Tramel's ScissorTales: Arizona State's Herm Edwards is banking on NFL connections
When Arizona State hired Herm Edwards as head football coach in December 2017, many decried the choice. Edwards was a National Football League lifer. Did he know enough about the college game?
Edwards has been moderately successful with the Sun Devils, 26-18 in four-plus seasons, but his administration is the subject of an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations that led to the dismissal of five staff members since last season.
And Edwards supplemented ASU football by leaning into his NFL ties.
The Sun Devils play OSU in Stillwater on Saturday night, and Edwards’ ASU staff is heavy on NFL influence:
➤ Marvin Lewis, a 16-year Cincinnati Bengals head coach and a noted NFL defensive whiz, is Edwards’ special assistant to the head coach.
➤ Brian Billick, who coached the 2000 Ravens to the Super Bowl championship, is offensive analyst/special advisor to the head coach.
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➤ Donnie Henderson, a 17-year NFL assistant, is the Sun Devils’ defensive coordinator.
➤ Glenn Thomas, former quarterback coach of the Atlanta Falcons, is ASU’s offensive coordinator.
Billick and Thomas were added in the offseason. Lewis and Henderson already were on staff.
“You can see some NFL stuff in what their schemes are on offense and defense,” Mike Gundy said. “Obviously, he’s (Edwards) got a long history in the NFL … there’s some similarities at times in what they did offensively. Defensively, a little different. Last year, a lot of pressure, a lot of cover-1 and stuff. Not so much the other night.
“Maybe they just said we’re playing Northern Arizona (a 40-3 Sun Devil victory), we’re gonna play base the whole game and not show anything for the next game.”
Gundy offered examples of the NFL influence at ASU. Four-man defensive lines, when college football is going the way of three-man fronts. And about 30% of Arizona State’s offensive plays had quarterback Emory Jones under center. That’s a college rarity.
“Those guys, they’re from a little ways back, so you get a little bit of vision of more of that style of play,” Gundy said. “When Billick coached, it was under center. And so that was more of what you would get from that generation of NFL coach.”
Edwards was 54-74 in eight years as head coach of the Jets and Chiefs, but four of his teams made the playoffs.
That NCAA investigation looms over Edwards. His future is not secure. So the Sun Devils’ all-in NFL concept could be temporary.
But it will be on display Saturday night in Stillwater.
Let’s get to the predictions.
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Week 2 college football predictions
Arizona State at Oklahoma State: Cowboys 31-28. The Sun Devils’ only previous trip to Stillwater was a 30-3 ASU win in 1991, the Cowboys’ winless season.
Kent State at Oklahoma: Sooners 51-28. This is hurryup football at its finest. Central Michigan coach Jim McElwain told me last week that the Golden Flashes play as fast as anyone in college football.
Alabama at Texas: Crimson Tide 38-24. Good (or bad) for the Longhorns, getting this 2022-23 home-and-home series under the gun before Texas heads to the Southeastern Conference. Same can’t be said for OU-Georgia (2023, 2031).
Baylor at Brigham Young: Bears 26-20. The first of two interesting showdowns this week matching future Big 12 members.
Missouri at Kansas State: Wildcats 27-21. First meeting since 2011 for a rivalry that began in 1909 and has been played 97 times. Thanks a lot, conference realignment.
Houston at Texas Tech: Cougars 32-30. And yet another interesting future Big 12 showdown. Thanks, conference realignment.
Iowa State at Iowa: Hawkeyes 17-14. The Cyclones have taken to being underwhelming in the CyHawk Series, so not even Iowa’s no-touchdown, 7-3 survival of South Dakota State makes me pick ISU.
Kansas at West Virginia: Mountaineers 31-20. KU played WVU tough last year in Lawrence. Can the Jayhawks hang close in the Alleghenys?
Tarleton at Texas Christian: Horned Frogs 55-7. TCU has good quarterback depth – and needed it, since starter Chandler Morris went down with a knee injury against Colorado.
