UW, ASU Some Day Will Both Have Head Coaches When They Play Again
The Arizona State Sun Devils traveled to Seattle and on a gloomy, rainy November day faced a University of Washington football team playing without a head coach.
Jimmy Lake was suspended for a sideline incident with one of his players the week before, soon to be fired the day following ASU's 35-30 victory at Husky Stadium.
Eleven months later, the UW is in Tempe and ready to return the favor, bringing in the stable outfit to play a scuffling ASU team without a head coach for three weeks now after the firing of Herm Edwards.
In-season coaching dismissals have become more and more commonplace across the college football landscape these days, and these Pac-12 programs are exhibit A of this uncomfortable development.
The Huskies (4-1 overall, 1-1 Pac-12) later will play Colorado, too, meaning two of their final seven opponents are currently coach-less outside of the interim staffing band-aids in place.
It's an unfair fight, matching coaching stability against a program in disarray, one going about business as usual while the other is waiting for the season to end just so a new football leader can be hired and calm can be restored.
"I understand why," said UW coach Kalen DeBoer, Lake's replacement. "There are reasons for universities to go this route and try to get the next person in place. A lot of it revolves around recruiting and all of that. It's hard on the student-athletes, there's no question. They go through a lot, no matter when that change happens."
These teams hardly resemble themselves from last year's game and will need to introduce each other all throughout the lineups.
The Huskies bring seven starters back from the previous game, wide receivers Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan, offensive linemen Jaxson Kirkland and Henry Bainivalu, defensive backs Alex Cook and Dom Hampton, and defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa.
ASU sends just six 2021 starters from the UW game back onto the field in offensive linemen Ben Scott and LaDarius Henderson, defensive backs Chase Lucas and Timarcus Davis, and linebackers Kyle Soelle and Merlin Robertson, with the latter scoring on a 37-yard interception return that decided things in 2021.
The quarterbacks are different: ASU's Jayden Daniels transferred to LSU leaving the reins to Florida transfer Emory Jones while the UW's Dylan Morris sat down in favor of Indiana transfer Michael Penix Jr.
The coaches are different, too: Shaun Aguano is the new Bob Gregory, moving up from ASU running-backs coach to serve in the thankless interim role, while DeBoer made a positive move in going from Fresno State to Montlake.
The Sun Devils (1-4, 0-2) enter this contest having lost four in a row, two consecutive since Edwards was terminated, some say on the field following a loss to Eastern Michigan.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. in Tempe, where overheated temperatures should reach into the 90s though it is currently cloudy in town. That's why they typically play night games at ASU. This matchup will be shown on Pac-12 Networks, so there wasn't any undue pressure to make these teams play in a particular time slot, but they'll settle for the unfavorable elements.
If the heat isn't enough to keep the fans away, the turmoil surrounding ASU is sure to put a dent in the game attendance. In the lone home game held immediately following Edwards' coaching ouster, Sun Devil Stadium welcomed just 39,876 to watch the ASU lose to Utah 34-13, some 13,000 below capacity.
DeBoer noted that the Sun Devils players still seem to be playing hard, after pushing USC for three quarters last weekend before losing 42-25 in Los Angeles, a day after the Huskies fell to UCLA 40-32 just up the street at the Rose Bowl.
Yet there won't be any excuse if the the Huskies, the ones with the coaching stability this time, don't come in and take care of business.
"We've got to make sure we're on our best and on our A game," DeBoer said matter of fact. "There's no reason we shouldn't be."
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