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Symbolic of Arizona State's decline the last three years, former Arizona State star tailback Loren Wade was found guilty of second-degree murder Thursday. Wade shot and killed teammate Brandon Falkner in March of 2005, apparently in a fit of jealousy.

Prosecutors claimed Falkner was shot because Wade saw him talking to his girlfriend. Falkner was 25.

Wade faces a maximum of 22 years in prison when he's sentenced.

There's a cost to killing a man in cold blood, and Wade's going to pay it here.

At one point he was a promising sometimes-starter as a freshman before a benefits issue and the murder charge derailed his career. In his absence the Sun Devils struggled to run the ball on offense until they finally found a reliable tailback last year. Falkner's murder, Wade's benefits scandal and murder arrest and the Keller/Carpenter quarterback situation all contributed to the termination of former coach Dirk Koetter.

Strangely, the ASU Athletic Department decided to play with fire again in hiring the controversial Dennis Erickson to be their new football coach. Wherever he's gone, suspicious program behavior has followed. Somehow we don't think Arizona State is out of the woods, yet.

Quarterbacks with multiple fractures in their throwing hand usually take a seat and do that whole "healing" thing. On the surface it sounds like common sense. But then, common sense fell by the wayside long ago for last year's Arizona State football team.

Arizona State's Rudy Carpenter didn't get the memo.

The junior told ASUDevils.com that he fractured his right (throwing) hand in two places during practice before the Colorado game. And that he broke a bone on the ring finger of his left (non-throwing) hand when it was stepped on during the California game.

Both hands? I guess I should give him props for the incredibly tough/macho "look ma, no hands!" act. But then it explains away a lot of his ineffectiveness last year as he morphed from being the nation's most efficient passer to something resembling former UCLA quarterback Cory Paus.

Also: future wife take notice - the man needs no ring cause his ring finger kinda sorta doesn't work.

He also said of the injury against Cal, "It didn't feel good, but it's alright. I don't think I have a knuckle any more on my ring finger.

Ewwww.

There will be 23 new head coaches this year in college football. With 119 teams in DIA, my shaky math tells me that means nearly one in every five schools has a new head coach. I don't have numbers from previous years but that's an incredible turnover rate and will mark 2007 as a year of transition in college football.

So what goes along with the whole "year of transition" tag? Well, sloppy play perhaps. Obviously not every coach will fall on his face in his first year, but many teams are bound to take an early performance hit as they reshuffle their lineups, learn a new system and compete against more cohesive opponents.

It also effectively eliminates these 23 teams from a legitimate chance to win the national championship. I simply don't see a Larry Coker type situation where a coach inherited a team at Miami's mini-dynasty level who could simply pilot the goodship S.S. Championship for a year and then put his stamp on things later.

However, we do have a few championship type coaches now in the ranks. The splashiest and most controversial hire this offseason was Dolphins (and former LSU) coach Nick Saban to Alabama. Butch Davis, who created the Miami monster that Larry Coker so capably led to a championship has found a home at North Carolina. And then there's Dennis Erickson who led Miami to a pair of titles and has traveled to the desert to revive Arizona State.

For more on these 23 coaches, I recommend taking a look at this article by Olin Buchanan at Rivals.com. It lists all 23 coaches with short bios and a blackjack theme on whether to double down, hit, or stay with the various coaches.

The opening-week jitters are now behind Western Athletic Conference teams as they await week two opponents.

Thursday Night Special

Boise State has already played their game this week, defeating Pac-10 foe Oregon State 42-14 before a raucous home crowd.

Pac-10 Battles

WAC teams are looking to take advantage of a limping Pac-10. The conference saw preseason top 10 member California get demolished at the hands of Tennessee, saw Oregon State lose to Boise State last night, saw Arizona State tied with Northern Arizona heading into the fourth quarter before rallying and Washington nearly toppled by the WAC's own San Jose State.

All times Eastern.

Idaho vs. Washington State (3:45 p.m.) FSN Northwest, FCS Pacific
Stanford vs. San Jose State (6:00 p.m.) Comcast West, WAC.TV
Nevada vs. Arizona State (10:00 p.m.) FSN Arizona, KREN, FCS Atlantic, Comcast West
Oregon vs. Fresno State (10:00 p.m.) ESPN2, ESPN2 HD

SEC Battle

Utah State will hit the road to face a wounded Arkansas team, last seen losing another blowout to USC, 50-14.

Utah State vs. Arkansas (7:00 p.m.)

In-State Battle

New Mexico State takes on in-state foe New Mexico on Saturday.

New Mexico vs. New Mexico State (8:00 p.m.) KRQE, WAC.TV, ESPN GamePlan, DirecTV 780, Dish Network