Led by the nation's top passer, sophomore Andrew Walter, and Shaun McDonald, one of the country's leading receivers, ASU rebounded from a season-opening 48-10 shellacking at Nebraska to post four straight wins, including a 65-24 pasting of Stanford on Sept. 28, before losing to North Carolina on Oct. 5, 38-35.

The Sun Devils' 65 points against the Cardinal set a school record in Pac-10 play; Walter's five touchdown passes tie him for third-best in school history; McDonald's 10 catches for 221 yards receiving ranks him third-best also; and ASU's 535 yards total offense is more than it had in any conference game last year.

Against the Tar Heels, Walter completed 27-of-45 passes for 474 yards and McDonald caught eight balls for 156 yards. But special team failures cost the Devils, who held a 35-31 lead with less than three minutes left, the game.

For the season, Walter has a 185.84 passing efficiency rating, tops in the nation. He has completed 74 of 127 passes for 1,281 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has played in all six games, but his first start was against Stanford. McDonald, a junior from Phoenix, has caught 39 passes for 684 yards and eight touchdowns. He is averaging 17.5 yards a catch and 114 yards receiving per game.

Other standouts to date include redshirt freshman running back Cornell Canidate, who also got his first start against Stanford. He has gained 341 yards on 71 attempts, a 4.8 yards per carry average, and has scored six touchdowns.

Defensively, the Devils are maturing every game. Safeties Riccardo Stewart and Jason Shivers, cornerback R.J. Oliver, linebacker Mason Unck and end Terrell Suggs have all played a role in so far turning around last year's 4-7 season. Unck, Stewart and Shivers lead the team with 53, 52 and 51 tackles respectively. Suggs is on pace to set a school record in sacks. He has 12 to date, and has 15 tackles for loss. His career sack total is 32, while the school record is 40.

The Devils punished Eastern Washington, 38-2; came back against Central Florida to post a 43-16 victory; and set a school record against San Diego State by coming back from a 22-0 deficit for a 38-28 win. It was the largest deficit ever overcome by ASU.

The Devils, who beat Oregon State 13-9, have been playing nine true freshmen on a regular basis. The Oregon State game was Parents' Weekend; Homecoming is Oct. 26 vs. Washington; and Nov. 9 is Senior Day vs. California. ASU travels to Tucson on Nov. 29 to meet Arizona.

Volleyball

Patti Snyder-Park's 15th and final season may be one to remember. The Sun Devils whipped 12th-ranked Arizona in three sets on Sept. 27 to raise their record to 6-2 and 2-1 in the Pac-10. The scores were 33-31, 30-26 and 42-40. The victory ended a five-match losing streak vs. UofA, and the win was the first in Tempe since 1996.

The win was also the 500th in ASU history and second in a row over a nationally-ranked opponent. Park announced her resignation after the season last spring. She began the season with 201 career victories, and has led the Devils to the NCAA tournament six times.

The Devils have three seniors and six juniors back from their 10-16 squad of 2001-02, including juniors Cheryl Anglin, Kim Mehlhorn, Courtney Blocher and Jodi Smith, but the addition of junior college transfer and American Volleyball coaches Association Player of the Year Juliana Escobar has been very instrumental to date.

Escobar has had five straight games of double-doubles (kills and digs), and leads the team in kills, digs and hitting percentage. Other strong contributors include senior Julia Leddy, sophomore Alicia Akporiaye, and freshmen Noia Pirzynski and Sarah Watkins.

ASU quarterback Andrew Walter hands off to tailback Cornell Canidate during the Sun Devil's rout of Stanford.

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