ASU goes back on road to face Oregon St.
No road team has won back-to-back in PNW
For the second time in as many weeks, the Arizona State football team is headed to the Pacific Northwest. Last week it trekked to Seattle for a showdown against the Washington Huskies. This week it is heading to another difficult venue — Oregon State’s Reser Stadium.
ASU is just the seventh team since the Pac-12 expansion to have to play back-toback games in the Pacific Northwest on consecutive weekends. No team has won both games. The Sun Devils (7-3, 5-2) and Beavers (6-4, 4-3) will kick it off at 8:30 p.m. Saturday Arizona time. The game will air on ESPN.
The Sun Devils have relied heavily on the running game, but they’ll be looking for more balance this time out.
“We have got to make more explosive plays in the passing game. That has to be a part of our approach,” ASU coach Herm Edwards said. “We’ve got a hot hand running right now, and sometimes when you get that, you determine that you have to keep running it. We just have to be able to make explosive plays in the passing game. You always want options offensively. You have to make defenders defend the field, not just the box, so you can spread the ball and throw it some. That’s important.”
ASU leads the all-time series, 30-14-1 with a slight 9-8-1 edge in games played in Corvallis. Oregon State is 7-3 over the past 10 games played at home dating back to the 2003 season. That included a 44-10 victory in 2006, the Beavers’ largest win in the series.
The Sun Devils defeated Oregon State 46-33 last year in a steady rain in December with Rachaad White running for 158 yards and two touchdowns.
“They will be a very difficult opponent,” Edwards said. “We have our work cut out for us. I think our players understand the opponent we are about to face. It always goes down to the fourth quarter against those guys. We are excited for the opportunity.”
3 things to look for
1. Run vs. run, who wins? Both teams rely heavily on the running game. Oregon State leads the conference in total yards (444.6 ypg) and is also first in rushing offense (228.2 ypg), led by the top individual in the Pac-12 in B.J. Baylor. ASU ranks sixth in total offense (421.9 ypg), only because it hasn’t managed consistent yards out of the passing game. The Sun Devils are fourth in rushing offense (210 ypg), led by White who is third in total yards but second in yards per game. It should be a compelling head-to-head showdown by two top backs in contention of conference Offensive Player of the Year honors.
2. Can ASU get off to a decent start? It’s one thing to give up the first score of the game but it’s another to dig yourself a big hole and ASU has not done a very good job early in most contests. In two of the three losses the start was the issue — they trailed Washington State 28-0 and Brigham Young 21-7. Last week on the road at Washington they got behind 14-0, giving up touchdowns on the Huskies’ first two possessions. ASU also got behind UCLA and USC early, although the deficits were not significant, but it won’t want to keep pushing its luck.
3. Will the passing game be productive? That has been a question we’ve been asking since the spring when the Sun Devils were looking for a go-to receiver. The Sun Devils managed just 95 yards last week, although the weather and success of the running game meant it made more sense to be ground-oriented. But the Sun Devils will need more productivity there to keep paced with the high-powered Beavers offense. The constant change in the position group hasn’t helped with wide receivers Andre Johnson and Johnny Wilson and tight end Curtis Hodges are among the injured.
About Oregon State
The Beavers are under the leadership of Jonathan Smith, a former player at the school now in his fourth season as head coach. They’re on an upward trajectory, and have already become bowl eligible for the first time since 2013. That 7-6 season also marked the last time Oregon State finished with a winning record. The Beavers were in contention for the North title but suffered back-to-back losses to Cal and Colorado, both sub-.500 teams. They bounced back with a 35-14 win over Stanford last week. Despite being much improved it is among the handful of teams that has made a major change
midseason, with defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar dismissed after a 37-34 double overtime loss at Colorado two weeks ago. Sophomore Chance Nolan is the starter at quarterback, already throwing for 2,016 yards and completing 63 percent of his passes. LBs Avery Roberts and Omar Speights lead an improved defense that returned nine starters from 2020.
Star power
B.J. Baylor, Jr., RB, Oregon State: The 5-foot-11, 205-pounder is the only back in the conference to break 1,000 yards this season, becoming the ninth player in program history to do so. He has 176 carries for 1,050 yards with 12 touchdowns. Baylor has run for 100 or more yards five times with a season best of 171 yards against Hawaii in nonconference play but has been contained a bit in the last three games, totaling 250 in games against California, Colorado and Stanford. It’s been a breakout season for the Texas native who played in all seven games last season but totaled just 124 yards and one touchdown on 27 carries playing behind more established starter.
Chase Lucas, Sr., CB, Arizona State: The 6-foot, 180-pounder has 47 career starts with his start last week tying the school’s career record for career starts. With a start this week, the Chandler High School alum he’ll move into first place alone. In eight games this season Lucas has 22 tackles and six breakups. He missed two games with injuries and was knocked out of two others early. He is one of just six Pac-12 corners with 200 or more coverage snaps to not allow a touchdown this year, despite being targeted the third-most of any corner in the Pac-12 (18.4 percent). His seven forced incompletions are tied for first in the Pac-12 and his 16.3 percent forced incompletion rate is good for second among the league’s corners.
Trending
1 — Plays of more than 40 yards the Sun Devils have allowed this season. ASU was the final team in country to not allow an opponent play over 40 yards this year, a streak that came to a close against Washington State. ASU’s one 40-yard play is the fewest allowed in the FBS and two fewer than any other team. It has the second-fewest 30+ yard plays allowed with just nine and is one of just two teams in the FBS to not allow a 50-yard play.
3 — Consecutive seasons in which ASU has had to play in Corvallis. The Sun Devils were 46-33 winner there last season. That game was particularly upsetting for ASU fans since they had just one home game and the game ASU played there was the seventh for the Beavers.
5 — Rushing touchdowns needed for Rachaad White to tie school’s single-season record. He needs one to move into a tie for sixth and two to tie for fifth.
44 — Rushing touchdowns for ASU over its last 13 games, second-most in the FBS over a 13-game span behind only triple-option Army (which pulled ahead with an eight-rushing touchdown game vs. Bucknell last weekend). ASU has rushed for at least 100 yards as a team in 14 straight games. It is the longest such streak since the last 10 games of 1995 and the first 11 of 1996 — a 21-game stretch over two seasons. ASU has gone over the 200-yard mark on the ground in nine of its past 16 games dating back to 2019. ASU has gone over 250 yards rushing in seven of the past 13 games.
111 — Tackles this season for Oregon State linebacker Avery Roberts who leads the Pac-12. That number also ranks him fourth nationally. It’s also a career best, surpassing his 83 two seasons ago. He now has 263 career tackles, 19 shy of tying Jonathan Jackson (1996-99) for 10thmost all-time at Oregon State.
230 — Yards allowed by Oregon State’s defense last week against Stanford. That’s the fewest yards allowed against a Pac-12 opponent in Jonathan Smith’s four-year tenure as head coach.
Bottom line
This really is a game that could go either way. The Sun Devils are making back-to-back road trips to the Pacific Northwest late in the season which is always a tough task and they just barely squeaked by in the more winnable game last week at Washington. The Sun Devils still have a path to the Rose Bowl but that disappears if they can’t win out.
Prediction
Oregon State 28, Arizona State 21: The Beavers have proven to be more versatile when it comes to offense and their ability to gain yards through the air could be the difference because both are solid on the ground.