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The Devils’ Best Interest on the Road to the Rose Bowl, Week 10 preview

This is one of the stranger weeks in the Pac-12 Conference. In addition to the Thursday night game (and what a good game it was), the conference has a game tonight and a couple of snooze-fests on Saturday.

The two heavyweights, Oregon and Stanford, are both off this weekend as they prepare for their epic match-up next Thursday night. Due to it’s National Championship & BCS Bowl Game implications, many people consider that match up to be the biggest college football game of the season.

Let’s take a look at all the action in the conference this week.

#25 Arizona State 55 – Washington St. 21

This was a typical trap game for the Sun Devils. The Cougars had been gearing up for this Halloween night match-up for some time. The school had cancelled classes in an attempt to get rowdy students in absurd costumes to show up early to intimidate the Devils in front of a national TV audience. 

Unfortunately for the Cougars, ASU was not fazed by the hype. The game belonged to the Devils from the opening kick as they jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and never looked back.  

In another dominating game against a team from the Evergreen State, ASU held the Washington State offense to just 2 yards rushing. Sun Devil quarterback, Taylor Kelly, accounted for 7 touchdowns (5 passing / 2 rushing) and led the Devils to their sixth win and bowl eligibility.  

The only downside to the game were the injuries sustained to some ASU playmakers. Will Sutton again left the field with an arm injury, as did Osahon Irabor. While both Sutton and Irabor returned, it is never a good sign to see two of your better defensive players leave for any amount of time.

On offense, WR Jaelen Strong is still slowed by an ankle injury. And late in the game, star running back Marion Grice also left with an ankle injury giving more playing time to D.J. Foster, who is still nursing a leg injury himself.
 
Hopefully, the Devils can heal up before road-tripping again to take on Pac-12 South opponent, the Utes of Utah.

USC @ Oregon State (Friday night)

This game doesn’t matter much in the Sun Devils’ push to the Pac-12 Championship game. ASU beat USC, and Oregon State plays in the North. The only real interest that Sun Devil fans have here is scouting the Beavers, the Devils opponent in two weeks.  

Oregon State is favored by 4 points at home against the Trojans.

Arizona @ Cal

The Wildcats are fortunate to face another weak opponent this week. Yes, they have to go on the road, but they do get to take on the worst team in the conference in the Cal Bears.  

Last week they played Colorado, a team that ASU put away by halftime.

Arizona, favored by 16 points, is motivated to get their sixth win and a bowl bid. Let’s see if a struggling Cal team earn their 2nd win of the season.

NOTE: The ASU-UA Territorial Cup is only 4 weeks away.

Colorado @ #20 UCLA

In snooze-fest #2 on Saturday, Colorado enters the Rose Bowl to take on UCLA. The Bruins look to get back on the winning track after losing their last two games to Stanford and Oregon.  

While it would be nice for the Buffaloes to pull the upset here and give ASU the inside track in the Pac-12 South race, don’t count on it. It wouldn’t be the worst thing if the Bruins win big. It would bode well for ASU to have UCLA climb in the rankings until their crucial match-up with the Bruins on November 23rd in Pasadena.  

The Bruins are favored by 28 points.

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The best part about this weekend is that the Devils can just sit back after their convincing victory and watch the other conference games as they heal up for the Utes next Saturday.

Here are highlights from last night’s Sun Devil victory over Washington State HERE

Cover Photo, Pac-12