If you’ve been looking forward to the prospect of watching the Arizona State Sun Devils play in an NCAA bowl game, you’re going to have to wait a bit. As reported by ESPN, the university’s football program has announced its plans to decline to play in any bowl games this year — what ESPN’s Pete Thamel described as “self-imposing a one-year bowl ban.”
Arizona State is currently in the midst of an ongoing NCAA investigation into recruiting violations during Hern Edwards’s time as head coach. In mid-2022, a large number of Arizona State players had opted to leave the program, along with several members of Edwards’s staff. The university fired Edwards later that year.
As ESPN’s report points out, the investigation was sparked by a number of documents sent to the NCAA in May of 2021.Those documents indicated that the program had committed several violations of the NCAA’s recruiting guidelines – including the guidelines related to the dead period implemented during the pandemic.
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During the game, the Longhorns’ steer Bevo briefly charged at UGA’s mascot Uga.ESPN noted that roughly 50 players on the current Arizona State squad are there as a result of current coach Kenny Dillingham’s recruiting efforts. The team learned of the bowl ban on Sunday morning; they are set to open their regular season on Thursday with a game against the Southern Utah Thunderbolts.
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