Kentucky at Florida: Wildcats 21-19. Early showdown to determine the chief rival to Georgia in the SEC East.
South Carolina at Arkansas: Razorbacks 40-22. OU-ex Spencer Rattler was just so-so in his Gamecock debut, completing 22 of 36 passes for 218 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in a 35-14 victory over Georgia State.
Appalachian State at Texas A&M: Aggies 34-24. Tough schedule for the Aggies, when the Mountaineers are your second-best non-conference opponent (Miami comes to College Station next week).
Tennessee at Pittsburgh: Volunteers 31-27. The Johnny Majors Bowl. Tennessee hired away Majors from Pitt 45 years ago, igniting the Panthers’ gradual decline. But Pitt won 41-34 last year in Knoxville.
Mississippi State at Arizona: Bulldogs 33-24. Does Mike Leach have a good team in Starkville? Looks like it, after a 49-23 rout of Memphis.
Wake Forest at Vanderbilt: Demon Deacons 35-20. No longer just the academic bowl. Wake is a legitimate football team.
San Jose State at Auburn: Tigers 54-14. Bryan Harsin is one loss ahead of the posse, but starting with Mercer and San Jose State at least lets him rest his horse.
Tramel:Oklahoma State has passed Arizona State on college football's food chain
Southern U. at Louisiana State: Tigers 61-6. The Brian Kelly/Leah Vann rif was much ado about nothing. Kelly joked with the Baton Rouge Advocate reporter about being late to a press conference (though Kelly actually started early), Vann joked back about being on time when LSU wins and the exchange went viral. Two attempts at humor that weren’t all that funny but not at all a big deal.
Samford at Georgia: Bulldogs 49-0. What a miserable matchup. And I can’t even get mad at Georgia, which is the poster child for great scheduling.
Central Arkansas at Ole Miss: Rebels 38-13. Southern Cal transfer Jaxson Dort completed 18 of 27 passes for 154 yards in Ole Miss’ 28-10 victory over Troy, which was not good enough for Lane Kiffin to scrap his preseason plan to give backup Luke Altmyer the start in Game 2.
Washington State at Wisconsin: Badgers 41-13. The Cougars were lethargic in a 24-17 survival of Idaho on Saturday.
Virginia at Illinois: Illini 23-21. Illinois’ awful prevent defense allowed Indiana to pull out a victory Friday night and keep the Illini from a 2-0 start.
Duke at Northwestern: Wildcats 24-13. Will Northwestern have an Irish hangover after beating Nebraska in Dublin?
Georgia Southern at Nebraska: Cornhuskers 28-20. The Cornhuskers are a mess. Lost to Northwestern, then led North Dakota just 24-17 midway through the fourth quarter last Saturday, before two late touchdowns gave Nebraska breathing room.
Maryland at Charlotte: Terrapins 34-12. The 49ers seemed to be an up-and-coming program, but Charlotte was smoked by Florida Atlantic in Week Zero, then lost 41-24 to Division I-AA William & Mary.
Ohio U. at Penn State: Nittany Lions 38-10. Ten years ago, in the most recent series meeting, the Bobcats upset Penn State 24-14.
Arkansas State at Ohio State: Buckeyes 59-14. Butch Jones is 3-10 as the Red Wolves coach. He’s about to be 3-11.
Akron at Michigan State: Spartans 58-7. Second straight Mid-American Conference foe for Sparty, but Akron isn’t nearly as good as Western Michigan.
Hawaii at Michigan: Wolverines 55-10. The Rainbow Warriors are close to being non-competitive. Back-to-back games against Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky, Hawaii has been outscored 112-27.
Western Illinois at Minnesota: Gophers 46-7. Some like Minnesota a lot. But opening with New Mexico State and Western Illinois is no way to find out.
Indiana State at Purdue: Boilermakers 51-14. It’s 95 miles from Terre Haute to West Lafayette.
Wagner at Rutgers: Scarlet Knights 47-7. A game the island of Manhattan can really look down on. New Jersey’s team vs. Staten Island’s team.
