Dec. 6, 2011
TEMPE, Ariz. -
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Arizona State will close out the 2011 season in Las Vegas, Nevada as they take on the Boise State Broncos in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas on December 22, 2011. The Sun Devils are 6-6, having dropped their last four games. The Broncos, from the Mountain West Conference, enter the game 11-1 and ranked #6 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, #8 in the AP Poll and #7 in the BCS Standings.
ON THE AIR: The IMG-Sun Devil Sports Network carries ASU’s football games live on their 10-station radio network. Tim Healey (play-by-play) and former Sun Devil quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst (color analyst) will call the action. The MAACO Bowl Las Vegas will air on 620 AM. Sports USA Radio will provide national radio coverage.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: The MAACO Bowl Las Vegas will be broadcast by ESPN. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Tom Rinaldi will call the action.
SUN DEVILS VS. BOISE STATE: Arizona State and Boise State have met only one time before on the football field. ASU beat the Broncos 56-7 on October 5, 1996 in Tempe. The Sun Devils went on to finish the 1996 regular season 11-0 and played in the Rose Bowl.
SUN DEVILS IN POSTSEASON PLAY: Arizona State will be playing in its 25th bowl game in school history. ASU holds an all-time mark of 12-11-1 in bowl games, dating back to its first bowl appearance in 1940, a scoreless tie with Catholic University in the Sun Bowl. The Sun Devils last bowl game was in 2007, when they fell to the Texas Longhorns 52-34 in the Holiday Bowl.
FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME: Omar Bolden is the only member of the 2011 Sun Devils who has ever played in a bowl game (2007 Holiday Bowl), but he will not play in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas due to injury. Seniors Colin Parker, Bo Moos, Adam Tello, Oliver Aaron, Garth Gerhart, Dan Knapp, Mike Marcisz and T.J. Simpson all redshirted in 2007. Bolden had five tackles in the loss to Texas.
PAC-12 HONORS: Senior center Garth Gerhart, senior safety Clint Floyd and junior kick returner Jamal Miles all earned Second Team All-Pac-12 honors. Senior defensive end Jamaar Jarrett, senior offensive lineman Dan Knapp, junior running back Cameron Marshall, senior defensive lineman Bo Moos, senior linebacker Colin Parker and senior wide receiver Gerell Robinson all earned Honorable Mentions.
ACADEMIC ALL-PAC-12 HONORS: Senior linebacker Colin Parker and senior wide receiver Aaron Pflugrad both earned Second Team Academic All-Pac-12 honors. Senior snapper Cameron Kastl, redshirt freshman kicker Alex Garoutte, senior offensive lineman Mike Marcisz, sophomore wide receiver Kyle Middlebrooks and sophomore tight end Max Smith all earned Honorable Mentions. Pflugrad also earned CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District VIII honors.
CAPTAINS: Omar Bolden, Garth Gerhart, Brock Osweiler, Colin Parker and T.J. Simpson have been named the captains of the 2011 Sun Devil football team. Bolden and Simpson have missed the entire season with injuries.
FINDING PAYDIRT: Junior running back Cameron Marshall added two touchdowns on the ground in the regular season finale against Cal, giving him 29 in his career. He is one of only 11 Sun Devils all time to score at least 20 touchdowns on the ground. The 29 puts him in fourth place all-time in ASU history.
MARSHALL OF THE TOUCHDOWN: Marshall’s two touchdowns against California gave him 18 for the season, tying him with Woody Green (1972) and Terry Battle (1996) for the most ever in a single-season by a Sun Devil running back. Marshall leads the Pac-12 with his 18 touchdowns on the ground and he has scored more rushing touchdowns than seven Pac-12 teams (Arizona 17, Utah 15, Washington 15, Washington State 13, Oregon State 12, USC 12 and Colorado 10). Marshall’s previous career high for touchdowns was nine, set last season. Marshall had six games with multiple rushing touchdowns during the 2011 season, including three against USC and Colorado.
MARSHALL, MARSHALL, MARSHALL: With his 157 yards against California, Cameron Marshall has now rushed for 1,038 yards in 2011, the first Sun Devil to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark since Ryan Torain ran for 1,229 yards in 2006. Marshall becomes the 16th Sun Devil to run for over 1,000 yards in a season and it marks the 20th time in Sun Devil football history that ASU has had a 1,000 yard rusher. Woody Green did it three times and Freddie Williams did it twice. Marshall has run for over 100-yards four times this season and six times in his career. The six career 100-yard games are tied for 17th most in school history. He has run for 2,119 yards over his three seasons in Tempe, the 17th player in school history to go over the 2,000-yard mark in his career. He has run for the 13th most yards ever by a Sun Devil runner, 355 yards away from joining the Top Ten.
