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The ASU football team holds a high standard for themself, but is it a realistic standard?
With head coach Todd Graham’s fifth season in the books, it is time to take a good look at this program and see if they are where Graham thinks they should be. Graham always talks about competing for Pac-12 titles and winning major bowls such as the Rose Bowl, but is that realistic?
While competing for the Pac-12 title every now and again can be expected from this program, being a consistent player in the title picture can’t. Simply put, they don’t have the recruiting power to compete with USC or Stanford, the two big players in the Pac-12 south. Therefore, they can’t expect to represent the Pac-12 south in the Pac-12 championship game every year or even every other year.
Turning to the bowl game, ASU also can’t expect to be in a Rose Bowl caliber bowl game every season. Just getting a bowl game is an achievement with a berth in the Sun Bowl being a more realistic expectation for this program. ASU needs to take into account letting a game or two slip away, and maybe beating a team that is better than they are. Having a resume like that would earn them a Sun Bowl berth in most seasons.
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Overall, the ASU football program needs to be more realistic based on their talent level. While saying that the program should be competing for Pac-12 titles and Rose Bowls every year, it isn’t realistic given their talent level and the level of recruiting that ASU is capable of. By having the bar set too high, it deters players and doesn’t give them reason to believe what they are doing matters. If Graham were to come out before next season and say that they goal of the program is to make a bowl game, then that is a goal the players can get behind and can work together to reach
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