ASU football plays host to Georgia

MAROON AND GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
ASU is celebrating 50 years at Sun Devil Stadium, home stadium of the Arizona State University football team. The Sun Devils have a 244-85-3 record at Sun Devil Stadium, including a 7-1 mark in 2007. In 1996, the playing field was named Frank Kush Field, after the legendary Sun Devil coach. Sun Devil Stadium has played host to 35 Fiesta Bowls, two Insight Bowls and Super Bowl XXX. Over 16 million fans have seen the Sun Devils play at Sun Devil Stadium.

ON THE AIR
The Sun Devil Sports Network will carry all 12 of ASU's football games live on their 10-station radio network, including flagship station Sports 620 KTAR AM. Tim Healey (play-by-play) and former Sun Devil quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst (color analyst) will call the action. The Georgia game can be heard on 92.3 KTAR FM.

LIGHTS, CAMERAS, ACTION
ABC will televise the Sun Devils match-up with the Bulldogs. Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit will call the action from the booth while Lisa Salters handles the sideline duties.

WEEKEND HONORS
Several special presentations will be made at halftime of this weekend's game including recognition of two hall of famers and three national championship teams. Former Sun Devil coach John Cooper and player Randall McDaniel will both be honored before the crowd as both are members of the College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2008. The three teams that will be honored as well include the 2008 NCAA Men's Indoor Track & Field, 2008 NCAA Women's Indoor Track & Field and 2008 Women's College World Series (softball) national champions. 

SUN DEVILS VS. BULLDOGS
This will be the first ever meeting between Arizona State and Georgia.

SWEET 16
Dennis Erickson has started his career at Arizona State 12-4, tied for the best 16-game start by any coach in Pac-10 history (1978-P). Oregon's Mike Bellotti, Washington State's Bill Doba, Stanford's Bill Walsh and USC's Larry Smith also started 12-4. Erickson also started 11-5 during his first 16 games at Oregon State.

ASU VS. UNLV RECAP
UNLV scored 13 unanswered points to take a 23-20 lead in overtime, then blocked Thomas Weber's 35-yard field goal attempt to upset Arizona State. Kyle Williams had three receptions for a career high 115 yards, scoring a 49-yard touchdown. Dimitri Nance had 92 yards on the ground in the loss.

ASU VS. UNLV NOTE
• Gerell Robinson made his first career catch, a 13-yard grab.

START ME UP
Now in his fourth season under center, senior QB Rudy Carpenter is tied with Purdue's Curtis Painter for the most consecutive games starting at quarterback in college football. Carpenter has started 34 straight contests and has seen action in 38 career games. In the Pac-10 last year, only two other quarterbacks did not miss a game. But here is the most impressive nugget...when Jake "the Snake" Plummer started the final 40 games of his career that ended in 1996, ASU began a stretch in 1997 that ended in 2004 (nine seasons) in which eight quarterbacks made at least one start. Rudy took over in the eighth game in 2005 and has started every game since. He has started every game the past two seasons, as only Andrew Walter in 2003 did the same in the past 11 seasons.

ONE OF THE PAC-10'S FINEST
Rudy Carpenter continues to be one of the top QBs in the Pac-10 Conference. Carpenter is the active Pac-10 leader in passing attempts, completed passes, passing yards, touchdown passes and 300 yard games. Carpenter now has 71 career touchdown passes and has thrown for 8,973 yards in his ASU career. He currently ranks 12th all-time in Pac-10 history for passing yards, trailing Stanford's John Elway (1979-82) by 376 yards.

TOUCHDOWN RUDY
Rudy Carpenter now has 71 touchdown passes in his career. He is only the fourth Sun Devil all-time to throw at least 60 touchdowns, joining Andrew Walter (85), Jake Plummer (65) and Danny White (64). The 71 career TD passes is good for 8th most in Pac-10 history, one shy of USC's Carson Palmer (1998-2002) for 7th all-time.

TOTAL PACKAGE
Rudy is also climbing the Pac-10's All-Time Total Offense chart. Carpenter currently ranks 13th all-time in total offense, accumulating 8,819 total yards. He is 180 yards shy of Washington State's Jason Gesser (1999-2002) for 12th all-time in conference history.

ANOTHER RECORD
With his 733 passing yards in the first two weeks of the 2008 season, Rudy Carpenter has established a new standard for passing yards through the first two games in ASU history. The previous record was held by Sam Keller in 2005, when he threw for 669 yards against Temple and LSU.

WINNING TRADITION
Rudy Carpenter is 23-11 as the starting quarterback for Arizona State, the fourth most wins as a starter in school history. Danny White holds the all-time record for wins by a starting quarterback, going 30-3 from 1971 to 1973. Dennis Sproul is second with a 26-11 record from 1974-77. Carpenter passed Jeff Van Raaphorst, who went 21-9-1 from 1983 to 1986, with the win over NAU on August 30. He is one win shy of Jake Plummer for third place. Plummer went 24-16 from 1993 to 1996. Van Raaphorst, Plummer and Carpenter are the only three QBs in ASU history who have led the Sun Devils to a Pac-10 title.

