The Sun Devils of ASU looked like they were on the verge of cracking the Top 25 of the after starting the season off undefeated with four straight wins. Then a visit to USC left the team from Tempe looking for answers with a nationally televised beat down in a 21 point loss. Now hosting the Bruins, ASU looks to regain their footing in the Pac – 12.
Wilkins Likely To Sit
Manny Wilkins had himself a tough night against the Trojans. No touchdowns and an interception on the stat line however wasn’t the biggest problem to his night. Wilkins ended up injuring his leg on a sack from a defender before halftime and was replaced by Brady White at the quarterback position. As of right now the word is that the x-rays came back negative on his leg but at this point it looks more and more that he will miss this matchup this weekend. In his place will be White and he couldn’t have asked for a tougher first opponent right now in the Pac – 12 in the Bruins. UCLA this season is keeping quarterback’s completion percentage to just under 50% and only allowing 5.2 yards per completion in the young season. White will have to find his receivers early in the route if he wants to have any sort of success and hope the athletes show up after the catch. Right now, it isn’t a viable option to try and attack the Bruins deep down the field. It will be up to the redshirt freshman to take what he is given rather than risk it all on a tough throw.
Defense Continues To Be Outmatched
Saying that the ASU defense got the business last week against USC would be an understatement. The Sun Devils gave up 34 straight points at one point in the first half and they gave it up in multiple ways. Juju Smith-Schuster caught touchdown passes of 5, 3 and one huge 67 yard bomb while running back Justin Davis took one to the house on a 37-yard run that added towards his 123 yards on the day. As of right now the Sun Devils have the single worst defense against the pass in all of college football and they likely won’t get any better before the end of the season with the way that the team continues to struggle in that regard. Even in victories the ASU defense has shown an affinity for giving up passes long and short that change the field position and keep them out on the field longer than they should. Todd Graham will need to figure out the issues plaguing his secondary soon before they get themselves into even more trouble in terms of keeping opposing receivers in front of them.
Rosen Returning To Form
Last year Josh Rosen set himself up for huge expectations in Pasadena. His freshman campaign made everyone believe he would be in the running for the best quarterback in the Pac – 12 and maybe even the country with the poise and control that he had at the position. Up until the last few weeks that Rosen had all but vanished after some bad performances against teams like Texas A&M and Stanford. Against Arizona last week Rosen seemed to be back into form and his four touchdowns, 3 passing and 1 rushing, showed that. Against he worst pass defense in the Pac – 12 the sophomore looks to be chomping at the bit to get out there and make quick work of whatever matchups he sees out on the field come Saturday. Darren Andrews will likely be his preferred target as he gave Andrews the ball nine times on some impressive passes for 108 yards last week while Kenneth Walker III raked in 114 yards and two touchdowns on just four catches last week as well. If ASU isn’t careful, they may just leave Tempe with a similar stat line.
The game will be played on October the 8th at Sun Devil Stadium at 7:30 PM. Tune in to ESPN2 to catch the game live.