Arizona State Sun Devils Look to Upend Cardinal
Arizona State (4-1, 2-1) has climbed back up to 17th in the nation after defeating USC on a Hail Mary two weeks ago and a bye week last week and will look to continue their ascent up the rankings when they take on the 23rd ranked Stanford Cardinal (4-2, 2-1) on Saturday night.
Stanford won both head-to-head games in this match-up a year ago with 42-28 and 38-14 victories, including a Pac-12 Championship on the line in the latter game.
Let’s take a closer look at the Arizona State Sun Devils heading into this highly anticipated Pac-12 matchup.
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Taylor Kelly went down with an injury against Colorado and it seemed like all hope was lost for the 2014 season after a devastating 62-27 loss to UCLA, but Mike Bercovici would have none of that nonsense as he lead the team to a big 38-34 victory against USC.
Bercovici has totaled 998 passing yards, eight touchdowns, and two interceptions in his first two career starts under center and will get the nod once more against Stanford’s number one defense in the nation. There will be offensive sets with both quarterbacks on the field and they will also be exchanging snaps throughout the game.
DJ Foster jumped out of the gate brilliantly this year with three consecutive games of at least 147 rushing yards and also had six touchdowns in those three games, but has digressed lately with just 19 carries for 43 yards in his last two games. In those two games against UCLA and USC he has caught 10 total catches for 141 yards and a touchdown however.
Defenses are starting to key in on the star running back, especially with an unproven Bercovici at the helm of the offense, but now that Bercovici has shown that he can win a football game with his arm it may open up the offense to better running plays for Foster.
Jaelen Strong entered the season as a projected 1st round draft pick for the NFL draft in April and he has maintained, if not surpassed those expectations.
Strong has three games of at least 10 catches and at least 146 receiving yards, while also catching five touchdown passes in the process. Defenses are beginning to double-cover Strong, but without success as Strong’s ability to make over-the-shoulder sideline grabs is amongst the tops in the nation.
The x-factor for the game is Jordan Simone. Simone leads the team with 45 tackles (15 ahead of Salamo Fiso who is second on the team). The junior safety racked up 20 tackles in the game against USC which was the most for an ASU player since Mike Tingstad also had 20 tackles back in 1988.
Originally starting as a walk-on with the program, Simone has been the one major bright spot for the Sun Devil defense that ranks 92nd in points allowed and 103rd in the nation in yards allowed per game.