TEMPE, Ariz. -- As he prepared to meet the media following Thursday's practice, Arizona State coach Todd Graham pointed to the wall behind him where the date of the national championship game is displayed at the end of ASU's schedule.
"That's where we're trying to get to," Graham said.
It may be a little soon to think about the No. 9 Sun Devils' chances to get that far, and even they remain most focused on winning the Pac-12. But with No. 10 Notre Dame in town Saturday it's impossible to ignore the opportunity that sits in front of ASU.
"This is one of those opportunities like playing Stanford (last month)," Graham said. "That was an opportunity for us to step forward as a program. This is a giant step forward."
The scenario might be all too familiar to ASU fans: Ranked opponent, national stage, high stakes. We won't run through the list again, but the Sun Devils have fallen flat in plenty of games like this, whiffing on an opportunity to break through to another tier of the college football hierarchy. But even before playing this game, ASU has already begun to do that.
Leading the Pac-12 South and riding a four-game winning streak, ASU (7-1, 5-1 Pac-12) this week climbed into the top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings, jumping Notre Dame and climbing five spots from the previous week. The Sun Devils have not ranked in the top 10 nationally since 2007.
"Not many teams get this opportunity," sophomore linebacker Laiu Moeakiola said. "We're just trying to take advantage of it and do something special here at ASU that hasn't happened in a long time."
ASU already sits in the driver's seat of the Pac-12 South race, well positioned to repeat as division champions and clash with No. 4 Oregon -- the heavy favorite in the North -- in the Pac-12 Championship Game on Dec. 5. A win this week could position it for a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff should it in fact win the Pac-12.
No. 9 ASU vs. No. 10 Notre Dame
When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe
TV: ABC (Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman)
Radio: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (Tim Healey, Jeff Van Raaphorst)
But all that's getting ahead just a bit. For any aspirations beyond winning the Pac-12 to matter, ASU has to get past Notre Dame, which almost certainly comes to Tempe with a chip on its shoulder given the popular opinion the Fighting Irish (7-1) thus far are the benefactors of a weak schedule.
"This is the biggest challenge we've had yet," Graham said. "It's the best football team we've played to this point -- best quarterback, best receivers. They've got big-play capability."
Notre Dame's offense behind quarterback Everett Golson and a deep receiving corps led by Will Fuller and Corey Robinson is certainly the best ASU has faced since losing to UCLA on Sept. 25. It will be the biggest test yet for a defense that has in the matter of a month transformed from a mistake-prone and inexperienced group to a force that's winning games for ASU. The defense has allowed an average of 11 points on offense the past three games.
As different as ASU's defense is from the one that allowed Notre Dame to score 37 points last season, Notre Dame's offense is just as different than the one led then by quarterback Tommy Rees.
"They are nothing like they were last year," Graham said. "What changes everything about what they do offensively is the quarterback. They had the same receivers last year except they're a year better. There's not anybody we've played that has a better receiving corps than what these guys have, and we've done well with that, but that's a challenge."
As ASU's defense has improved, its offense has dropped off, particularly since quarterback Taylor Kelly returned from a six-week absence due to a broken foot. Kelly hasn't played at the level he did before the injury or in previous seasons, and the offense has uncharacteristically struggled to score points.
Graham expressed confidence Thursday that Kelly is "as close to full speed as he's been" and that he'll have his best game since returning. Perhaps benefiting ASU on offense will be the absence of Notre Dame's leading tackler and defensive leader after Joe Schmidt suffered a broken ankle last week.
ASU can relate to losing its key defensive communicator, having been without Moeakiola for about two games earlier this season.
"No person's more important than the team, but I think we'd have a real hard time having the success we've had defensively without Laiu, and the reason why is he's the guy that stabilizes everything," Graham said. "That's got to be a big challenge for them. Their system is a lot like ours defensively. They do some exotic stuff, and you could tell he was the one directing traffic. It just depends on how well the person coming in is prepared to do that. I know that was so disruptive for us."
Another challenge for ASU: not getting caught up in the magnitude of this opportunity. It has seemed to happen in those previous big game chances squandered and even seemed to happen a bit last year against Notre Dame in Dallas.
"That was kind of our first time up on the big stage, so it was something new for a lot of guys," senior safety Damarious Randall said. "But everything is different this year."
Graham doesn't think his team will be overwhelmed by the circumstances, particularly with the game being played at home. He has urged his players this week not to play cautious because of the stakes.
With so great an opportunity to be had, Graham wants his team on the offensive.
"I told our guys I don't want one person going out there trying not to mess up," Graham said. "Go out there and wale into it, go out and attack it and seize it -- seize the day.
"This is what you coach and play for: sold out crowd, Notre Dame, at home, two teams at 7-1, top 10 teams in the country. Pretty cool."
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