Edwards reflects on the upset of Oregon, preparations for Territorial Cup

After losing four straight conference games, Arizona State coach Herm Edwards was tired of losing.

Leading into a matchup against No. 6 Oregon Edwards knew he was tired of losing but had a tall task in front of him in order to end his team’s skid.

Despite facing one of the top teams in the conference on both sides of the ball, Edwards admitted he had confidence in his team and had a good feeling about the game.

“I thought we had a great chance to win to be quite honest,” Edwards admitted. “You’re asking the wrong guy ─ I think that every week. When I don’t think that, I won’t be sitting at this podium anymore.”

Heading into the team’s final conference game of the season, Edwards has the same confidence but expects it to be much more of a challenge than some may expect.

Despite having just beaten one of the top two teams in the Pac-12 conference, Arizona State’s season is far from over as they play for the Territorial Cup on Saturday in Tempe then will play in a bowl game in the weeks following.

The University of Arizona currently sits outside the possibility of becoming bowl eligible, meaning their season will end on Saturday night in Tempe one way or another.

Edwards discussed what the Sun Devils will have to watch out for against the Wildcats and reminisced on his experience of his first-time being part of a field storming.

Edwards raves about “electric crowd” against Oregon

When the fans emptied down from the sides of Sun Devil Stadium, Edwards found himself right in the middle of the fans storming the field.

Something that was happening to the experienced coach for the first-time.

“I’ve never witnessed it,” Edwards admitted. “I’ve never been a part of it. That was my first time. It was great. It was fantastic. It was a school win, a fan base win. It wasn’t just our win ─ it was everybody’s win. That’s the fun of it all. That’s what makes college football so unique.”

The experience is one that Edwards welcomed given its uniqueness. After all, not every day do players get to see and experience something they may have seen on television.

“Twenty years from now they’ll be talking about that,” Edwards stated. “They’ll be talking ‘you know what we did? In our backyard here with our fan base, they came on the field. That’s what great about college. You see it, in basketball, in football, when they storm the field and you’re watching television you go how does that feel?”

The atmosphere was also one that Edwards praised and raved about given the momentum his team was able to play off of from the crowd at times.

Even though the atmosphere was one that was worth noting, Edwards did say he expects the same sense of intensity from the crowd against the team’s rival.

“That was an electric stadium Saturday night,” Edwards said. “Our fan base, they were special ─ they were fantastic. Oregon had their fan base too. It was one of those games where it was good for television. With the way it turned out it was a good TV game.

It was a game where I thought our fan base really helped us. They really did. They were into the game, our players were into the game, that’s a good thing.”

Edwards knows to throw all preconceived notions out the window for ASU, Arizona

During Monday’s press conference, a reporter pointed out to Edwards that in all four of ASU’s wins this season over Power 5 opponents, the Sun Devils have been underdogs. They then began to tell Edwards that his team is almost a two-touchdown favorite this week against Arizona.

Edwards cut him off.

“I don’t believe that,” he said. “That’s just people that have nothing to do with this game making those rules up. You guys have been involved with this game longer than I have, that’s just stuff.”

Perhaps the only evidence Edwards needed in the craziness of what the New York Times declared as the nation’s biggest rivalry came last season, when in his first year as ASU’s head coach, the Sun Devils overcame a 19-point 4th-quarter deficit.

No point spreads mattered then. Or the preceding win totals. Things go haywire when that much passion and energy engulf something.

“You hear from a lot of people who have been involved in it -- former players. I don’t get out a whole lot … but you just sense it,” Edwards said. “When you walk in the ballyard the day of the game, you just kind of go, ‘OK, I see what this is.’”

It doesn’t seem Edwards has entrenched himself in the history of the rivalry as much as, say, defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, who seems well-versed enough to teach a class on the matter.

Heck, less than a half-hour after ASU’s biggest win of the season on Saturday, Gonzales exclaimed: “Now I’m going to go working on the Anti-200 (U of A) tonight because I can’t stand that group.”

The good thing for ASU, though, is the U of A game won’t decide the Sun Devils’ bowl eligibility. After the Oregon game, offensive coordinator Rob Likens described that as a sort of weight off the coaches’ backs, where they can focus solely on the game without letting their minds float to the repercussions of what a loss would mean.

Saturday is about finishing the season strong, gaining momentum

Last season, the Territorial Cup had some meaning. A win and the Wildcats would have been bowl eligible. Now that wasn’t exactly on par with having conference title hopes in the picture, but it was something.

This year, there’s none of that. ASU is already bowl eligible. U of A knows it’s playing its final game of the season. In some sense, that may a blessing. Nothing to play for means you have nothing to lose -- and that can be dangerous.

“It’s the last game of the season and you want to finish on a winning note,” Edwards said. “(Arizona coach) Kevin (Sumlin), like myself, we’re trying to build a program. They’re where we’re at, they’re trying to build this thing.

“And a game like this, it’s your last game and if you win, it’s like, ‘OK, we won our last game.’ That’s something to look forward to.”

Think back to last year. ASU went 7-6, lost its bowl game to a Mountain West school and people felt fantastic. Why? Because the Sun Devils beat Arizona -- and did it in ridiculous fashion. Arizona felt the same way three years ago when it ran the ball down the Devils’ throats, en route to a convincing victory without attempting a pass in the second half.

More than anything, these rivalry games provide a fan base with hope and optimism that their program has momentum.

Going forward, ASU has Jayden Daniels and Arizona has Grant Gunnell. Sure there are a million other question marks around both programs. But a win Saturday is something to build off of.

And the year of bragging rights doesn’t hurt either.

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