ESPN College Football

What's-his-name, the quarterback at Arizona State, isn't a big fan of the commercial: the one with the monkey, the gong and ESPN's GameDay crew perched in guru poses, talking cryptically about lions and pumas.

What's-his-name isn't even mentioned in the skit, which concerns the pecking order of Pac-10 quarterbacks, even though his 61 career touchdown passes have him sniffing John Elway's conference record of 77.

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Andrew Walter, the nation's top senior at the position according to most NFL draft boards, says he doesn't care about his lack of pre- and early-season attention compared to last year. Not a bit.

He says he's content with USC's Matt Leinart, the conference's leading Heisman Trophy candidate, and California's Aaron Rodgers -- the lion and the puma, respectively -- getting all the kudos. So it's nothing more than casual chat when he alludes to said commercial without prompting.

Of course, what's-his-name is fibbing.

"Let's just say I jotted it down and put it in the back of my mind as a little reminder," he allowed.

Walter also remembers another ESPN video -- last year's humbling 21-2 defeat at Iowa.

That was the first time that Walter -- or Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter, for that matter -- led an offense that failed to score. It also was the first twist of a downward spiral of disappointment in which the Sun Devils plummeted from being ranked, Pac-10 favorites to bowl-less underachievers saddled with a 5-7 record.

The 12th-ranked Hawkeyes will visit Sun Devil Stadium on Saturday, and Walter and 2-0 Arizona State are looking for a little redemption.

"It's a huge game, no bones about it. It can't be overstated," Walter said. "We all feel it. We know what happened last year at their place. We got embarrassed. Nobody has forgotten. ... We've had this date circled on our calendars for a year."

Walter began the 2003 season as one of the nation's marquee players after passing for 3,877 yards and 28 touchdowns as a sophomore. But, starting with the Iowa game, his Q-rating tumbled as the losses piled up, including four out of the last five..

Few recognized just how much he would miss receiver Shaun McDonald, a classic deep threat now with the St. Louis Rams who stretched defenses with his speed. Walter's interceptions went down (from 15 to 10), and he still threw for more than 3,000 yards with 24 touchdowns, but he didn't look as smooth or as in control as he was the previous fall.

Koetter frequently defended his quarterback, but that didn't stop the criticism. Walter was expected to carry his team and he couldn't. The offense lacked playmakers, but it would have been bad form for him to note that the other 10 guys weren't giving him much help.

"As an insider, I knew what our problems were," Walter said. "But I was never going to say it."

Walter needs 3,000 yards passing over the final nine games to become just the second Pac-10 quarterback to reach the 11,000 career yard mark (the other is Carson Palmer). He already owns the conference's single-game passing record of 536 yards (vs. Oregon in 2002).

But impressive statistics are cheapened by his 12-14 record as a starter.

He has six touchdown passes this year and no interceptions, but has only completed 51 percent of his throws. While he's developing a rapport with junior receiver Derek Hagan, the passing game has yet to click like it should behind a veteran quarterback.

"Andrew has not played as sharp as far a purely throwing the ball," Koetter said. "He hasn't had to win a game for us yet, but that time is going to come. When we need Andrew to win the game for us, I'm confident that he will be ready to do it."

It's hard to imagine that Walter won't have to be at his best for Arizona State to slip the Hawkeyes, who have eight starters back from a defense that held the Sun Devils to 184 total yards last year and currently ranks fourth in the nation (173 yards per game).

Walter and Koetter, who used to be at each others' throats, need each other. A big performance would boost Walter's draft status, while Koetter needs a banner victory to placate fans unhappy with his 19-20 record since 2001.

Can a puma challenge a lion? What's-his-name couldn't care less.

"I know I'm better than everybody else," Walter said.

Ted Miller covers the Pac-10 for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.