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Coming into last weekend, the Arizona State Sun Devils were in the driver’s seat for the Pac-12 South Divison title. Then they ran into the Oregon State Beavers. Now the Sun Devils, who currently sit tied with three other teams a half-game behind the USC Trojans, look to rebound against the Washington State Cougars in their final home game of the year before their annual rivalry game against the Arizona Wildcats.
Arizona State won last year’s meeting on the road 55-21 and have won nine of the last 10 meetings between the teams. They were riding high following a defeat of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 55-31 and had climbed as high as No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings before losing last week against the Beavers 35-27 in a game that saw them take an early lead and then score only three points after halftime.
If the Sun Devils want to bounce back and save their season, they will have to start at the quarterback position with Taylor Kelly. Before Kelly went down with a foot injury, he had thrown for six touchdowns and no interceptions in three games. Since retaking the job from Mike Bercovici, however, he has only thrown for eight touchdowns in four contests to go along with five interceptions.
Washington State’s defense could be just the thing to get him back on track. The Cougars rank second-to-last in the Pac-12, allowing an average of 307.8 yards per game. They also field the 10th-worst scoring defense in the FBS, allowing 38 points per game. The only thing that could hold Kelly back might be the availability of leading receiver Jaelen Strong, who is questionable for the contest after suffering a head injury against the Beavers. That might not be a problem, however, as the Sun Devils feature one of the top dual-threat running backs in the conference in D.J. Foster, who has rushed for 872 yards and six touchdowns but has also caught 47 balls out of the backfield for 527 yards and three additional touchdowns.
The Cougars suffered a big blow earlier this season when Connor Halliday, who was leading the FBS in multiple passing categories, suffered a broken leg against the Trojans. Sophomore Luke Falk, however, has stepped in and hasn’t missed a beat. He led the Cougars to a victory over the Beavers in his first career start, throwing for 471 yards and five touchdowns.
Despite the offensive prowess of the Cougars and the fact they defeated the same Beavers team that defeated the Sun Devils, their lack of production on defense and turnover margin will be the reason they go down in defeat. The Sun Devils are tied for fourth in the conference with a turnover margin of plus-seven, while the Cougars are tied for last in the conference with a margin of minus-10. These extra possessions for Arizona State, coupled with the fact they are looking to bounce back coming off a defeat and need a strong performance to stay in the Pac-12 Championship race, should lead the Sun Devils to a 51-28 defeat of the Cougars this Saturday.
Phillip Jacques is a Pac-12 Football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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