The Pulse: Fans expecting 8 or 9 Arizona State wins in 2014
Jul 23, 2014, 2:26 AM | Updated: 2:26 am
Every day, we at ArizonaSports.com ask our readers a question. It’s the Sanderson Ford Poll Question of the Day, and it can be found midway down the right side of our home page.
On Tuesday, July 22, we asked how many wins the Arizona State football team will rack up in 2014.
Our readers seemed pretty optimistic, as 53 percent (216 total) of the 408 voters said the Sun Devils will win eight or nine contests, and another 31 percent (125 votes) answered 10 or more victories.
Forty-five people (11 percent) said Todd Graham’s squad will claim six or seven victories, while eight voters (2 percent) said “4-5 wins” and 14 others (3 percent) said ASU will win fewer than four games. (Wildcats fans?)
Arizona State is scheduled for 12 regular season games, and of course they could add up to a couple more if they make it to the Pac-12 Championship again and a bowl game.
ASU started out 10-2 last season before losing to Stanford in the conference championship game and then in the Holiday Bowl to Texas Tech.
If the program wants to repeat or better its success from 2013, the right pieces are in place. While standouts like Marion Grice, Will Sutton, Carl Bradford and Chris Coyle have moved on, the Sun Devils will benefit from the returns of quarterback Taylor Kelly, running back D.J. Foster, wide receiver Jaelen Strong and defensive lineman Jaxon Hood, among others. Graham returns for his third season in Tempe, and he has led the program to an 18-9 (.667) record thus far.