“Phun, Phun, Phun” -- Philadelphia to Phoenix

The NFC #6 seed, Philadelphia Eagles, comes to the Valley of the Sun to battle the NFC #4 seed, Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals were a higher seed than the Eagles because they ended up the weak Western Division champions. Philadelphia actually had a better regular season record.

The Eagles dropped the NFC #1 seed, New York Giants, by the score of 23 to 11, and the Cardinals plummeted the #2 seed, Carolina Panthers, 33 to 13. The two unheralded teams will meet in the NFC Championship game next Sunday. Go Cardinals!

The experts predictions must be classified as “failed predictions.” Some experts even broadcast that Arizona should not be in the playoffs and some said that they were the worst team ever to play in the playoffs. What does that say about the teams they beat, Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers? Too bad experts! Get a real job.

From the Arizona Republic, Bob Young's Heat Index reported these negative statements against the Cardinals:

1. Fox Analyst, Daryl Johnston's commented at halftime of the Arizona-Carolina game when the Cardinals were up 27-7 that the Cardinals could have a horrible second half.
2. NBC Analyst, Cris Collinsworth at halftime of the Arizona-Carolina game called the Cardinals the worst playoff team in history.

Other questionable remarks included:

• Deion Sanders claimed that he would give up Super Bowl tickets if the Cards made it. Yeah right!

Many Cardinal fans are guilty of calling the Cardinals weak or other such negatives. But the 2008-2009 Cardinals appear to be real.

The University of Phoenix Stadium will stage a massive party next Sunday. Cardinal fans in Arizona have waited 20 years for a team they could cheer for. There will be “Phun” in Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun. That prediction will not “phail.”

As far as predicting a winner, I will leave that up to the "experts." As some people have said, "The Cardinals are as likely to go to the Super Bowl as a black man is being elected President of the U.S."

Update: HOORAY! The cardinals are going to the Super Bowl to play the Pittsburg Steelers.

Updated 1/21/2009

Cool. We passed. We ran. We won!

Arizona State dominated Stanford in passing and almost all other facets of the game. ASU led not only in passing, but rushing and defense. The defense stopped Stanford's running game. Overall, the Sun Devils played super.

The crowd was big with 59,441 fans and the largest student section I have seen in some time. ASU (2-0, 1-0 Pac-10) has allowed Stanford only 23 points in the last three years, having scored 120 points against Stanford. Their next opponent is UNLV (1-1), who lost to Utah 42-21.

Keegan Herring and Shaun DeWitty entered the game for the first time this year, but Carpenter overshadowed them. Carpenter threw for 345 yards and was sacked only twice, four sacks less than the Stanford game last year.

The play of the game came with 52 seconds left in the first half. Stanford's Travis Golia kicked off out of bounds after the Cardinal scored a field goal to close within 3 points. The Sun Devils had already used their three time outs. The out-of-bounds kick off gave the Devils the ball on the forty and stopped the clock. The Sun Devils went for a touchdown rather that settling for a Thomas Weber field goal. The big play happened after the Cardinal were penalized for roughing Carpenter. Carpenter rolled right and found Kerry Taylor. Taylor outran cornerback Wopamo Osaisai, Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week, for a 45-yard touchdown and a 20-10 lead.

ASU dominated this game. Carpenter is going great now. It seems as though he is on a mission and if he keeps going, he will be a first round pick. After next week's game with UNLV, ASU dives into probably one of the hardest schedules in all of college football: four ranked teams in a row, not to mention #1 and #2 in the mix.

Stanford is going to be a big game for many other PAC-10 teams this year. This was a great win for the Devils.

Game Photos