Arizona State football bracing for hostile environment at Oklahoma State
Talk to the Arizona State football players about their upcoming game against No. 10 Oklahoma State and one word keeps coming up . . . "excited."
Offensive lineman LaDarius Henderson, one of the team captains, used it no fewer than a dozen times in the course of a five-minute interview after the Sun Devils wrapped up practice Tuesday morning.
The Sun Devils (1-0) passed their first test, plowing past Northern Arizona 40-3 last Thursday. Now it is on to Stillwater, Oklahoma where they will challenge Oklahoma State in what is sure to be a raucous Boone Pickens Stadium, which seats 55,000 and is the oldest venue in the Big 12.
Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m., with the game to air on ESPN2.
This will be the fourth straight season in which ASU's first road game has come against a ranked opponent.
"It’s a great venue to play in obviously, so, you know, we better be ready for that. It’s very noisy there," ASU coach Herm Edwards said. "The noise of the crowd, we got to deal with all that. This is our first time together as a team going on the road and it’s a special place to play obviously and we better be prepared to do that because we’re going to have to play at our best. There’s no doubt.”
Last season ASU went 6-1 at home, 2-3 on the road and 0-1 on neutral ground. Penalties were an issue from start to finish, but particularly on the road. ASU enthusiasts won't soon forget the first road game last season, a 27-17 loss at Brigham Young in which they were called for 16 penalties for 121 yards, with seven of those coming on false starts due largely to crowd noise.
Utah was not a good place for Edwards' squad, which also had 115 yards in penalties and gave up 28 unanswered second-half points in losing a Pac-12 game to Utah 35-21 later in the season.
The Sun Devils have had practices with artificial crowd noise and they're working on the silent count.
No doubt this will be the biggest crowd offensive lineman Emmit Bohle will have played in front of. He transferred to ASU from Division II Northern State (S.D.)
"We have to stay disciplined, do what we need to do," Bohle said. "We watched video this morning, give us a sneak peek about what we're going to get so I'm excited. It will be fun. Lot of fans. Lot of noise. I think it's one of those things you have to get into, experience. Games like this are why I came here."
For others, the experience won't necessarily be anything new or overwhelming. Defensive back Ro Torrence came from Auburn so he's been in some hostile territories in SEC play, specifically singling out the Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama. He also singled out a nonconference game last season at Penn State.
"I already know the atmosphere is going to be crazy. You're on the road. We just have to stay calm, play our game and we're going to be good," Torrence said.
"Don't feed into that. Noise is going to be there. We're on the road. Just stay poised and keep calm, stay calm," Torrence added when asked what his advice to his teammates will be.
Henderson and kicker Carter Brown both hail from Texas, just a state away. So they'll have some family at the game.
"For games like this it's always super exciting," Henderson said. "I'm excited for this team because when I look around the locker room, everybody else is also excited That's what makes me excited.
"We've learned a lot from our previous mistakes and learned from things, did some things in the offseason, now even more so to prevent that so I'm confident, excited."
Only two teams in FBS play were penalized more than ASU last season. Cleaner play has been a point of emphasis both in the spring and in fall camp. It seems to have helped as the Sun Devils had just four penalties for 35 yards against NAU.
Asked what he wants to see, Edwards replied:
"That we keep our composure. In an environment where it’s going to be really loud and it’s on the road and all those things, how do we handle that now? We’re going on the road. And obviously, when you go to the sideline it’s going to be a little louder, how do they handle that? It’s another experience we’re going to experience together as a team, and we’ll figure that out. I think these guys will — I think they will hopefully stay calm, stay focused on the job at hand.”
Top Pac-12 players named
True freshman kicker Carter Brown had a solid Sun Devil debut and it landed him Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week.
Brown had four field goals, two of those from 44 yards in Thursday's win. He also had four extra point kicks, giving him 16 points for the contest. It is an upgraded position since last year ASU made only eight field goals all season with the longest from just 40 yards.
"All pregame warmups I felt pretty good and then we went out for the first field goal and it was really cool seeing the fans and I had a little bit of butterflies but I was just talking to (holder) Eddie (Czaplick) and he said let's make this one and keep moving and we did. It felt great."
Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura is Offensive Player of the Week. He finished the game with 299 yards and four touchdowns on 29-of-35 passing in a 38-20 win over San Diego State on the road. The Wildcats' Jalen Harris, a native of Gilbert and product of Desert Ridge, was named Defensive Lineman of the Week.
Odds and ends
Offensive lineman Des Holmes, nickelback Jordan Clark and cornerback Timarcus Davis all returned to practice but Ed Woods, who started in place of Davis last week, and defensive lineman Gharin Stansbury (hamstring) were still out.
Offensive lineman Joey Ramos, a local out of Deer Valley High School, injured his ankle on Thursday night and Edwards confirmed on Monday he is out for the season. The player put out word on social media Tuesday morning he was having surgery.
Reach the reporter at Michelle.Gardner@gannett.com or 602 444-4783. Follow her on Twitter @MGardnerSports.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State bracing for hostile environment at Oklahoma State
