If the season were to end today the Utah Utes would find themselves in the College Football Playoffs for the right to play in the National Championship. Impressive considering many wouldn’t have pegged them better than a middle of the pack team in the Pac-12 South before the season began. Yet the Sun Devils of ASU have a chance to spoil those aspirations this upcoming Saturday with a game in Rice-Eccles Stadium as they try to repeat what they did last year in beating Utah. Although the scenery may be different, Arizona State has the chance to repeat magic.
Bercovici Must Control Ball
If there is one thing that the Utes have done well all season is their defense. Primarily their pass defense as they are third in the nation with twelve interceptions. Their plus two turnover margin is tied for the best among all college football and the main reason why this Utah team has turned so many heads all year. Just last week they intercepted Jared Goff, a Heisman Trophy candidate at Cal, five times. That game alone had more interceptions thrown to Utah’s defense than Arizona State’s Mike Bercovici has thrown to opponents all season long. The Arizona State signal caller has done a decent job holding onto the ball and keeping it out of the reach of the Pac-12 defenses they have faced off against thus far, but pressure has been getting to him quite a bit and there is a chance that the Utes may seperate Bercovici from the ball on a sack and strip. If Bercovici can just maintain drives and not allow Utah to set up in prime field position there remains hope for ASU.
Graham Must Let Dogs Loose
The Utah Utes have struggled in one specific way against the Sun Devils since head coach Todd Graham took over the reigns in 2012. Their offense has been, to put it bluntly, atrocious. Last week even with the five interceptions against Cal the Utah offense did little with them and the game’s final score showed it as it was a tight six point win. If the defense does the same against ASU the offense of Utah must capitalize on it. Since 2012 the Utes have not collected more than 247 yards in a game and have been sacked nearly four times per meeting. You have to think Graham will once again bring the heat on quarterback Travis Wilson and try to force Devontae Booker to hit holes faster than he’d probably like to. If they can get the same kind of performance as has been the norm the last three years ASU might find themselves in another close game.
Utah Still On the Snide
While Utah has finally found themselves competing with the better half of the Pac-12 aftera few rough years they still find themselves wondering what it will take to beat Arizona State. The Sun Devils have bested the Utes each of the last eleven times. That goes all the way back to 1977, before Utah was moved into the Pac-10 Conference with Colorado which then turned it into the Pac-12. Last year was one of the closest that Utah has even come to beating ASU with the 19 to 16 overtime defeat they took in Tempe last year. If you are a returning Ute you can take some confidence into this game knowing you came just a field goal short, but then you may go back to those last three years against Graham’s Sun Devils and wonder if it will still be more of the same kind of problems that have plagued the Utes. They’ll need to get rid of those issues if they still want a chance to join the College Football Playoffs.
The game will kick off October 17th at 7:00 PM in Salt Lake City on ESPN.