How Good Is Arizona State?

Generally when a team puts up 62 points against USC and gets their coach fired, you would think they are a really good team. However, the Trojans are a shell of the program they used to be. Earlier they lost to Washington State who has been the worst team in the PAC 12 for about a decade. So we can't really tell how good they are based on that game.

So we have to look at the rest of their schedule. They started against FCS Sacramento State and beat them 55-0. That tells us nothing about them though. But like Notre Dame, the Sun Devils then opened up a tough stretch in their schedule. It started with a showdown with Wisconsin. That game ended in a controversial fashion. Wisconsin was in position to kick a makeable game winning field goal but the referees allowed too much time to tick off the clock and the Badgers never got a chance. So the Sun Devils got a very tainted victory on that one. Wisconsin also just lost to Ohio State quite convincingly too, so we don't really know how good they are.

Next up, the Sun Devils got blown out by Stanford. They did score three 4th quarter touchdowns, but that only made it look close on the scoreboard. The Cardinal dominated them.

Finally, they had that great performance against USC. But even in that game, they gave up 41 points to an offense that has been struggling.

So based on a 3-1 record, it is still hard to tell how good they are because one of their wins was tainted and the other two were not against good teams. Their one loss was a really bad one.

What we do know is that they have a very powerful offense led by Taylor Kelly. With their spread attack they have put up 122 points this season against FBS opponents. Kelly has thrown for 1370 yards and 11 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions. It is safe to say that the defense will have it's hands full. The guys really under the microscope are Kevare Russell and Bennett Jackson as they have to cover Jaelen Strong.

While the defense will have it's hands full this weekend, Tommy Rees and the offense will have a chance to regain it's early season form. They will be facing a defense that has given up 111 points the past three weeks. I just hope they can keep pace with the Sun Devils. Hopefully, our defense can slow them up enough.