The first season for Todd Graham in the desert promises to be a difficult one: with six road games on the schedule, the Sun Devils will face plenty of tests in enemy territory.
9/15: at Missouri in Columbia, Mo.
9/29: at California in Berkeley, Ca.
10/11: at Colorado in Boulder, Co. (Thursday night)
11/3: at Oregon State in Corvallis, Or.
11/10: at USC in Los Angeles, Ca.
11/23: at Arizona in Tucson, Az.
With five road games in conference play, the Devils also make a return trip to Columbia to take on the Missouri Tigers in September. Mizzou, now an SEC school, poses an interesting challenge. Fans have responded to the conference change, buying season tickets in mass quantities (looks like a 15-18% surge in season ticket sales from last season).
Another intriguing road game pits the Sun Devils against the Colorado Buffaloes. Unfortunately, the game falls on a Thursday night, severely limiting ASU fans from traveling to Boulder to visit their new Pac-12 foes. The timing of this game is particularly onerous to me and takes some wind out of the sails of Arizona residents who want an excuse to visit Colorado.
California falls into its own special category, as visiting the new Memorial Stadium would be a worthy trip for ASU fans (though you may need to wait a while before the renovations are actually done). Oregon State seems like a fun environment and USC is a cavernous empire that everyone should visit once.
That brings us to Tucson. Of course, no season would be complete without ASU beating the Wildcats, and there's no better way to watch the Territorial Cup than in person.
Which road game(s) are you going to this season? Let us know in the comments below, and drop suggestions for your fellow fans on things to do while you're at it!