At this point the promise that this Sun Devils squad presented is gone. However now there is a serious dark cloud over what the future of the program will look like as well. The Sun Devils now must fight to keep some hope alive for a bowl game appearance even if it may not be the Rose Bowl that they were shooting for at the start of the season. Standing in their way of that however is a team that is also gunning for a bowl berth and the Huskies look to take advantage of some of the things that they have over ASU
Limiting Themselves In Tempe
Normally Todd Graham coaches his Sun Devils very efficiently. They rank normally very high in the turnover margin and they rarely give up penalties that end up costing them in the game. However this year they have broken away from that trend and found themselves giving their opponents almost as many opportunities as they give to themselves. The negative six turnover margin and the 81% conversion rate in the red zone is very uncharacteristic of them and three of those turnovers this year have come in the red zone including an interception that won the game for Oregon just a few weeks ago. These mistakes take many chances from ASU to build up momentum and chew up clock so that their opponent cannot make attempts to come back in the game. Against the Huskies they must control themselves and hold onto the ball if they want to have a chance to get back into the bowl game atmosphere for the fifth straight season and the fourth time under Todd Graham.
Washington’s Offense Looks For A Groove
Defensively the Huskies have proven themselves to be capable of winning a bowl berth this year. However on the offensive side of the ball has been the center of their issues. The last two weeks have shown both sides of the team and it can be extremely good or extremely terrible. The Huskies can put up 49 points like they did against Arizona or they can give the ball away five times and that includes a fumble that was scooped up and taken back for a touchdown against Utah. In the conference the team ranks 11 in both yards per game and points per game and while the defense of Washington is one of the more solid in the conference, that lack of scoring has prevented them from taking advantage of the strong start to their season and now has them scratching and clawing for a bowl berth. The Sun Devils will hope they get the bad Huskies when the home team is on defense and with Washington’s nine straight losses to ASU and their less than stellar 2 and 11 record in the state of Arizona as a whole over the last few years.
Handling Bercovici
Mike Bercovici has not had a steady season for the Sun Devils under center this year. Statistically the young man has done decently but his inability to lock away games and keep the leads growing rather than shrinking has been a problem. His 2,473 yards and 19 touchdowns has been marred by the 8 interceptions and his 11th overall efficiency rating in the Pac-12. As of right now the quarterback is still scheduled to start but there has been discussion that Taylor Kelly will see some action before the end of the season to prepare him for next year’s season. Whether that means taking Bercovici’s spot in the starting rotation remains to be seen as Todd Graham has not been entirely open about the quarterback discussion. All that has come from the Sun Devils’ head coach is that he isn’t going to change and has not even thought about the concept of starting Kelly over his incumbent starter. Yet Kelly continues to end up in the press saying that his injury that sidelined him is no longer an issue and that his foot is ready to experience game speed. If Bercovici struggles early in this match and Kelly is warming up on the sidelines, it may spell the end for the young man’s tenure at ASU.
The game will start at 1:00 PM at Frank Kush Field this Saturday the 14th on the Pac-12 Network