Will Arizona State fans show up for Utah game?
Arizona State's thrilling 35-31 win over Kansas was fueled in part by a sellout crowd of 54,639 at Mountain America Stadium.
Sun Devils football coach Kenny Dillingham implored Arizona State fans to turn out in the week leading up to the game, and he credited the "incredible environment" repeatedly in postgame interviews and social media posts.
With Utah coming to Tempe this week - on a Friday night - Dillingham knows the crowd is even more important. To beat the No. 16 team in the country, the Sun Devils will need every advantage possible - and it starts with a raucous stadium.
"It's huge for getting people back, excited about ASU football," Dillingham said during his Monday press conference when asked about the loud environment during ASU's win over Kansas. "Getting people back in the stands ... it's such a small thing, but when you can be involved in those questions: 'Were you at the game? Did you see the game?' I think that just multiplies week by week."
Arizona State faces a couple of significant challenges to fill the stadium this week: the game is being played at 7:30 p.m. local time on a Friday night, and ASU's Fall Break starts Saturday.
Friday night's are reserved for high school football for countless families in the Phoenix area - and across the country. And many ASU students go home or leave campus early for Fall Break so they can take full advantage of what amounts to a four-day weekend. Classes resume Wednesday, Oct. 16.
The heat should not be much of a factor, considering nearly 55,000 fans showed up on Saturday for a game that was 107 degrees at kickoff. The temperature at kickoff Friday night is expected to be in the high 90s and dip into the 80s by the fourth quarter.
As Dillingham pointed out in his press conference, Phoenix is a sprawling metropolis and the Sun Devils just need a fraction of the fan base to turn out to fill the stadium. Dillingham also knows how important a full and very loud stadium is for recruiting.
"When you live in one of the largest cities in the country you don't have to hit fifty percent of the people in this city," said Dillingham. "To activate the valley ... you need ten percent of the city to be an ASU fan."
"And this is going to be one of the craziest environments in sport, in college ... I think this Friday night will be a fun test. You've got a 4-1 Utah team vs. a 4-1 Arizona State team on a Friday night on national television. The country's gonna see what kind of support we have for our football program. Every recruit in the country is gonna see the kind of support we have for our football program. And every recruit's gonna look at that ... and they're gonna say 'man that place is rocking' or they're gonna say 'not a lot of people there.' And I know that's weird, but that's the absolute truth."
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.