Holiday Bowl notebook: McGaha on verge of odd feat

SAN DIEGO - Leading a football team in pass receptions and yardage at the end of a season while not scoring a single touchdown is hard to do.

However, that is what Arizona State sophomore Chris McGaha will achieve if he fails to reach the end zone against Texas in the Holiday Bowl on Thursday. It would be the sole blemish on what has been an outstanding season.

McGaha has 52 catches for 751 yards. Some of his grabs have been of the eye-popping variety, especially his over-the-head, back-of-the-ball reception against Arizona on Dec. 1.

“I went back home for a couple of days (after the UA game), and a question I got a lot was, ‘Who is that white kid who plays receiver?’ ” quarterback Rudy Carpenter said. “Everyone always asks me about Chris. He’s just an unbelievable player. That catch was unbelievable.”

McGaha landed inside the 1-yard line, the closest he has come to scoring this season.

Afterward, coach Dennis Erickson joked that ASU would have to run a scoring play for McGaha in practice and have it count in the season statistics.

That is just one example of the friendly daily jabs that McGaha has taken from teammates and coaches.

“We get him about it all the time,” receiver Kyle Williams said. “Chris gets closer with every game. Next time, he’ll be a centimeter away instead of an inch away from the end zone. He’ll get there.”

FLAG DAY

Erickson’s only previous meeting against Texas was not enjoyable for the Longhorns — or anyone else that values sportsmanship.

Miami (Fla.) abused the Longhorns in the 1991 Cotton Bowl, winning 46-3. Even though Erickson won national titles with the Hurricanes in 1989 and ’91, he called that 1990 team his best at the school.

“We lost a couple we shouldn’t have during the year,” Erickson said. “That team was talented, and we came out and played well.”

However, the most indelible images of the ’91 Cotton Bowl were when Miami, as a college football preview magazine put it the following August, “offended the nation with its display of taunting, showboating and cheap-shotting.”

Miami’s 202 yards in penalties that day are held up as Exhibit A in the oft-made charge that Erickson’s teams are undisciplined.

“Too many penalties,” Erickson said. “I wouldn’t stand for that now. Those were different days.”

Since arriving at ASU, Erickson has been adamant in his dispute of that perception, which emerged again when the Sun Devils were whistled for 136 yards, including eight personal fouls, in a victory against Colorado on Sept. 15.

Afterward, Erickson said that Sun Devils who commit blatant 15-yard penalties “won’t play.”

Since the Colorado game, ASU has limited its penalty frequency, averaging just 5.7 flags during the past 10 games.

EFFECTIVE ‘D’

All season, the Sun Devil defense has thrived on simplicity and repetition. ASU does not blitz much and never deviates from its 4-3 formation.

The result has been assignment football, as players are not often caught out of position for long gains.

The longest rush and pass that the Sun Devils have given up this season is, in both cases, 53 yards. ASU’s offense, by comparison, has seven gains — four runs and three passes — of at least 54 yards.

The longest scoring play against ASU this season is just 36 yards, a pass play by Washington on Oct. 13.

“They don’t make a lot of mistakes,” Texas quarterback Colt McCoy said. “You cannot really catch them off guard because they are so well-coached and will be in the right place at the right time.

“I watch a lot of film on secondaries, and theirs doesn’t give up many big plays. They might give up a couple of completions here and there, but they don’t give up many big plays.”