Golden Nuggets: ASU's Todd Graham Praises His Team's Improvement as they Prepare for Cal

Our upcoming opponent (ASU, not ourselves) spoke briefly about this weekend's matchup against Cal. Here are the brief but relevant highlights:

On fixing the mistakes made in Missouri...

"We just have to do a better job of executing. I think that there are some things we learned in that game that we won't do again. We still had procedure penalties the other night. That's unacceptable. That's just a lack of mental focus and concentration about what we're doing. There were some things that we would have done differently. We'll hopefully be in good shape for Cal."

...
On the program's losing streak with Cal...

"I don't think about that. I guess when you're involved in coaching a football team, what you did last year has nothing to do with what you're going to do this year. The hardest thing you have to do is win on the road. That's not easy. It's the hardest thing in college football. We do focus on that. I'll probably focus more on correcting the mistakes we had from our first road game more than I will focus on what we did in 1999. The reason why you have something like that is because it's hard to win on the road. Each year it's a different team. They're not even the same guys. I don't see what that has to do with anything besides being something to talk about."

Would you like to feel like you've had a monumental accomplishment today? Click that link above and read through all five of his responses to questions. I defy you to read his comments without having your eyes glaze over. Todd Graham might be the Pac-12's dullest coach when he speaks to the media. And that is no small feat.

Onto the links.

Football

• Cal opens as a 2.5-point favorite over ASU.
• Ted Miller looks back in bewilderment at his preseason Pac-12 power rankings.
• Jon Wilner gives the Bears a D for the loss against USC. He stresses the importance of this weekend's game, which could be another nail in Tedford's coffin.
• CalBears.com recaps all the accomplishments this season by Cal alumni in the NFL.
• The Cal-UCLA game has been scheduled for 7pm.
• We've spotted another one of those colorful charts of statistics for all Pac-12 teams (advisory: pdf). Don't look at the Cal section--it's bad.