Arizona State V Washington Football Preview
Excitement and electricity can be felt on Saturdays in Tempe, Ariz. as the Arizona State Sun Devil football team continues to climb up the national rankings with each victory.
After a big 26-10 victory over defending Pac-12 champion Stanford last weekend, the Sun Devils (5-1, 3-1) enter this week as the 14th ranked team in the nation.
The Sun Devils now set their sights on their next opponent, the Washington Huskies (5-2, 1-2) when they travel to Seattle, Wash. on Saturday night.
Taylor Kelly is back. Those words should be a sight for sore eyes for Sun Devil fans. The senior and captain quarterback has missed the last three contests with a foot injury, but is finally back to 100% and will be under center at the beginning of the game on Saturday.
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Mike Bercovici was brilliant in relief of Kelly, going 2-1 with victories over USC and Stanford who were both ranked at the time.
DJ Foster continues to carry the backfield as he leads the team with 97 carries, 612 rushing yards, and six rushing touchdowns. To go along with those great numbers he also has 28 receptions, 372 receiving yards, and two touchdown catches. For those who aren’t too great with math, that’s a whopping 125 touches, 984 yards, and eight total touchdowns in six games.
Potential first-round pick Jaelen Strong has had a tremendous start to the 2014 campaign as well. Strong has racked up 49 receptions, 689 yards, and six touchdowns while continuously picking up first down after first down with beautiful technique on shoulder fades toward the sideline.
Cameron Smith has been a nice surprise to the Sun Devil offensive attack this year. Smith currently sits at 21 receptions, 307 yards, and three touchdowns. If you have already forgotten, Smith was the receiver who corralled the pass from Bercovici against USC and ran for 73 yards with just under three minutes left in the game to allow the ASU offense the successful opportunity to throw the game-winning Hail Mary as time expired.
The Arizona State passing attack sits at 11th in the nation in yards per game (324) and the rushing attack sits at 40th (199.3). The offensive unit as a whole ranks 13th in the nation in yards and is the 18th highest scoring team with an average of 38.7.
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The Sun Devil defense enters this week giving up an average of 27.8 points per game, which is the 78th best in the nation. If you take out the 62 point defensive implosion against UCLA, the average goes down to 21 points allowed per game, which would be 27th best in the country.
To say this defense is underrated would be incorrect, but to say that the statistics of this defense hide the great job this defense has done all year with the exception of one game would be 100% correct.
Losing nine of 11 starters would be a tall task to overcome for any program, collegiate or professional, but Arizona State has mixed their personnel well and the dividends are being paid out weekly with big conference wins.
About a week ago, Arizona State held the Stanford offensive attack to just 288 total yards, including just 76 rushing yards which has historically been the Cardinal strong point on offense.
The contest between Arizona State and Washington will kick off at 7:45 p.m. PT on Saturday night on ESPN.