100-YARDS ON THE GROUND: Arizona State is 4-2 when Cameron Marshall runs for at least 100-yards. He did it last year against Portland State and UCLA and this season against USC, Colorado, UCLA and California. ASU is now 255-54-5 all-time when it has a 100-yard rusher.
100 BY LAND AND AIR: Twice this season the Sun Devils have had a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in the same game. At UCLA Cameron Marshall ran for a career-high 168 yards, while Gerell Robinson hauled in 131 yards receiving. Against Cal, Marshall gained 157 yards on the ground and Rashad Ross gained a career-high 108 yards through the air.
BIG YEAR FOR G-ROB: Senior wide receiver Gerell Robinson made his final season in Tempe a memorable one, setting new career-highs in receptions (64) and yards (1,156). He turned in five 100-yard receiving games this year, including a career-high 199 yards on 11 receptions against Arizona. He is the first Sun Devil since Derek Hagan in 2005 to gain 1,000-yards through the air, and his 1,156 yards is the fourth-highest single-season total in school history. The 64 receptions ties him with Ron Fair (1989) for fifth most in a single season by a Sun Devil.
DOUBLE THREAT: The Sun Devil offense pulled off a rare feat during the 2011 season, featuring both a 1,000-yard rusher (Cameron Marshall) and a 1,000-yard receiver (Gerell Robinson). It is the fourth time in school history, and the first time since 2001, that ASU featured two players that gained over 1,000-yards at their respective positions. ASU had two 1,000-yard rushers (Woody Green and Ben Malone) and a 1,000-yard receiver (Morris Owens) in 1973.
BROCK AND ROLL: In his first season as the starter, Brock Osweiler has been climbing the charts in the ASU passing record books. This season he has thrown for 3,641 yards, the second highest single-season total in school history. Only Andrew Walter, who threw for 3,877 yards in 2002, has thrown for more yards in a season while wearing a Sun Devil uniform. Osweiler is only the third quarterback in school history to throw for over 3,000 yards in a season, joining Walter, who did it three times (2002, 2003 and 2004) and Rudy Carpenter, who did it in 2007. In the game against Arizona, Osweiler set a new career-high with 487 yards through the air. He was 36-63 passing, establishing new highs in both completions and attempts. His 63 attempts against Arizona tied Paul Justin’s 21 year-old school record (vs. Houston in 1990) for most ever by a Sun Devil in a single game, while his 36 completions against the Wildcats was the third-highest total in school history. The 487 yards was the fifth-highest total in school history. His 469 attempts so far this year is second all-time in a single season by a Sun Devil QB and his 296 completions is the most ever by an ASU quarterback in a season. Osweiler has thrown 24 touchdowns this year, tied for fifth most in a season in school history.
MR. TOUCHDOWN: Junior wide receiver Jamal Miles became a touchdown machine in 2011. Miles returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the season opener against UC Davis and did it again at Washington State, threw a TD pass against Missouri and has caught six touchdown passes this year. Against Oregon State, Miles added another notch to his TD belt, returning a punt 78-yards for a score. Miles is the only player in the nation to have scored a touchdown on a reception, kickoff return and punt return as well as throw a TD pass. Miles TD pass was the first of his career on his second career attempt. He also set a new career-high with his nine receptions for 55 yards and a touchdown against USC.
RUNNING FOR MILES: Jamal Miles returned his third career kickoff for a touchdown and second this season against Washington State, bringing it back 95-yards for the score. The two kickoff return touchdowns this year ties Miles with Terry Battle (1996) for most kickoff return touchdowns by a Sun Devil in a single season. The kickoff return TD against Washington State made Miles ASU’s all-time leader in that category, moving him past Omar Bolden, Terry Battle and Whizzer White who all had two in their careers. It was the seventh kickoff return for touchdown the Sun Devils have had since Dennis Erickson took over as head coach in 2007, the most under one coach in school history.
MORE ON MILES: The 78-yard punt return by Jamal Miles against Oregon State was the first punt returned for a touchdown by a Sun Devil since 2005. On November 25, 2005, Terry Richardson returned an Arizona punt 71-yards for the score. It took 68 games before Miles did the same thing against the Beavers.
RETURN RECORD: Over his three seasons in Tempe, Jamal Miles has returned 64 kickoffs for 1,517 yards and three touchdowns. The 1,517 yards ties Rudy Burgess for the most career kickoff return yards in school history. Miles has totaled 788 of those yards this season, second highest single-season total in ASU history. Miles’ total is second only to the 879 yards that Burgess gained in 2007. Miles has 64 career kick returns, giving him an average of 23.7 yards per return. Burgess had 68 returns, an average of 22.3 yards per return. Miles has three kick return TDs, while Burgess had one.