LUCKY 13
Against NAU on August 30, Carpenter tied a 56-year old school by completing 13 consecutive passes. The only other Sun Devil to complete that many in a row was Dick Mackey, who accomplished the feat against San Diego Navy in 1952. The NCAA record is 24, held by Tennessee's Tee Martin in 1998 and Cal's Aaron Rodgers in 2004. Carpenter also had a string of 10 straight completions against the Cardinal.

RECORD BOOK RUDY
Carpenter continues to etch his name into the ASU annals of passing history. He is now second in career completions with 648, touchdowns with 69 and yards with 8,973 and third in attempts with 1,045.

BUILDING HIS LEGACY
Over his three seasons at Arizona State, Rudy Carpenter has found success achieved by few who wore maroon and gold. Carpenter has started three bowl games (2005 Insight, 2006 Hawai'i and 2007 Holiday), only the second quarterback in school history to accomplish that feat. Danny White is the only other, starting the Fiesta Bowl in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Rudy also joins Jeff Van Raaphorst (1986) and Jake Plummer (1996) as ASU quarterbacks to lead the Sun Devils to a Pac-10 title.

NATIONAL ATTENTION
Carpenter isn't just highly ranked in the Pac-10, but in the nation as well. The senior signal caller ranks in the top five among active FBS quarterbacks in both passing yards and passing touchdowns. He is fourth in yards, 17 yards behind Missouri's Chase Daniel for third. He is second in touchdown passes, trailing only Texas Tech's Graham Harrell.

300 GAME
Carpenter's 345 yards against Stanford was his 11th career 300-yard game and second straight, tops among active Pac-10 quarterbacks. The Sun Devils are 8-3 when Rudy throws for over 300 yards, including a 6-0 mark at home. He has thrown for over 300 yards against nine different teams, including Northern Arizona on August 30. Washington State and Stanford are the only schools he has done it against twice.

EFFICIENCY EXPERT
Carpenter went 22-28 against NAU on August 30, a completion percentage of .786. It marked his second-highest career completion percentage in a game he had at least 20 passing attempts. His career best was in 2005 against Washington at Sun Devil Stadium, when he completed 27 of 34 passes for a .794 completion percentage. In that game he threw for 401 yards and three touchdowns in a 44-20 victory. Against Stanford, Carpenter went 27-36, a 75% completion rate.

SUPERB START
Carpenter's 388 yards against the Lumberjacks set a new school record for most passing yards in the first game of a season. Joe Spagnola held the previous record of 369 on Sept. 20, 1969 vs. Minnesota.

ON WATCH LISTS
Entering his final season, Carpenter finds himself a candidate for several major awards. He is on the Watch List for the Maxwell Award, presented to the top player in college football, the Davey O'Brien Award, awarded to the best quarterback in the country, the Unitas Golden Arm Award and the Walter Camp Foundation Player of the Year award.

SEC MATCH-UP
The game with Georgia will mark only the fourth time Arizona State will face a team from the Southeastern Conference. The Sun Devils are 0-3 all-time against SEC foes, losing to Arkansas 30-13 in 1951 (the Razorbacks were in the SWC then) and 18-17 in the 1985 Holiday Bowl and falling to LSU 35-31 in Tempe in 2005.

GOOD AND FRESH(MEN)
Nine true freshman have seen action so far in 2008, which ties the school record for most true freshmen to play in a single season. The 1994 team also had nine true freshmen see game action. The nine who have played this year are: WR Gerell Robinson, S Clint Floyd, RB Ryan Bass, CB Josh Jordan, LB Shelly Lyons, LB Brandon Magee, DL Lawrence Guy, SN Thomas Ohmart and DE Jamaar Jarrett. Seven redshirt freshmen have also played this year: OL Adam Tello, LB Oliver Aaron, DE James Brooks, TE Dan Knapp, WR T.J. Simpson, LB Colin Parker and OL Garth Gerhart.

