(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
It was perhaps the longest wait imaginable for Arizona State Football to play their 2020-21 season. The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered spring practices, and kept players and coaches alike separated from each other for most of the offseason. The Pac-12 conference closed the door on a fall football season in August, only to reverse its stance just a month later due to testing advancements.
The season-opener came and disastrously went, as the Sun Devils blew a 14 point lead with just four minutes left en route to a 28-27 loss on Nov. 7. Then, unthinkably, more waiting followed.
After a clean eight months, COVID-19 ravaged the ASU program, sickening players and coaches – among them head coach Herm Edwards – and forcing the cancellation of three games – half of the team’s scheduled season.
Now, ASU believes that all of the waiting is over as UCLA approaches Saturday night. To Edwards, it feels like another season opener.
“We might as well be opening the season again,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”
The time off could lead to players losing the physical gains they had made prior to and during the season. Edwards said having players in shape is a priority heading into Saturday.
“Anytime you’ve been off this long and haven’t played, you have to get back into football shape,” he said. “Conditioning is a big part of it. You see it with guys coming back, their football stamina is not where it needs to be. We got to find our way back into football shape.”
Despite that challenge, the excitement to get back is infusing the locker room.
“I think our players are very excited about playing football again,” Edwards said.
“They want to play. This has been a long haul for everybody. It’s been up and down, up and down. It’s been challenging for everyone.”
Head coach Chip Kelly and UCLA could have been seen as one of the easier opponents on ASU’s schedule coming into the year, but the Bruins are 2-2 in their four games thus far and came within three points of upsetting No. 15 Oregon on Nov. 21, making Saturday no easy match all-around.
“I think Chip has done a nice job of really creating a type of offense and defense that fits what he wants to do,” Edwards said. “This is going to be a good contest.”