Idaho at Indiana: Hoosiers 39-0. Sort of a Connecticut at California game. Or Montana at Maryland.
Southern Cal at Stanford: Trojans 42-14. Sooner fans can double dip – watch OU-Kent State streaming on ESPN Plus, while watching Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams on ABC.
Oregon State at Fresno State: Beavers 33-28. Oregon State dominated Boise State last week. Now the Beavers take aim at another Mountain West Conference mainstay that would like to join the Pac-12.
Colorado at Air Force: Falcons 35-15. CU’s first visit to the Academy since 1974. Ought to be a big deal.
Nevada-Las Vegas at California: Golden Bears 30-20. The Pac-12 seems to be squashing Mountain West foes this season.
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Eastern Washington at Oregon: Ducks 63-14. Oregon is coming off a 49-3 embarrassment against Georgia.
Portland State at Washington: Huskies 41-10. Let’s see. Washington is playing a Division I-AA foe from Oregon, while Oregon is playing a Division I-AA foe from Washington. Do I have that right?
Alabama State at UCLA: Bruins 55-13. UCLA’s announced crowd last Saturday against Bowling Green was 27,143, a record low for the Bruins at the Rose Bowl. But reports say that number counted about 20,000 no-shows. The Big Ten could be headed for embarrassment.
Southern Utah at Utah: Utes 44-7. Utes will lick their wounds from Florida with an in-state Division I-AA opponent.
Louisville at Central Florida: Knights 28-27. Louisville beat UCF 42-35 last season, and then-Knights quarterback Dillon Gabriel suffered a broken collarbone, ending his season. Now he’s a Sooner.
Boston College at Virginia Tech: Hokies 26-21. Teams that lost to Rutgers and Old Dominion last week. Not exactly a showdown.
North Carolina at Georgia State: Tar Heels 30-24. UNC’s 63-61 survival at Appalachian State was wildly entertaining and terribly disconcerting for anyone who bleeds Carolina blue.
Southern Mississippi at Miami: Hurricanes 44-14. Twenty years ago, the Golden Eagles routinely pulled upsets. From 1996-2006, Southern Miss beat Georgia, Alabama, OSU, Nebraska, Pittsburgh and North Carolina State. Those days are gone.
Syracuse at Connecticut: Orange 38-14. Hoops, anyone?
Charleston Southern at North Carolina State: Wolfpack 52-14. Some picked N.C. State as a playoff darkhorse. Then the ‘Pack needed help from East Carolina’s kicker to survive the season opener.
Furman at Clemson: Tigers 56-7. A quarterback change seems needed in Death Valley.
Western Carolina at Georgia Tech: Yellow Jackets 51-10. The Catamounts played in Norman last season and lost 76-0.
Northern Illinois at Tulsa: Golden Hurricane 34-23. Northern won the Mid-American Conference last season but squeaked past Division I-AA Eastern Illinois 34-27 last week.
Old Dominion at East Carolina: Monarchs 27-25. ODU beat Virginia Tech last week, while East Carolina almost beat N.C. State. Should be a good game.
Memphis at Navy: Tigers 41-14. The Midshipmen are in trouble. They were a combined 7-15 the previous two years, then lost to Division I-AA Delaware 14-7 last week.
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Lafayette at Temple: Owls 24-14. Temple is struggling; 4-15 the previous two seasons, then a 30-0 loss to Duke last week.
Kennesaw State at Cincinnati: Bearcats 56-11. I suppose it’s in the Big 12’s covenants that you have to play a Division I-AA foe.
Alcorn State at Tulane: Green Wave 35-19. I assume the Wave misses defensive tackle Jeffrey Johnson, who now is a Sooner.
Lamar at Southern Methodist: Mustangs 62-20. Ex-Sooner Tanner Mordecai remains quite productive – he completed 23 of 32 passes for 432 yards and four touchdowns in SMU’s 48-10 rout of North Texas last week.
