Forks up, ASU faithful! The first game of the season is Thursday night against our friends from up north, the NAU Lumberjacks.

• The Sun Devils should be able to pull off an easy win against NAU — but that might be the only easy thing about this season.

State of play: ASU has had a tough offseason in almost every way.

• Five of the team's top coaches resigned or were fired in the months following the NCAA's announcement that it was investigating the team for recruitment violations.
• At least 13 players, including starting quarterback Jayden Daniels and leading receiver Ricky Pearsall, left the team through the transfer portal.

Yes, but: We've got some new blood to try out. ASU scored 14 transfers, including nine from the Power Five.

• Florida transfer Emory Jones will start as quarterback.
• Offensive lineman and Valley native Joey Ramos comes to ASU after three active seasons at Iowa State.
• Wide receiver Cam Johnson (no known relation to the Suns' Cam Johnson) joins the Sun Devils from Vanderbilt.

Reality check: The new talent likely won't be enough to save ASU from a mediocre season.

• Experts predict the team will win no more than eight games this year and may even lose to UofA for the first time in six years (😱 say it ain't so!).

😈 Jessica here: My first year at ASU (2011), the Sun Devils won only six games and lost to UofA at home 31-27. My fandom can weather anything.

Share this story with a Sun Devils fan

Bear down, Wildcats! Low expectations are nothing new for UofA football, and the past few seasons have set the bar exceptionally low, but there may be reason for at least a little optimism in the Old Pueblo.

State of play: Most projections have UofA finishing near the bottom of the Pac-12 this year, with Colorado perhaps being the only team that will keep the Cats out of last place, which is where they finished last season.

Yes, but: Second-year head coach Jedd Fisch has assembled one of the top recruiting classes in the Pac-12 — Rivals.com ranks UofA's recruiting class as the best in the conference.

• Arizona's recruiting class is headlined by wideout Tetairoa McMillan, who passed up Oregon to come to Tucson and join a young but talented receiver corps.
• Washington State quarterback Jayden de Laura, last year's Pac-12 offensive freshman of the year, transferred to UofA during the offseason, which should help stabilize the team's QB carousel from last year.

What's next: UofA hits the road Saturday for its season opener against San Diego State University in its newly completed Snapdragon Stadium, so the Aztecs will be fired up for a win.

• Arizona's non-conference schedule doesn't get any easier after that.

The big picture: The Cats have a long way to go and Fisch has his work cut out for him rebuilding a shattered program, but there's reason for optimism.

🐻 ⬇️ Jeremy here: I attended the Wildcats' home opener my freshman year in 1998, when UofA thumped Iowa on its way to a 12-1 season and a Holiday Bowl victory over Nebraska, and I've been waiting ever since to see a season with that kind of success.

Keep reading: UofA's defensive outlook

The ASU-UofA rivalry technically began in 1899, before Arizona was a state, when the schools faced each other in football for the first time.

• ASU, then Territorial Normal School, beat UofA 11-2 and won the Territorial Cup — the oldest rivalry trophy in college football.

Yes, but: Our rivalry didn't reach the bitter, angry, deface-each-other's-property status of today until 1958.

What happened: Until 1958, UofA was the only university in Arizona — and its alumni, which held most power positions in the state, wanted it to stay that way.

• ASU was just the measly Arizona State College. And legislative efforts to elevate the school to a university failed repeatedly at the hands of the Wildcat faithful.

But then: ASC president Grady Gammage pushed for a citizen's initiative to change the name, leaving it in the hands of voters.

In the end: The initiative passed by a 2-1 margin.

The intrigue: This season marks the 97th football meet up between the two schools. UofA leads the series 49-46-1.

• Though, if you count only games since ASU's name change, ASU leads 36-26-1.

More on the rivalry

Rivalry aside, we agree that both of our mascots are pretty awesome.

• Sparky the Sun Devil has been around since 1951.
• Wilbur Wildcat became UofA's mascot in 1959, and he was joined by Wilma in 1986.

Before Sparky: As noted above, ASU has had many names. It also has had many mascots, including an owl and bulldog.

Before Wilbur: UofA got its team name from a Los Angeles Times columnist in 1914 who wrote that the football team "​​showed the fight of wildcats" in a game against the Occidental College Tigers.

• The school introduced its first mascot, a live bobcat named Tom Easter, in 1915, renaming it Rufus Arizona after university president Rufus Bernard Von KleinSmid.

One sad thing: The original Rufus Arizona was killed in an accident during a game in 1916, so it's probably for the best that they phased out live animals in favor of costumed mascots.

Go deeper: More on Sparky, Wilbur and Wilma

🔥 Hot and fresh local job listings.

1. Customer Success Manager at PatientPoint.
2. Executive Chef at Kitchfix.
3. Vice President of Marketing at Footprint Center.

Want more opportunities? Check out our Job Board.

Hiring? Post a job.

😈 Jessica here: During my college years, the Sun Devil faithful had an unofficial motto: "Win or lose, we still booze."

• Here are a couple of my favorite places near Sun Devil Stadium.

Sunbar

Its large patio makes it a perfect gathering spot, especially once the temperatures cool off.

Fuzzy's Taco Shop

This restaurant serving Baja-style tacos recently relocated to a more modern space a few steps closer to Sun Devil Stadium. Don't sleep on the queso and beergaritas.

🐻 ⬇️ Jeremy here: Things have changed a lot in Tucson since I graduated 20 years ago, but some of the best places to catch a game remain the same.

Gentle Ben's Brewing Co.

Conveniently located next to campus at Main Gate Square, Gentle Ben's has been a go-to spot for game-day celebrations since the early 1990s.

Trident Grill

Stay close to campus and Arizona Stadium while getting away from the throngs on University, Fourth Avenue and downtown with Trident Grill's original location, where you can get traditional bar food and the flavors of the owner's home state of Maryland.