Fun game.
Drove out from San Diego for that one when I was 20-year old and had just moved west a year after Andrew. (Jumped like a moron into the final frame of broadcast end, upper right.)
My brother ended up enrolling at Arizona State the following fall and by 1996 was an equipment manager for the team—for what turned out to be a magical year for the Sun Devils. Wound up becoming friends with a lot of guys on that team.
Wound up going to the 1997 Rose Bowl with him for that undefeated season, where #4 Ohio State beat them on the final drive for what would've been a national championship for the #2 Sun Devils—#3 Florida whooping #1 Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, 52-20—winning their first-ever title.
Wound up getting to hang out with the legend Pat Tillman that week—as he needed to use my CA license to get into a strip club when a few of us ventured out the week-of (I was 23 at the time and had long hair in my license photo and had a Florida ID card I could use.) Isaiah Mustafa was also out with us and a friend of my brother's at the time (he is now the Old Spice guy)—as was J.R. Redmond, Courtney Jackson and a few other guys.
My brother got me on the ASU sideline for the 1997 game at the Orange Bowl—where I had to rock a Sun Devils polo over my Canes tee. I remember a play late in the game when Miami was training and ASU turned it over; slapping the ground—hoping it'd spark a Canes comeback—when a few ASU guys I knew through my brother, slapped me on the back saying, "Man, don't sweat it—we'll get this one back!"—no clue I was pulling hard for UM ... who went on to lose 23-12 en route to a dismal 5-6 season, after rolling Baylor, 45-14 in the opener.
Canes lost to Washington a few weeks later, ending the 58-home game win-streak, but waxed defending champ #1 Florida State, 34-20 in the Orange Bowl early-October—CJ Richardson with a huge early momentum-setting pick and return—before a 10-1 regular season and OB loss to #1 Nebraska, 24-17 to end the season.