Howard at South Florida: Bulls 38-13. USF was mostly non-competitive against Brigham Young last week.
Marshall at Notre Dame: Fighting Irish 31-7. Give Notre Dame credit. Its version of an easy opponent is a solid mid-major like the Thundering Herd.
Texas-San Antonio at Army: Roadrunners 27-24. Each played tight games against quality mid-majors last week. UTSA lost to Houston 37-35 in three overtimes, and Army lost 38-28 at Coastal Carolina.
Alabama-Birmingham at Liberty: Flames 21-20. Another strong mid-major matchup. This is becoming a theme.
Boise State at New Mexico: Broncos 28-25. What’s going on at Boise State? The Broncos looked tough against OSU but limped to a 7-5 season. Then last week, Oregon manhandled Boise State.
Middle Tennessee at Colorado State: Rams 31-15. The Blue Raiders got roughed up by James Madison last week. Colorado State got roughed up by Michigan. Big difference.
Northern Colorado at Wyoming: Cowboys 37-20. Easy bus ride for the Bears; 96 miles from Greeley, Colorado, to Laramie, Wyoming.
Incarnate Word at Nevada: Wolf Pack 41-30. Shane Illingworth, a transfer from OSU, is 2-0 as the Nevada starter but still splits time with Nathan Cox. Illingworth completed 11 of 13 passes for 101 yards Saturday against Texas State.
Weber State at Utah State: Aggies 36-14. If you’re going to play a Division I-AA opponent, play a neighbor. These schools are 47 miles apart.
Idaho State at San Diego State: Aztecs 23-14. The two prime candidates for Pac-12 expansion, San Diego State and Boise, were drubbed last week by Pac-12 also-rans. The Aztecs lost 38-20 to Arizona.
Last week: 56-12. Season: 65-14.
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Big 12 pregame: BYU-Baylor a 2023 preview
Brigham Young University is proud of its football program and its athletic heritage. But BYU people also are a little curious how the Cougars will stack up in the Big 12, when they join the league next summer.
“We’re going to learn,” BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe told me over the summer about the Cougars’ potential deficiencies. “I don’t know what they are.”
Saturday, BYU gets a head start on discovery. The 21st-ranked Cougars host No. 9 Baylor in one of college football’s best games of the day.
“Baylor is the standard of the Big 12,” BYU coach Kelani Sitake said this week, a statement that pings the Sooners but is hard to contest, considering the Bears are the defending conference champions and were picked to win the 2022 title.
“We get to have the game in Provo. We are excited to see how we match up against the conference champs.”
Baylor-BYU is a preview for the Cougars. BYU got a sneak peek last October, when Baylor beat the Cougars 38-24 in Waco.
“I’m excited to see how we match up with them from last year to now,” Sitake said. “They are a great standard to look at if we want to compete and be (eventual) conference champions."
Truth is, OU has been the Big 12 standard. The Sooners won six straight conference championships, 2015-20, and will leave a void at the top once they and Texas move to the Southeastern Conference.
Conventional wisdom says OSU and Baylor are poised to move into the conference command center. Each finished ranked in the top 10 last year (Baylor No. 5, OSU No. 7), each won a major bowl and each is ranked high this season (Bears ninth, Cowboys 11th).
But BYU stands with Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida as newcomers ready to stake claim. Brigham Young is 22-4 over the last two-plus seasons, with victories over Utah, Southern Cal, Arizona State, Boise State, Houston and Central Florida.
Before contending in the Big 12, BYU gets one last crack at independence, and with veteran quarterback Jaren Hall leading the way, the Cougars could be a darkhorse contender for the College Football Playoff.
BYU’s schedule includes Oregon, Notre Dame, Arkansas and Stanford. The Cougars’ schedule last year and this year isn’t much off from what they will see in the Big 12.
Maybe the Cougars knows more about themselves than they realize. But after Baylor on Saturday night, BYU definitely will know more about its 2022 football team.
