There's some attempted narrative that all fences can be mended with a win. It would certainly help, and it's always good to beat ASU. But to me, the days of being okay with struggling through a season and ending on an up note with a rivalry win are long past. Maybe in the 80s with Larry Smith and the 90s with Dick Tomey. But we've done that in every way it can be done. Since those early days of "let's knock off ASU", we've had multiple top ten and top fifteen finishes, gone to multiple Fiesta and Alamo Bowls, beaten the likes of USC, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma, and we're very used to being on national TV. So there are bigger goals and expectations, even if we are notoriously inconsistent.
ASU rolled through their non-conference slate of Wyoming, Mississippi St, and Texas St for a 3-0 start. They lost at Texas Tech, then won two home games against Kansas and Utah. They dropped another roadie at Cincinnati, and now they've won 4 in a row: at Oklahoma St, UCF, at Kansas St, and BYU. They've got plenty of motivation, having lost the last two Territorial Cups and hoping for a shot at the Big XII title and a berth in the playoffs. With the O/U and spread, the oddsmakers figure on something like 30-21. I'm thinking more of a three TD margin.
