Last week the Sun Devils were one tough, and perhaps a bit on the controversial side, catch away perhaps from beating the Oregon Ducks at Tempe. Instead they found a way to give up a game that they led up until the final twelve seconds of the game where Oregon tied it and sent it to overtime. Three overtimes later the Sun Devils watched their chance at continuing the game disappear into the hands of an Oregon defender and now they must find a way to win at Washington State just to keep the idea of bowl eligibility alive.
Grounding The Air Raid
Luke Falk has a serious argument for the Heisman trophy in my mind. The sophomore has almost 1,000 yards more than fellow Pac-12 quarterback and supposed Heisman candidate in Jared Goff from Cal. His 31 touchdowns lead the conference with ASU’s Mike Bercovici bringing in second with 23. Needless to say, Falk has proven to be quite an impressive find for the Washington State recruitment department. Against U of A, the Cougar signal caller delivered an impressive five touchdowns in a close game that found the squad taking the win over the Wildcats and the week prior he tossed six against Oregon State. If Arizona State expects to prevent Falk from tearing their secondary apart, they will need to get their blitzes into the backfield in a hurry. The problem with that is Falk does not get sacked at home. Of his twenty five sacks this year, Falk has only been brought to the ground behind the line of scrimmage in Martin Stadium eight times. The Sun Devils will need to bring their running shoes if they expect to bring down Falk before those quick slants do the damage everyone expects them to.
Both Teams Need Bounce Backs
These two squads are looking to make last week a distant memory. After giving up touchdowns in all three overtimes before finally turning the ball over in the third overtime to Oregon, it goes without saying that ASU let one slip through their fingers. The same could be said for the Cougars as they watched their victory disappear as they watched a kick sail through the uprights against them when Stanford kicked the go ahead field goal with less than two minutes to play. When it comes to close games, neither team really has had to worry about the final few minutes of the game up until the last few weeks. ASU’s closest loss before the Oregon game came against Utah in a 16 point defeat on the road. Washington State’s closest loss before Stanford was against Portland State where they dropped their season opener by 7. Neither team has really had to come back the week after a tight loss, so it will be interesting to see who exactly shows up with the fighter’s mentality between these two teams. Not only that, but both squads have to wonder if their bowl eligibility could be in question as ASU needs to win to keep that alive and a second straight loss for Washington State could spell disaster when they travel to UCLA next week and risk a tailspin to end their season.
Cold Winds Could Doom Passing Game
Pullman has already had snow drop earlier in this week. The idea that it could happen again come noon in Cougar territory is likely and it could spell doom for Bercovici and the passing game. As it is Bercovici is not a very efficient passer this year as he only completes around 58% of his passes thus far and his seven interceptions ranks him high in the Pac-12 for turnovers. The idea of snow and wind playing a part in the game puts the entire game plan of coach Todd Graham in jeopardy as his quarterback has the second most attempts in the conference behind Washington State’s Luke Falk. The senior quarterback is the focus of the offense and if the team can’t get the ball to receivers D.J. Foster and Gary Chambers to stretch the field and create yards after the catch then it will force running back Demario Richard into a serious spotlight. But if Bercovici can’t pass then the Cougar defense will send seven, maybe eight in the box to stop the impressive runner from getting his bearings and gashing the line of scrimmage for yards. If the weather shows signs of snow and wind, Bercovici must show that he is capable of adjusting by kick off and get his spiral tight if the Sun Devils want a chance to go bowling later this year.
The game kicks off November 7th at 1:30 PM in Pullman, Washington of FS1.