down, as they let teams convert 44% of the time last season.
Both teams still hope to start non-conference play with a win.
"They’re a tough team," said ASU offensive line coach Saga Tuitele. "I spent a long time in the Mountain West and played against them numerous times. They're going to be well coached, and they're just going to be a gritty team. We've got to do the same. We've got to just do our job and not get caught up doing someone else's job and just focus on us."
The first game of the season is at Mountain America Stadium on Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Edited by Henry Smardo, Sophia Ramirez and Madeline Schmitke.
Reach the reporter at danielr1102@gmail.com and follow @daniel_rios72 on X.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on X.
Daniel is a senior studying sports journalism. This is his first semester with The State Press. He has also worked at WCSN, OC Riptide, 1550 Sports and AZPreps365.