PUSH ‘EM BACK: In 2010, the Sun Devil defense routinely made tackles for loss or for no gain. The defense finished 2010 with 143 plays that went for negative or no yards, totaling 307 yards lost for the offense. Against Cal, the Sun Devil defense totaled six plays of negative or no gain for the Golden Bears for 12 yards lost.
NOEL HUDDLE OFFENSE: Offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone always says how the Sun Devils can score in a hurry, and they have not let him down this season. Arizona State’s first two touchdown drives of the season against UC Davis both took under 1:10. Last season, ASU had 11 scoring drives that took under 1:10. Against Missouri, ASU had an eight second scoring drive and in the Oregon State game the offense scored on a :44 second drive. At Utah, ASU had a 1:03 scoring drive. Against Colorado, ASU had four touchdown drives that took under two minutes, including a 35 second one and a 32 second one. Against UCLA the Sun Devils had one touchdown drive that took under two minutes. But ASU also showed they could do a long drive if necessary, turning in its two longest scoring drives of the season. The Sun Devils had a 97-yard drive and a 93-yard drive against the Bruins, both of which resulted in touchdowns. Against Washington State, ASU turned in a :59 second scoring drive. In the game against the Wildcats, the Sun Devils turned in an 80-yard touchdown drive in just :42 seconds. Against Cal, ASU scored a touchdown in :19 seconds.
BROCK’S TALLER THAN YOU: Quarterback Brock Osweiler checks in at six foot eight inches tall, making him the tallest quarterback in the FBS. Osweiler is one of nine QBs 6-6 or taller in the nation.
SCHOLAR BALLERS: 22 Sun Devil football players have been named Scholar Ballers for their work in the classroom: Oliver Aaron, Sil Ajawara, Derrall Anderson, Mike Bercovici, Gannon Conway, Chris Coyle, Evan Finkenberg, Alex Garoutte, Brandon Johnson, Cameron Kastl, Ronald Kennedy, Jr., Kody Koebensky, Shelly Lyons, Brandon Magee, Mike Marcisz, Trent Marsh, Kyle Middlebrooks, Colin Parker, Aaron Pflugrad, Max Smith, Grandville Taylor and Austin Williams.
HALL OF FAME: Pat Tillman entered the College Football Hall of Fame in July, the ninth Sun Devil enshrined. Tillman joins former Sun Devil coaches Dan Devine, Frank Kush and John Cooper and student-athletes defensive back Mike Haynes, wide receiver John Jefferson, offensive lineman Randall McDaniel, linebacker Ron Pritchard and quarterback Danny White as representatives of Arizona State University in the College Football Hall of Fame.
LINE EXPERIENCE: Arizona State has seven offensive linemen with starting experience, totaling 130 career starts. Center Garth Gerhart leads the way with his 34 career starts, followed by Mike Marcisz (21), Andrew Sampson (21), Evan Finkenberg (19), Dan Knapp (18), Aderious Simmons (9) and Adam Tello (8).
ASU HALL OF FAME: Against Oregon State, former Sun Devil football greats Adam Archuleta and Marvel Smith entered the Arizona State Athletic Hall of Fame. Archuleta played at ASU from 1996 to 2000 before going on to an eight-year NFL career. Smith donned the Maroon and Gold from 1996 to 1999 before playing 10 seasons in the NFL and winning two Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
UNI-WATCH: Arizona State wore their traditional uniform combo for the season opener against UC Davis (gold helmet, maroon jersey, gold pants). They wore all black against Missouri and Arizona and all white for the first road game at Illinois. Against USC and Cal they wore all maroon and against Oregon State they wore white helmets, maroon jerseys and white pants. At Utah and at Washington State they wore gold helmets, white jerseys and gold pants. Against Oregon the Sun Devils wore maroon helmets, white jerseys and maroon pants. For the Homecoming game against Colorado ASU wore black helmets, black jerseys and gold pants. At UCLA, ASU wore black helmets, white jerseys and black pants.
DEBUT DEVILS: 24 student-athletes have seen their first action at Arizona State this season: Charles Beatty, Steve Gallon, Rashad Wadood, Alex Garoutte, Anthony Jones, Kipeli Koniseti, Carl Bradford, Tyler Sulka, Kevin Ozier, Ezekiel Bishop, Josh Hubner, Jamil Douglas, Jordan McDonald, Davon Coleman, Rashad Ross, Mike Bercovici, Sil Ajawara, Kevin Ayers, Marcus Washington, Taylor Kelly, Angelo Magee, Chike Mbanefo, Joita Te’i and Gannon Conway. Wadood, Bishop and Bercovici are all true freshmen.