Looking ahead to Oregon

[AsUpRoDiGy]

ASU will be traveling to Eugene to face a tough Oregon team. LaMichael James will be out with a dislocated elbow, which will certainly help ASU's chances of pulling off a road victory. Oregon will surely be favored, especially at home, however, ASU has the speed on defense to compete with Oregon's spread-option attack.

I would like to see ASU do some things LSU ran on defense, which is 9 in the box, with man to man coverage, and stack the line with 6 defenders to control the O-Line of Oregon. If the Devils play their typical vanilla 2 deep zone, with 7 in the box, Oregon will win fairly easily. Good teams make adjustments and change schemes to adhere to the opponent, so I'm hoping to see some imagination from this coaching staff.

ASU's offense should be able to put points up against the Ducks, it's only a question of whether the defense will be able to rise to the occasion.

What are some adjustments/plays you would like to see vs. Oregon?

 

[HooverDam]

Gameday will be headed to Eugene for the game, lets hope ASU doesn't lay another turd on national TV like they seem to quite often.

 

[Mathew81]

Gameday will be headed to Eugene for the game, lets hope ASU doesn't lay another turd on national TV like they seem to quite often.

Already beat Missouri and USC on national TV so far

 

[HooverDam]

Already beat Missouri and USC on national TV so far

Were those national? For some reason I was thinking they were regional. Either way, I'd bet if you looked at ASUs record on National TV in the Erickson era, or even since 2000, its probably a losing one.

 

[Mathew81]

They were both the late national game on ESPN

 

[Tyler]

Opening line has ASU as 14.5 point dogs.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Opening line has ASU as 14.5 point dogs.

I was initially going to predict a 14 point under dog, so I wasn't too far off. It's either going to be a really close game, or Oregon is going to blow us out. We played them tough last year at home, but fell apart at the end. Our offense can score on them for sure, just a matter if our defense can step up and hold them to under 30 points. I swear, if the Devils play that soft cover 2 zone against a running team, I'm going to flip out!

 

[82CardsGrad]

If the Devils can't figure out how to pass protect, how to run the ball consistently (they couldn't move the ball on the ground in Utah), and how to minimize the stupid penalities, 14 points won't be enough as they will be run out of the building in Eugene.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I was initially going to predict a 14 point under dog, so I wasn't too far off. It's either going to be a really close game, or Oregon is going to blow us out. We played them tough last year at home, but fell apart at the end. Our offense can score on them for sure, just a matter if our defense can step up and hold them to under 30 points. I swear, if the Devils play that soft cover 2 zone against a running team, I'm going to flip out!

I was initially going to predict a 14.25 point underdog, so I wasn't too far off either. I've since changed my mind; I'm now predicting a 10 point win for the Sun Devils.

Steve

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

If the Devils can't figure out how to pass protect, how to run the ball consistently (they couldn't move the ball on the ground in Utah), and how to minimize the stupid penalities, 14 points won't be enough as they will be run out of the building in Eugene.

Oregon is a small team, we shouldn't have too much trouble running on them, and I'm sure they'll be more focused on the passing game regardless. I agree, if the Devils can't control their penalties or pass protection, it's going to be a long day, but if we can at least play admirably in those areas, we have a great shot to pull off a victory.

I was initially going to predict a 14.25 point underdog, so I wasn't too far off either. I've since changed my mind; I'm now predicting a 10 point win for the Sun Devils.

Steve

I'm going to initially predict that you are correct!

 

[D-Dogg]

Damn, is this a game to take the spread and the Devils here?

 

[AsUdUdE]

Hope I'mrong because right now ASU is the only thing going right in my sports life, but I have a bad feeling about Saturday... I just hope we don't get embarrassed...

 

[Tyler]

Damn, is this a game to take the spread and the Devils here?

I was going to drop a 20 on BoDog but the payout is the same either way. Doesnt seem worth it to me. I would easily take the Devils to cover.

 

[Gaddabout]

Considering how bad ASU is in the red zone, I have very low expectations. I'll be rooting hard, though.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Hope I'mrong because right now ASU is the only thing going right in my sports life, but I have a bad feeling about Saturday... I just hope we don't get embarrassed...

We seem to always play bad when GameDay is present, for some reason. We played Oregon tough last year, but Threet's 5 turnovers, or whatever he had, really killed the game for us. I'm cautiously optimistic about the game, because if we can play good, we have a great chance to beat them. If our defense can create turnovers, we will win.

 

[Absolute Zero]

ASU should be able to run the ball well as the Ducks run-D isn't very good.

The problem though is that the Ducks can pretty much score at will once they get going. It matters very little that LaMichael James may be out (he indicated yesterday that he may be able to play when the swelling is down).

ASU's offense will be quite challenged to keep up the pace. Kicking field goals is not going to get it done. They will have to make a lot of big plays and score touchdowns or else they will find themselves down by 3 touchdowns or more very quickly.

And ASU simply can not turn the ball over and give the ball back to the Ducks' offense. That would be disasterous.