WHO'S BACK
Thirty-eight letterwinners return from the 2007 Pac-10 championship squad, including seven starters on both sides of the ball. Rudy Carpenter returns for his fourth season as the signal caller for the Devils. Carpenter will have an experienced and talented receiving corps, led by Mike Jones and Chris McGaha. The two combined for 107 catches, 1,599 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2007. Keegan Herring returns to lead the running attack, and he will be teamed with Dimitri Nance and Shaun DeWitty in the backfield. Herring enters 2008 as the 10th-leading rusher in school history, gaining 2,234 yards in his career. Dexter Davis will lead a stout defense that finished as the third ranked unit in the Pac-10 last year. Davis has totaled 18.5 sacks in his two plus seasons in maroon and gold. Travis Goethel and Mike Nixon will anchor the group of linebackers, after the two combined for 129 tackles a season ago. Troy NolanThomas Weber returns on special teams, looking to improve on a 2007 campaign that saw him go 24-25 on field goals and handle the punting duties. is the leader of the defensive backfield after intercepting six passes in 2007, returning two of them for touchdowns. 2007 Lou Groza Award Winner

SUMMER CATCH
Senior WR Mike Jones has been a two-sport athlete at ASU for three years, spending his springs with the Sun Devil baseball team. But this summer was different for Jones, who was drafted in the 29th round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees. Jones spent his summer in Tampa, Florida as a member of the Gulf Coast Yankees in the Rookie League. He appeared in 15 games, collecting nine hits, including five doubles. Jones showed no rust from his summer of baseball, hauling in a team-leading 14 receptions for 256 yards and a touchdown. He had 162 yards against NAU on Aug. 30, his fourth career 100-yard game.

CATCH IT
Arizona State boasts one of the top returning wide receiving corps in the Pac-10. Mike Jones, Chris McGaha and Kyle Williams all return for the Sun Devils, giving Rudy Carpenter and ASU a dangerous arsenal. Kerry Taylor has added himself to that arsenal, grabbing 11 balls for 204 yards and two scores so far this year. Taylor had 53 receiving yards all of last season. The four wide receivers have combined for 186 receptions, 2,809 yards and 22 touchdowns dating back to last season. McGaha led the 2007 team with 61 catches for 830 yards, while Jones was the scoring leader, finding the end zone 10 times. He had 46 receptions for 769 yards to go along with the 10 TDs. Williams caught 29 passes for 360 yards and six scores.

TOM THE TOE
Sophomore kicker Thomas Weber returns in 2008, hoping to duplicate one of the greatest seasons by a kicker in Arizona State history. The winner of the 2007 Lou Groza Award, presented annually to the nation's top placekicker, a First-Team All-American by the Associated Press and a First-Team All-Pac-10 honoree, Weber was sensationally consistent during his freshman season, connecting on 24-of-25 field goals (96.0 pct.), with a long of 53 yards. A three-time Pac-10 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week in 2007, Weber set numerous Sun Devil records in only his first college season, including a record streak of 17 made field goal attempts to begin the year (also a nation-leading streak for the season) and a nation-high accuracy rating. The Downey, Calif., product ranked first in the Pac-10, fifth in the nation and tied the Sun Devil single-season record for points by kicking (118) set by Mike Barth as a senior in 2002, while also placing sixth in the country with 1.85 made field goals per game. A sharpshooter off the kicking tee and in the classroom, Weber added First-Team Pac-10 All-Academic honors to his list of accomplishments as a rookie in 2007. In addition to his near-perfect kicking reputation, Weber took on the added challenge of taking over punting duties midway through the season and averaged 39.3 yards on 47 punts for the year. He has not missed a beat so far in 2008, as he is 7-8 thus far on field goal attempts, including a long of 49. His only miss was a block. He has scored 31 points and has also punted 11 times for an average of 42.5 yards a kick.

SACK MASTER DEX
Junior defensive end Dexter Davis has wasted no time this season establishing himself as one of the best pass rushers in the Pac-10. Through the first three games, Davis has 4.0 QB sacks, six tackles for loss and 10 total tackles. He has started all 29 games in his Sun Devil career and has already totaled 20.5 sacks, 30 tackles for loss and 83 tackles. Davis enjoyed one of the most sensational freshman seasons by a Sun Devil defender in school history in 2006, earning Pac-10 All-Freshman honors and honorable mention freshman All-America recognition by The Sporting News. The Phoenix, Ariz., native recorded a team-best and Pac-10 freshman season-high 6.0 quarterback sacks, the third-most by a Sun Devil rookie in school history. He was just as impressive during his sophomore campaign, posting a team-leading 10.5 sacks, third most in the Pac-10. He was a Second Team All-Pac-10 selection after recording 33 total tackles, including 13.5 for loss. He also forced three fumbles and recovered another. Davis is on the preseason watch list for the Ted Hendricks Award, the Nagurski Trophy and the Lombardi Award. His 20.5 sacks put him sixth in school history. Terrell Suggs is ASU's all-time sack leader, recording 44 from 2000 to 2002.

HELMETS AND MORTAR BOARDS
Seven members of the 2008 Sun Devil football team have already earned their degrees from Arizona State University. Rudy Carpenter, Mike Jones, Wes Evans, Angelo Fobbs-Valentino, Nate Kimbrough, Troy Nolan and David Smith have all graduated from Arizona State University. The seven graduates is tied for 8th-most in the nation.

IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
Mike Nixon will be writing a weekly diary for The Sporting News about the 2008 season. He is one of 22 FBS student-athletes who will write the weekly column, and one of only two from the Pac-10. It can be read at today.sportingnews.com.

YOUNGSTERS
Arizona State has one of the smallest senior classes in the nation. ASU has 15 seniors on their roster, one of five teams with that amount. The others are Colorado, Nevada, Notre Dame and Oklahoma State. Only 12 teams in the country have fewer seniors.

RUNNING DOWN HIS DREAM
From the moment he set foot on ASU's campus, senior Keegan Herring has had a smile on his face and a hunger for yards. Over his three seasons with the Devils, Herring has been one of the most dependable backs in the Pac-10. He leads all Pac-10 returners with 2,293 career yards, good for 10th most in school history. One of the quickest athletes in the conference and a home run threat on every carry, Herring has scored 18 times and has had at least one carry for over 65 yards in each of his three seasons. Arizona State's leading rusher a season ago, Herring totaled 815 yards on 154 carries, the third straight he has gained over 500 yards. Herring did not play against the Rebels.

MOVING ON UP
With his 2,293 career rushing yards, Herring finds himself 10th on Arizona State's all-time rushing list. He is 181 yards short of Ben Malone (1971-73) for 9th on the list. Herring also has six career 100-yard games, including three in 2007. His career high for yards in a game is 197 against Northwestern in 2005.

HOME SWEET HOME
For the second straight season, Arizona State begins the year by playing its first four games at Sun Devil Stadium. Last season, ASU went 7-1 at home, winning its first six. They are the only team in the Pac-10 to open with four straight at home, and one of only five teams in the nation to play their first four games on their home field. Duke, Louisville, Indiana and Nebraska are the others. Nebraska opens the season with five straight home games.

WATCH LISTS
Several Sun Devils are on preseason watch lists for national awards. Senior Safety Troy Nolan, who led the team team with six interceptions a year ago, is on the watch lists for the Bednarik Award, the Nagurski Trophy, the Thorpe Award and the Lott Trophy. Seniors Rudy Carpenter and Keegan Herring are both on the Maxwell Award watch list, while junior Dexter Davis joins Nolan on the Nagurski Trophy watch list. Davis is also on the Lombardi Award list and the Hendricks Award list. Carpenter is also on the Davey O'Brien Watch List, given to the nation's top QB and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award Watch List. Junior linebacker Gerald Munns is on the Butkus Award Watch List. 2007 Lou Groza Award winner Thomas Weber is on the watch list for the 2008 award. Herring is also on the Doak Walker Award list.

PRESEASON HONORS
Kicker Thomas Weber has found his name on a number of preseason All-American teams. Weber is a First Team selection by The Sporting News, Athlon Sports and Playboy, while Phil Steele has him on the Third Team.

TEAM CAPTAINS
Senior quarterback Rudy Carpenter and senior safety Troy Nolan were named team captains after a vote by the team. Head coach Dennis Erickson will designate two additional game captains on a weekly basis. Shawn Lauvao and Mike Nixon were the game captains against UNLV.

IN THE POLLS
Arizona State opened the 2008 season ranked #15 in the AP Poll and #16 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. This marked the highest preseason ranking for the Sun Devils since 1998, when they were ranked #8 in the first polls. ASU finished the 2007 ranked #13 in the USA Today Coaches poll and #16 in the final Associated Press Poll. The Devils are currently #24 in the USA Today coaches poll and unranked in the AP Poll.

FOUR YEAR QBs
Senior quarterback Rudy Carpenter is one of only five four-year starters at the quarterback position in the Bowl Subdivision. Curtis Painter of Purdue, Mike Teel of Rutgers, Willie Tuitama of Arizona, Pat White of West Virginia and Drew Willy of Buffalo are the others.

SECOND YEAR COACH
Head Coach Dennis Erickson has a combined record of 40-10 during his second season with a school. He has gone 50-44-1 in his first year at his seven college coaching jobs, including 10-3 last season at ASU. Erickson started 12-3 in his first 15 games at ASU, the best record through 15 games for an ASU coach since Dan Devine went 12-2-1 in 1955 and 1956.

DID YOU KNOW
In his career, Dennis Erickson's teams have stopped a winning streak of 10 or more games three times. On November 25, 1989, Erickson's #7 Miami Hurricanes beat #1 Notre Dame 27-10 ending the Irish's 23-game win streak. On October 6, 1990, the 'Canes beat #2 Florida State 31-22 to end the Seminoles' 14-game win streak, and on November 16, 1991, his second ranked Miami team beat the top ranked Seminoles 17-16 to end a 16-game FSU win streak. Georgia enters this week on a 10-game winning streak.

NEXT UP
Arizona State will enjoy a bye week next week before hitting the road for the first time in 2008 on October 4 when they travel to Berkeley for a Pac-10 match-up with California.