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Upset special: Houston over Texas Tech
Texas Tech and Houston were the final two additions to the Southwest Conference – Tech in 1960, UofH in 1976 – before the league disbanded in 1996. But Lubbock is 516 miles from Houston, and the schools never were much of rivals in the SWC.
Why work up a good hate for each other when so many SWC schools had conspired to keep them out for so long?
But Tech and Houston have revived their rivalry, with three home-and-home series in the last 13 years, the last of which ends Saturday in Lubbock, and next year the Cougars and Red Raiders will be together again, in the Big 12.
Houston has had more overall success in the last decade-plus. The Cougars have been to a major bowl (Peach), produced four double-digit win seasons since 2008 and finished in The Associated Press top 25 thrice. Tech has not been to a major bowl, has produced no double-digit win seasons and hasn’t finished in the top 25 since 2009.
But Tech has won four straight in the series. The Cougars won 29-28 in 2009, but Tech won 35-20 in 2010, 27-24 in 2017, 63-49 in 2018 and 38-21 last season.
And the Red Raiders are favored Saturday, despite the Cougars being ranked No. 25.
Tech is starting over with energetic Joey McGuire, a Texas high school coaching icon. Meanwhile, Houston is starting to reap a harvest from hiring away Dana Holgorsen from West Virginia after the 2018 season. The Cougars went 12-2 a year ago.
Houston has a veteran quarterback in Clayton Tune, who threw three touchdown passes against UTSA last week. Meanwhile, Tech lost quarterback Tyler Shough to a shoulder injury last week in a rout of Murray State. The Red Raiders will turn to Donovan Smith, who played some as a freshman a year ago and showed promise in relief last Saturday.
Tech is a three-point favorite at home, but Holgorsen earned his coaching chops as a Mike Leach assistant at Tech from 2000-07. He’ll have the Cougars ready. Let’s go with Houston in the upset.
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Coach on the hot seat: Matt Campbell
Campbell’s job is not on the line. Campbell’s job security is wide. Campbell is Iowa State’s Bill Snyder, a beloved coach who has brought stability and success to a place that has known little of either.
But the pressure, much of it self-induced, is on Campbell. His Cyclones play at Iowa in a bitter rivalry that is suddenly dominated by the Hawkeyes.
Iowa has won six straight in the series, a streak that coincides with the Cyclones’ emergence as a bonafide Big 12 program.
Campbell in that time has beaten OSU and OU twice each, and Texas, Baylor and Kansas State thrice each. But Iowa not at all.
The Hawkeyes look vulnerable. Their offense was horrid last week in that 7-3 yawner against South Dakota. Iowa went without a touchdown. The Hawkeyes had two safeties, which means their defense outscored their offense 4-3.
Iowa State is in a rebuilding year, but that hasn’t mattered in the past. When the Cyclones were strong, they’ve lost close games to Iowa. Campbell knows that needs to change.
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Ranking the Big 12 games
1. Baylor at Brigham Young, 9:15 p.m. Saturday, ESPN: Could BYU-Baylor become a natural rivalry? Baptists vs. the Mormons?
2. Alabama at Texas, 11 a.m. Saturday, Fox: Longhorns are an inexplicable 7-1-1 all-time vs. Alabama, but they haven’t met since the 2009 national championship game, which started UT’s continuing slide.
3. Iowa State at Iowa, 3 p.m. Saturday, Big Ten Network: You think the interruption of rivalries is a new thing? Iowa State-Iowa went unplayed between 1934 and 1977. Fools have long been with us.
4. Houston at Texas Tech, 3 p.m. Saturday, Fox Sports1: This should turn into a spirited Big 12 rivalry, though the conference scheduling model hasn’t been developed.
5. Arizona State at OSU, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, ESPN2: ASU quarterback Emory Jones is part of the college football transfer carousel. He was Florida’s starter a year ago but was losing his job to Anthony Richardson.
6. Missouri at Kansas State, 11 a.m. Saturday, ESPN2: Tigers won five of the last six in the series before leaving for the SEC, but before that, K-State won 13 straight against Mizzou.
