ASU Football: Herm Edwards press conference notebook (11/25)

After the team’s upset win over the Oregon Ducks, head coach Herm Edwards of the Arizona State Sun Devils took the podium on Monday to to reflect on the victory and look forward to the rivalry matchup against Arizona on Saturday.

Another round of Territorial Cup

Edwards’ first round against the Arizona Wildcats was anything but a normal football game. The comeback victory last season was one for the ages, the experience, however was the best part to Edwards. And for a young team, a lot of key players will get to experience like he did last year.

“The guys that have played in it for multiple seasons get it. The young guys, they don’t know what they don’t know. They really don’t. They have no idea what this game is going to be about until they play in it. They’ll see the emotion and they’ll see the energy in the stadium because there will be energy from both parties. They have a great fanbase as well and they’ll come here and they’ll be cheering and it’ll be a nice atmosphere similar to what it was against Oregon.”

Building a program

A reporter asked Edwards about the feeling he had leading into the Oregon game. He smiled, he had a good feeling about it. His response wasn’t typical coach language, it was genuine. The feeling toward the Sun Devil football program for Edwards literally feels like he wants to leave it better than he found it.

“I thought we had a great chance to win, to be quite honest. But you’re asking the wrong guy, because I think that every week. And when I don’t think that, I won’t be sitting at this podium anymore. I’ll go back home.

“I’m invested in this. This is not a hobby. This is what I do. And if you don’t feel good when you walk into the ballyard, whether it’s at home or on the road that you have a chance to win, then this is not the place for you, to be quite honest.”

Jayden Daniels constantly working

Players had the day off on Monday. Jayden Daniels was still in the building. According to Edwards he’s there and for a certain reason.

“Oh, he’s the quarterback. He has to be in the building.

“That’s what the quarterback does. He’s in the building every day, he don’t get no day off. He’s the quarterback. He’s the first guy to come up there and talk to me, we got to have our little talk, getting him ready for this week. And we sit down and we’ll talk about some things. And I’ll prepare him for this game, obviously, and tell him what’s expected and what’s going to happen.

“But yeah, he’s always around here. He’s got a permanent seat in my office. Half the time I’m in meetings, I walk up there, and he’s sitting in my office. So yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. He’s that kind of kid. He doesn’t like losing. He really doesn’t. When we were walking down the tunnel before the game, I said, ‘You ready for this?’ He said, ‘Coach, I’m ready.’ I said, ‘Go show off then.’ He doesn’t like losing. I mean, think about this kid in high school. He didn’t lose a lot of games. It was hard on him too… so he’s that kind of guy. He’s learning college football. He’s a freshman.”