What’s the scouting report on Arizona State?

[Tony (admin)]

It’s finally game week.  Bye weeks, especially after a loss, are terribly boring.  Let’s hear your scouting reports on Arizona State.

[GameForAnyFuss]

They suck.

[ProudUte]

I think it depends who is healthy at QB for ASU. I have watched their last couple of games and they have played a lot of wildcat at QB. I believe we can stop the wildcat for the most part. 

On offense, we need to pass effectively. Oregon which typically is successful when their running game is going, had a great passing game the night they played against ASU.   For the most part ASU has defended the run okay to good.  However, their pass defense has been bad.  I don’t think we need to pass for over 300 yards, but we need to pass well enough to keep them from stacking the box. If we do that, Joe Williams should have a very good game. But, if we cannot get the pass game going – we could lose Thursday.   Also, ASU loves to blitz. Troy needs to get the ball out quickly. 

[AZswayze]

Best run defense in the PAC-12 means it’s a good week for Troy to shine. Manny Wilkins will play Thursday, so our secondary needs to be ready. Kalen Ballage is a handful if he gets going, but he’s scared of contact. He’ll wilt the first time Chase lays a lick on him.

[Wilson’s Mustache]

I’ve read into this a little bit and it seems that their run defense numbers only appear to be good because teams have been throwing more due to their inabilty to defend the pass.

[AZUTE]

AZSayze did you say best run D in the PAC12? That’s a little misleading when you consider nobody needs to run on them cause they give up 500 yards a game through the air.

As far as Manny Wilkins goes I’m not worried he’s an average passer at best. The biggest plus side to his game was his running ability. In their 4 early season wins he ran 56 times for 263 yards and 4 TDs. Since he got hurt 20 rushing atts for -44 yards.

He will start I don’t believe he’ll be 100% but pretty close. I’m guessing his ankle will be heavily taped and we’ll have to wait and see how he’s moving around on it. If he can run without any pain it will pose problems for Utah.

Utah will employ the same offensive gameplan they have all year. Run the ball grind the clock keep Wilkins on the sideline.

[Anonymous]

Sign stealers will be cheating like the Devil, but to no avail.

[AZswayze]

Not that 397 passing yards per game is something to brag about, but it’s a far cry from the 500 you claim teams rack up against them. To bolster your point, they are dead last in pass defense in the FBS. Does this make my claim misleading? I don’t think so, when you consider they only give up 3.9 yards per rush which is good for second in the conference.

Wilkins strength is in his running ability, but he’s completing over 60% of his passes and averaging a very respectable 7.5 yards per attempt. Even if he’s not at 100% the passing game will open up if Ballage gets going. I said our secondary needs to be ready, because backs have had little problem getting past our front seven to date.

I think we win this game 32-20ish. We get Byrd back (out during both our losses, along with McCormick, and most importantly Marcus Williams. Fogal filled in nicely, but his angles killed us against Washington, and there’s just no replacing an NFL caliber safety like Williams (probably the best in the nation).

[noneyadb]

ASU’s defensive #’s are a bit misleading. ASU has played the top rated passing offenses so far.
Conference ranking vs in-conference opponents-
Passing- Cal #3, USC #4, UCLA #2, Wazzu #1, Colorado #7, Oregon #5, and Utah #9
Rushing- Cal #9, USC #2, UCLA #12, Wazzu #10, Colorado #4, Oregon #7, and Utah #3

If Troy can throw the ball accurately Utah should win this game fairly convincingly.

[Duhwayne]

We will try to pass too much at first and then settle down and run the s**t out of them. If we block and occasionally get one over the top Joe Williams will go for 200 yards.