7. Louisville at Central Florida, 6:30 p.m. Friday, ESPN2: Remember when Louisville was in a duel with West Virginia for a Big 12 invitation? Now the Big 12 is going to get UCF. But it would have been nice to have the ‘Ville, too.
8. Kansas at West Virgnia, 5 p.m. Saturday, ESPN Plus: KU has mastered the art of playing tough at home against the Mountaineers, but now comes trying to stay close in Morgantown.
9. Kent State at OU, 6 p.m. Saturday, ESPN Plus: Sooners are 3-0 all-time against MAC teams, beating Bowling Green 40-24 in 2004, Ball State 62-6 in 2011 and Akron 41-3 in 2015.
10. Kennesaw State at Cincinnati, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, ESPN Plus: Kennesaw State is a rather competitive Division I-AA program. The Owls went 11-2 a year ago.
11. Tarleton State at Texas Christian, 7 p.m. Saturday, ESPN Plus: Tarleston State was in the Division II Lone Star Conference as recently as 2019.
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Kent State football history primer
Kent State plays at OU on Saturday night, and it’s largely new territory for the Sooners. OU never has played Kent State and has played just three games ever against MAC teams.
To get you up to speed on Kent State, here’s a primer on the Golden Flashes’ gridiron history:
Best player: Jack Lambert. The eventual Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker with the Steelers was a Kent State star from 1971-73. He was recruited out of Crestwood, Ohio, as a high school quarterback but became the 1972 MAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Biggest game: 2012 MAC Championship. In the 2012, MAC title game, Kent State played Northern Illinois in the conference’s most important game ever. Kent State was 11-1 and ranked 18th. Northern Illinois was 12-0 and ranked 19th. The winner was headed to a major bowl. Northern Illinois won 44-37 and went on to the Orange Bowl, where the Huskies lost to Florida State 31-10. Kent State settled for the GoDaddy.com Bowl, where it lost to Arkansas State 17-13.
Best coach: Don James coached the Golden Flashes for four seasons, 1971-74, and went 25-19-1 before Washington hired him away. James turned the Huskies into a national power.
Famous coaches: Glen Mason, etc. Kent State has a decent coaching legacy, considering its lack of success. The all-time leader in Kent State victories is Doug Martin, who went 29-53 from 2004-10. But Mason went 12-10 in 1986-87 and got the Kansas job. Darrell Hazell went 16-10 in 2011-12 and got the Purdue job. Dean Pees went 17-51 in 1998-2003, then became a standout defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens. Dick Crum and Ed Chlebek coached Kent State after stints at bigger-profile schools North Carolina and Boston College, respectively. Oh, and some guy named Nick Saban played at and graduated from Kent State.
Big 12 history: The Flashes are 2-10 all-time against Big Eight/Big 12 teams. Kent State won at Kansas 31-17 in 1987 and at Iowa State 23-14 in 2007.
Glory days: 1946-56. Kent State had no losing seasons during those 11 seasons and also appeared in the 1954 Refrigerator Bowl, losing to Delaware 19-7 in Evansville, Indiana.
Championships: 1972. Kent State’s only MAC title came in ‘72, led by Lambert and coached by James.
Bowl record: 1-4. Since that Refrigerator Bowl, Kent State has played in just four bowls – beating Utah State 51-41 in the 2019 Frisco Bowl and losing 52-38 to Wyoming in the 2021 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, 17-13 to Arkansas State in the 2012 GoDaddy.com Bowl and 21-18 to Tampa in the 1972 Tangerine Bowl.
NFL legacy: Aside from Lambert, Kent State has produced some pro football stars — Chargers tight end Antonio Gates, Steelers linebacker James Harrison and Patriots receiver Julian Edelman among them.
Conference affiliations: Kent State joined the MAC in 1951, five years after its inception. The Flashes were in the small-college Ohio Conference from 1931-50.
Stadium: Dix Stadium. The facility opened in 1969 and seats 25,319.
