Arizona State trying to ruin Stanford’s hopes
The Arizona State Sun Devils are going to be in tough this Saturday 13 November in Tempe Arizona, as they try to hinder the no. 6 ranked Stanford Cardinals' hopes of reaching a Bow Championship Series (BCS) bowl game. History is in the Sun Devil’s
favour, as they have have won the last five meetings between these two teams.
Stanford’s season to date
The Cardinals did not get to the number six ranking for no reason. They are sitting at 8-1 and suffered their only loss to the Oregon Ducks in week five. They won their first four games of the season prior to the loss to Oregon, against Sacramento State,
UCLA, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame. Since the loss to Oregon, the Cardinals have reeled off four more victories against USC, Washington State, Washington and Arizona, all of which were conference games.
"I'm not a guy who concerns himself with the polls and things like that," head coach Jim Harbaugh said to espn.go.com. "Speaking on behalf of my guys and Stanford football, this is a one-loss team that only lost to the No. 1-ranked team in the country. Probably
about time they get recognition."
Arizona State’s season so far
The Sun Devils sit at 4-5 and have played inconsistent football all season long. It started with two impressive victories against Portland State and Northern Arizona where the offence scored a combined 95 points. It only went downhill from there, as they
fell into a losing streak against Wisconsin, Oregon, and Oregon State.
The Sun Devils got out of the losing column against Washington, but lost the following week against California. Two weeks ago they blew apart Washington State, 42-0, but came back last week against USC and lost a heartbreaker, 34-33.
They have three games so far this season that were won by three points or less and the Sun Devils have lost two of them.
Keys to the game
Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck has had a good season at the helm of the offence. He has thrown for 2213 yards on 175 completions, giving him an average of 8.58 yards per completion. His 22 touchdowns have certainly ignited this offence with his two favourite
wide receivers, Doug Baldwin and Chris Owusu, catching nine of those touchdowns.
More impressive than the Cardinals' 38th ranked air attack is their 12th ranked rushing game, lead by running back Stepfan Taylor, who has accumulated 810 yards on 165 touches. For the Cardinals, they will need a healthy mix of both
running and passing plays to keep Arizona State’s 48th rank defence on the field.
The Sun Devils are quite the opposite team on offence, with a 12th ranked aerial assault and an 82nd ranked rushing game. It will be pretty clear how the Cardinals' secondary will react to Sun Devils quarterback Steven Threet when he
drops back into the pocket. He already has 307 passing attempts this year, completing 191 of them.
To be successful and put a damper on Stanford’s bowl hopes, the Devils will need to bring in the running prowess of running back Deantre Lewis, who has a respectable 516 yards on 83 touches. If Lewis is in on the field for most plays, it puts doubt into
the linebackers' minds, and may open holes in the 10-15 yard range for quick passes.
Prediction
Stanford ends their losing streak in Tempe.
Cardinals 31 – Sun Devils 17
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