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W BEHIND THE DESK BY BARRY ALVAREZ // UW DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Arizona State game offers an opportunity 16 hen I was in high school, Frank Kush tried to recruit me to Arizona State. He's from Windber, Pennsylvania, and he used to recruit the state. I'll never forget the night that Kush showed up at our house in Langeloth. My dad was working, so my Uncle John sat in with my mother. It didn't take long for Uncle John to offend Kush. "Are you an N-C-Double-A school?'' he asked. That really ticked off Kush and he made a point of telling my uncle that the Sun Devils were ranked No. 10 in the country and had a helluva team. I didn't know a lot about them, either. But I knew they were winning. They played their games at night and they didn't get a lot of publicity. Every game was not on TV back then and there wasn't the coverage that you have now. When I took my visit to Arizona State, my mouth dropped. I had never seen desert, I had never seen mountains, I had never seen palm trees, I had never seen anything like it. I watched one of their football practices and Frank Kush ran them to death. He had them running laps and sprinting every time he blew his whistle. I didn't mind hitting but I didn't know about all of that running, especially in the spring. I never really seriously considered going there. I figured if I did, I would only get home once a year. Quite frankly, Nebraska assistant // VARSITY September 12, 2013 John Melton had really recruited me hard and they were going to bowl games and everybody was watching them on TV. I just knew that program was on its way. Years later, when I was coaching at Notre Dame, we were getting ready for the national championship game at the Fiesta Bowl and Frank was part of a Tempe group that was playing host. I remember walking through a buffet line and Frank comes from behind ― I didn't see him coming ― and he gives me a kidney punch and he swears at me for not going to Arizona State. You talk about a tough old coal miner from Pennsylvania. That's Frank Kush. Every time we visit now, he reminds me of coming to my house and recruiting me. He's just a good ol' ball coach. I thought the Big Ten had a good weekend. The Illinois win was huge. If I'm not mistaken, Cincinnati was a huge favorite. Michigan beating Notre Dame was also a big win for our conference. There are four matchups be- tween the Pac-12 and the Big Ten this week and it will be interesting to see how it all turns out. As a league, if you play in big games, you have to win your share of them. The Pac-12 was not always as strong as it is now. It took a dip. But most of their teams are excellent. It's probably the biggest reason why the Big Ten has struggled in road games against them. So far, we've beaten two teams that we should have beaten. Arizona State is a very good team. Offensively, they will create problems; they will stretch the field and throw the ball vertically. I want to see if we can hold up in the secondary. They're supposed to have one of the better defensive linemen in the country (Will Sutton). I want to see if our offensive line can cover these guys up and our backs can still be as productive. I want to see if we can be consistent moving the football. I think we'll get a lot of answers Saturday night.