Washington
vs.
Arizona State
PAC 12
Football Pick
10/19/13
Washington has taken a dive with two straight losses and is no longer a threat to compete for the Pac-12 North title. In fact, they have dropped all the way to fifth place due to the losses, although that should change as more teams face Stanford and Oregon. Arizona State still has a chance in the South with only one Conference loss. A win here would put them in good position to challenge UCLA, who goes to Stanford this weekend. The Sun Devils are -3 point home favorites at betonline with a total of 65.5
No one is quite sure what either of these teams will do this year. The Huskies were looking great with wins over Boise State and Arizona, but they couldn’t get anything from either Stanford or Oregon. They were blown out by 21 points at home to the Ducks last weekend. ASU has a similar feel, also with a loss at Stanford, although they were thoroughly beat in that contest. Other than that, the Sun Devils threw 62 points on USC and got a lucky win over Wisconsin. They haven’t lost at home yet, which is something to look at, whereas the Huskies only road win was at Illinois (played at Soldier Field).
One thing we know is that Arizona State can score, putting up more than 44 points per Game so far. Taylor Kelly has thrown for 300-plus yards in every meaningful Game this year (only 233 vs. Colorado), and has 16 touchdowns to go along with that. The only thing is that he has interception problems against tougher defenses (six in a span of Four Games). Jaelen Strong leads the receiving corps with at least 100 yards in five straight Games. Kelly also finds his RBs out of the backfield plenty with Marion Grice and D.J. Foster, who are the second and third best receivers on the team. Grice only has 395 yards on the ground, but his 15 total TDs outweigh the yards.
Washington has a good defense, but stopping the Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium isn’t going to be easy. Especially after dealing with Oregon last week, the Huskies may be in for another long day.
Offensively, Washington has enough to keep up and should be able to because ASU doesn’t have the greatest defense. They let teams stick around (ie. Notre Dame) and can’t really shut anyone down.
Quarterback Keith Price is still having a great senior season despite last Game when he only had 182 yards with one TD and one INT. He will most likely surpass those numbers against this defense. Receivers Kevin Smith and Kasen Williams should get open a little more this week. And then of course there’s Bishop Sankey, who’s the only reason the Huskies could compete the last couple Games. He had 45 carries, 292 yards and Four touchdowns against Stanford and Oregon. Sankey is going to be one of the best RBs in the nation by season’s end.
These teams haven’t played since 2010, but interesting enough, Arizona State has covered in seven straight matchups.
The Huskies are 5-0 ATS in their last five Games following an ATS loss, but just 2-8-1 ATS in their last 11 Games following a double-digit loss at home. The Sun Devils are 5-1 ATS in their last six home Games, but 3-7 ATS in their last 10 vs. a team with a winning record.
The betting trends at 5dimes.com show us that 72% of the wagers thus far have come in on the visiting Huskies and that 100% of the action on the total is on the over.