ASU Football: Devils looking to continue momentum in Utah

After a historic win against, at the time, No. 5 Washington last week, ASU football will look to keep the momentum going in Salt Lake City as they go up against the Utah Utes.

Coming off their biggest win in the past decade, expectations are at a new high for the Sun Devils. A team that was 1-2 going into Pac-12 play has now knocked off two top-25 ranked teams and has rejuvenated their season. They will look to take advantage of the struggling Utes, who are currently on a two game losing streak after starting the season 4-0.

The biggest key to Arizona State’s success against Washington wasn’t the high-powered offense, rather the defense. A nice mix of play calling aided by possibly once-in-a-lifetime secondary play formed the perfect storm to overtake Washington. Against Utah, they will have a little more margin for error as Utah’s offense hasn’t been spectacular.

Zach Moss has been the only consistent part of the Utes’ offensive attack. The sophomore has appeared in all six games for Utah and has put together an average performance of 80.83 yards per game.

The quarterback situation is up in the air for Utah. While no quarterback has looked overly impressive, Tyler Huntley started the season for the Utes when he got injured during Utah’s fourth game of the season and was replaced by Troy Williams.

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No started has been officially named for the Utes as of yet, Huntley returned to practice this past week and is considered to be a game-time decision. Regardless of who starts, the Arizona State secondary should be able to handle either quarterback.

While Huntley has a nice arm and Williams is a solid quarterback in his own right, they won’t give ASU’s secondary a huge challenge.

That isn’t to say that the Sun Devils should go easy for this game, rather to be aware that there will be more opportunities to capitalize on either quarterback’s mistakes.

On the defensive side of the ball, Utah is still a force to be reckoned with. They are holding opponents to an average of 20 points per game, and they are the sole reason they almost upset No. 11 USC last week. They have always done a nice job against Arizona State, and there is no reason to suspect anything different for this game.

The key to this game will be the defense. If they can take their performance last week and figure out where they succeeded and what they need to improve on, then they are well on their way to becoming one of the better secondary units in the Pac-12.

Limiting Utah to as few points as possible is important as the Utes’ defense will be limiting ASU’s offense to a minimal amount of point.

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Prediction:

A similar game for Utah as their USC game. Ultimately, Arizona State will be the better offensive team and will end up with the victory and they will begin to get some love from a few top-25 voters.

ASU 30, Utah 24

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