After a huge 12 day wait, it's finally almost game day. The Ducks drought has been rough but we're finally back and ready to kick some Devil butt. Coming off of a huge win against the Huskies (52-21), the Ducks look to improve to 7-0 (4-0) this Thursday night against a rather strong Sun Devils team that sits 5-1 and 3-0 in the Pac12 and just missed the Top 25 this week by a hair. Out of all the games this year, this one has me the most worried. And when I say worried, I mean worried that the win won't be a blowout. Peep this:
The Sun Devils are letting up an average of only 14.2 points a game this year, good for 9th in the entire FBS. Yikes. They haven't really gotten into the meat of their schedule yet (still have to face Oregon, Oregon State, USC, and Arizona) but I don't see this defense as one to joke around with. In contrast to that statement, the Ducks have outscored the Sun Devils 175-81 in a current four game winning streak in Tempe, and Oregon has a conference best 10 game road winning streak against the Pac12 dating back to November of 2009 on the line. I suppose that's some reassurance if any. But alas, more stats! The Sun Devils are on a 3 game win streak at home against Top 25 opponents! The insanity!
ASU has been relying heavy on Sophomore quarterback Taylor Kelly, who ranks third in the nation with a 175.98 passer rating. He has thrown for exactly 1,600 yards in 6 games to go along with 14 TD's and just 2 interceptions. I know what this seems like; I have a huge hard on for ASU right now. But, let me bring them back to earth, since of course, this is a UO blog anyway (duh). These defensive numbers of theirs are skewed since they have faced some of the WORST offensive teams in the country. They have faced the 111th (Missouri), 115th (Illinois), 116th (Colorado), and 117th (Utah) ranked offenses. If that doesn't scream "fluke" then I don't know what does. And Missouri actually beat them too. Their run game, although averaging nearly 185 ypg, can be lackluster at times and hardly matches up with Oregon's running attack. The only question I have coming into this game is that, when the Sun Devils are down and start chucking the ball every play, will the Oregon secondary be able to keep up? There will either be quite a few interceptions or quite a few big gains. It looks like it can go either way. I believe that clock management will play a huge factor in this game and if Oregon can consistently drive down the field as usual and brick wall Kelly each defensive drive, then they will bring home a big W.Final Score Prediction: 34-21 in favor of Oregon
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