Enrollment: 23,432. That’s on the Kent campus. Kent State has seven satellite campuses, with a total enrollment of 31,300. It’s basically the size of OU.
Notable alumni: Famed football coach Lou Holtz is a Kent State graduate. So are comedians Drew Carey and Arsenio Hall.
Athletic success: Golf, baseball, basketball. Kent State is an NCAA golf power, with its men team finishing fifth in the NCAA Championships in 2012 and its women doing the same in 2017. Kent State’s baseball team made the College World Series in 2012. And the Kent State basketball team knocked off OSU in the 2002 NCAA Tournament, en route to the regional finals.
Arch-rival: Akron. The campuses are about 14 miles apart, and the football teams play for the Wagon Wheel trophy.
Nickname: Golden Flashes. The name replaced “Silver Foxes” in the 1920s. Some credit Oliver Wolcott, then sports editor of the Kent Courier Tribune. We’ll take all the credit we can get as a profession. Kent State uses a mascot in an eagle costume.
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The List: Big 12 vs. Pac-12
OSU hosts Arizona State on Saturday night in a Big 12 vs. Pac-12 showdown. Both conferences are in similar straits, losing two big brands to other conferences – OU and Texas to the Southeastern, Southern Cal and UCLA to the Big Ten.
The legacy Big 12 schools and remaining Pac-12 schools are battling for television deals and, in the case of the Big 12, potential expansion candidates.
How has the Big 12 fared against the Pac-12 in the 10 years since the Big 12 settled on its current 10-member model? OSU-ASU will be the 21st meeting between the leagues, discounting games involving the departing schools.
The Big 12 leads 13-7:
2022: TCU 38, at Colorado 13
2021: at TCU 34, California 32
2021: Kansas State 24, Stanford 7, in Arlington
2020: Iowa State 34, Oregon 17, Fiesta Bowl
2019: OSU 52, at Oregon State 36
2019: Washington State 28, Iowa State 26, Alamo Bowl
2019: at Arizona 28, Texas Tech 14
2018: TCU 10, California 7, Cheez-It Bowl
2017: at Texas Tech 52, Arizona State 45
2017: TCU 39, Stanford 37, Alamo Bowl
2017: Utah 30, West Virginia 14, Heart of Dallas Bowl
2016: OSU 38, Colorado 8, Alamo Bowl
2016: at Stanford 26, Kansas State 13
2016: at Arizona State 68, Texas Tech 55
2015: TCU 47, Oregon 41, Alamo Bowl
2015: West Virginia 43, Arizona State 42, Cactus Bowl
2014: OSU 30, Washington 22, Cactus Bowl
2013: Oregon 35, Kansas State 17, Fiesta Bowl 2013: Texas Tech 37, Arizona State 23, Holiday Bowl
2012: at Arizona 59, OSU 38
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Mailbag: Brayden Willis
OU tight end Brayden Willis caught two touchdown passes against Texas-El Paso and drew much acclaim. At least one reader noticed.
Curtis: “Willis played an excellent game. He was all over the place. (The Gavin) Freeman touchdown was assisted by Willis. Willis got three blocks during that play. You may not like the movie ‘Waterboy,’ but one time Bobby Boucher goes down the sidelines and makes three blocks. That (Willis) play reminded me of (‘Waterboy’). Great effort from Willis.”
Tramel: I’ve never seen “Waterboy,” but I swear, the night before I got Curtis’ email, I was flipping channels and came across “Waterboy.” Watched about 25 seconds. Seemed quite silly and I moved on.
But I do like Willis. Always have. This is his fifth Sooner season, though he’s played in only 26 career games, due to a variety of ailments. Still, Willis has 38 career catches and eight touchdowns. That’s a healthy ratio.
In three OU seasons, predecessor Austin Stogner had 48 catches and eight touchdowns. Lee Morris, a tight end from a few years back, had 41 catches and 11 touchdowns, and we crowned him the TD king. Willis isn’t too far behind that ratio.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Arizona State football: Herm Edwards is banking on NFL connections
