The ASU football team will make their 2012 debut on Thursday at Sun Devil Stadium and host the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. Of all the games on the schedule, this will be the one that is probably poorly attended. But don't try to tell head coach Todd Graham that. he won't hear any of it.
"I hope it's full. Everybody tells me, "Coach, you can't expect it this game, it's on a Thursday, around Labor Day." I really don't buy into that. I shook a lot of hands, and I sure hope those people that I shook their hand will come. If not, we're going to represent the ones that are here with great passion, I can tell you that. I'm not worried about it at all. Everybody always tells me how it is around here; we're going to change that. I'm expecting to have a great crowd. "
A great, small crowd is what the team will get.
It is around Labor Day, when students go out of town. It is the middle of the week. And NAU is a patsy.
But Graham better not change his tone of what he wants from the crowd. We know that if you build it (the program), they will come. And if he builds up the program into something competitive -- one that doesn't disappoint in every single big game, then the crowds will be great.
But against NAU? I don't doubt that the crowd will be great. Sun Devil fans at the stadium will be fired up. There will just be plenty of places to sit and spread out.
And that is a good start for now.
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