Sun Devils Head North to Face Beavers

The 6th ranked Arizona State Sun Devils head to Corvallis, Ore. to take on Pac-12 North foe Oregon State on Saturday. The Beavers (4-5, 1-5) enter as the 11th best team in the Pac-12 this year and will have their hands full with the Sun Devils (8-1, 5-1).

Arizona State comes into the contest after dropping the hammer on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish last weekend in a battle of top-10 teams with a 55-31 victory.

Since a 62-27 drubbing to UCLA, the Sun Devils have rattled off five consecutive victories with four of those wins coming against ranked opponents. The Sun Devils also carry a perfect 4-0 road record into the contest.

Oregon State has not had the best of times lately by losing five of their past six games including their last four. Their only conference victory this year was a narrow 36-31 victory on the road at Colorado.

Taylor Kelly has the Sun Devils rolling. After coming back from a foot injury, Kelly has carried the Sun Devils to victories over Washington, Utah, and Notre Dame.

Sep 13, 2014; Boulder, CO, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Taylor Kelly (10) throws a touchdown pass during the first half against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field . Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Kelly has gotten better in each game as well. He threw for 180 yards and two touchdowns against Washington, 205 yards against Utah with one touchdown, but added 55 rushing yards, and then 224 yards and three touchdowns against the Irish, while also adding a rushing touchdown. He will carry a 149.2 quarterback rating into his seventh start of the season this weekend.

DJ Foster had his best game since week four last weekend against Notre Dame. He rushed for 120 yards (5.7 YPC), while catching one pass. Although that pass doesn’t look like much in the stat sheets, it extended his stretch of at least one reception to 36 games (each collegiate game he has participated in).

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The running back to look out for however is true freshman and 17 year old, Demario Richard. Richard has been running downhill lately with three straight games of 50+ rushing yards. He scored his second rushing touchdown of the season last week and also his first receiving touchdown of his career as he corralled three passes for 51 yards and a touchdown. As a change of pace running back, Richard is producing above and beyond what anyone could have expected.

6’4” wide receiver Jaelen Strong is on the brink of eclipsing 1,000 receiving yards on the year as he currently sits at 879 yards and nine touchdowns on 62 catches. He has at least one touchdown reception in each of the past five games and has a touchdown catch in seven of nine games this year.

Nov 8, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Taylor Kelly (10) celebrates a touchdown with wide receiver Jaelen Strong (21) in the first half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Sun Devil Stadium. Arizona State defeated Notre Dame 55-31. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Senior quarterback Sean Mannion will be under center for the Beavers on Saturday night. Mannion has started since his freshman year and after turning in his best season last year (4,662 yards, 37 touchdowns), has really fallen off of the table during the 2014 campaign.

After losing Brandin Cooks to the NFL draft (Mannion’s favorite target in 2013), Mannion has totaled 2437 yards and just 10 touchdowns to go with six interceptions. His offensive line hasn’t helped him out much as he has not had one game with positive rushing yards and is cuttingly sitting at 38 attempts for negative-250 yards.

Lately in conference play Mannion has been picking it up, but then again his only decent outings were against Colorado, California, and Washington State. The latter two of the trio have been the past two weeks were he has a combined 739 yards, three touchdowns, and just one interception.

Sep 20, 2014; Corvallis, OR, USA; Oregon State Beavers quarterback Sean Mannion (4) prepares to throw in the first quarter against the San Diego State Aztecs at Reser Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Susan Ragan-USA TODAY Sports

Storm Woods and Terron Ward have split the running back duties this season and both have been mildly effective. Woods comes into the game with 467 rushing yards (6.1 YPC) and Ward has 549 rushing yards (4.8 YPC). Ward is the more effective receiver out of the backfield with 27 receptions compared to Woods’ 14 receptions.

This offense relies so heavily on the passing game that it often abandons the running game in offensive shootouts. It is also worth noting that Woods has missed two of the previous three games and is listed as probably for this game.

Nov 8, 2014; Corvallis, OR, USA; Oregon State Beavers running back Terron Ward (28) runs the ball against the Washington State Cougars at Reser Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Victor Bolden (5’9”) has emerged as Mannion’s top target this season. After serving primarily as a return-man last year and only catching six passes total, Bolden has brought in 51 passes for 568 yards and a touchdown this year.

Jordan Villamin (6’4”) is Mannion’s second option, but main red zone target. The redshirt freshman has caught 25 passes this year, but is leading the team with three touchdown receptions. His 15.4 yards per reception is second among players with at least ten catches on the year.

Arizona State should have little difficulty with Oregon State, entering as 9.5 point road favorites. The Beavers are reeling and going nowhere fast, while the Sun Devils are closing in on reaching the inaugural College Football Playoffs. Expect a lopsided affair with Arizona State winning by double-digits on Saturday night.

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