I am presuming the ASU defense will not be able to stop the Ducks' offense. I have not been real impressed with the ASU defense so far this year and they have not faced this kind of lightspeed offense this year.

With that said, as an ASU Alum living in Oregon, I hope the Sun Devils suprise me and shock the world on Saturday. Go Devils!

 

[AzStevenCal]

ASU should be able to run the ball well as the Ducks run-D isn't very good.

The problem though is that the Ducks can pretty much score at will once they get going. It matters very little that LaMichael James may be out (he indicated yesterday that he may be able to play when the swelling is down).

ASU's offense will be quite challenged to keep up the pace. Kicking field goals is not going to get it done. They will have to make a lot of big plays and score touchdowns or else they will find themselves down by 3 touchdowns or more very quickly.

And ASU simply can not turn the ball over and give the ball back to the Ducks' offense. That would be disasterous.

I am presuming the ASU defense will not be able to stop the Ducks' offense. I have not been real impressed with the ASU defense so far this year and they have not faced this kind of lightspeed offense this year.

With that said, as an ASU Alum living in Oregon, I hope the Sun Devils suprise me and shock the world on Saturday. Go Devils!

I'll agree with the second part of this sentence but not the first part. I think ASU has been very impressive on defense thus far especially when you consider how many key people are missing. You're correct that our opponents haven't been anything special but we've been incredibly effective with our 3rd down defense.

Steve

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

I'll agree with the second part of this sentence but not the first part. I think ASU has been very impressive on defense thus far especially when you consider how many key people are missing. You're correct that our opponents haven't been anything special but we've been incredibly effective with our 3rd down defense.

Steve

Our defense certainly has the speed to keep up with Oregon, it's just a matter of keeping the big plays to a minimum, and the ability to rotate players in while the Ducks run their hurry up offense. Defensive scheming is the biggest aspect of the game, in my opinion. If we can force Oregon to throw the ball, their chances of winning decreases significantly.

The Devils should be able to put up 30+ points on the Ducks, especially if Osweiler is on his game. If Oz has a good game, we win

 

[AzStevenCal]

Our defense certainly has the speed to keep up with Oregon, it's just a matter of keeping the big plays to a minimum, and the ability to rotate players in while the Ducks run their hurry up offense. Defensive scheming is the biggest aspect of the game, in my opinion. If we can force Oregon to throw the ball, their chances of winning decreases significantly.

The Devils should be able to put up 30+ points on the Ducks, especially if Osweiler is on his game. If Oz has a good game, we win

I've already bet the house we escape with a double digit victory. Not my house mind you, I'm a diehard fan but I'm not THAT stupid.

Steve

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

I've already bet the house we escape with a double digit victory. Not my house mind you, I'm a diehard fan but I'm not THAT stupid.

Steve

There's a reason why Vegas has Oregon favored by 2 TD's Let's just say if we win, I'll be extremely surprised

 

[AzStevenCal]

There's a reason why Vegas has Oregon favored by 2 TD's Let's just say if we win, I'll be extremely surprised

I'm probably delusional but I really do think we can beat them. We can't stop James but if he's out we have a better chance of making them a passing team. As long as we don't get down by a couple of TD's early, I think we'll have a decent shot. As I type that I can't help but remember I said something just like that a handful of years ago on one particularly brutal trip to Berkley. I hope that's just a fleeting thought and not a premonition.

Steve

 

[TheKid_1]

Turnover Margin, Red Zone TD Efficiency, and Defensive Third Down Efficiency will decide this game.

Also, don't be surprised if you see 200+ yards of penalties combined in this game, as both ASU and UO rank in the bottom 25 of all FBS teams in penalties and penalty yards.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

I'm probably delusional but I really do think we can beat them. We can't stop James but if he's out we have a better chance of making them a passing team. As long as we don't get down by a couple of TD's early, I think we'll have a decent shot. As I type that I can't help but remember I said something just like that a handful of years ago on one particularly brutal trip to Berkley. I hope that's just a fleeting thought and not a premonition.

Steve

The Devils actually shut down James pretty well last year, he had 28 carries for 94 yards, it's just the turnovers that ultimately decided the game for us. If Oz is playing good, and our offense is productive, I think we have a great chance to win.

 

[AzStevenCal]

The Devils actually shut down James pretty well last year, he had 28 carries for 94 yards, it's just the turnovers that ultimately decided the game for us. If Oz is playing good, and our offense is productive, I think we have a great chance to win.

Sure, 7 turnovers is hard to overcome but I don't think we so much shut down their running game as we gave them a better option. We had a lead and they started throwing it more and had several big plays through the air (although we still dominated most of the stats). IIRC, Deantre Lewis had a pretty good game and on D we really shut them out on 3rd down. Maybe I'm confusing it with another game but it seems to me we were about as good on 3rd down against them as we've ever been.

Steve

 

[82CardsGrad]

Would LOVE to see ASU grab a victory on a big stage like this. However, my gut tells that the Devils won't be able to run the ball well enough. That their run defense will have problems in the 2nd half and the Ducks will pull away in the end to a 45 - 24 victory... hope I'm wrong though.