ASU Football: Sun Devils aim for bowl eligibility against Oregon State

After a tough loss at UCLA last week, ASU football get another crack of earning their sixth win of the season against the Oregon State Beavers.

ASU football is back in action Saturday for an afternoon match-up with Oregon State.

The Sun Devils (5-5, 4-3 Pac-12) are chasing their sixth win of the season and bowl eligibility after losing a head-scratcher 44-37 to UCLA last week.

Arizona State ran the ball down UCLA’s throats in the first half with running back Demario Richard having the best game of any Sun Devil rusher totaling 125 yards and one touchdown.

Quarterback Manny Wilkins had the biggest highlight-reel play of the night hurdling over a UCLA defender for his lone rushing touchdown of the night to go along with 325 total yards and a passing touchdown.

The game changed in the second half as the defense struggled to stop UCLA’s offense, mainly quarterback Josh Rosen.

Rosen, in his return from a concussion, threw for 381 yards and one touchdown leading the Bruins to three touchdowns and one field goal in the second half.

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Many players and head coach Todd Graham were perplexed after the game wondering how they lost a game they controlled.

After running it 39 times in the first half, the Sun Devils rushed the ball 22 times in the second half opting to throw it 24 times.

It was a questionable decision to change gears in the second half, and likely was a big part of why ASU came up short.

The Sun Devils hope to have a balanced attack Saturday against Oregon State, who come into the game with a 1-9 overall record and an 0-7 conference record.

Oregon State is coming off a 49-28 loss to Arizona as the Beavers were gashed on the ground allowing 534 rushing yards to the Wildcats.

Arizona only threw for 68 yards.

Quarterback Khalil Tate had a monster game leading the team in rushing with 16 carries, 206 yards and two touchdowns. Running back J.J. Taylor and Nick Wilson also rushed for over 100 yards.

Richard, Kalen Ballage and Eno Benjamin must be salivating to face this Oregon State defense that ranks last in scoring defense, 11th in total defense and rush defense and seventh in pass defense.

Arizona State should have no problems moving the ball against Oregon State, but it will be essential for them to control the time of possession and not turn the ball over.

The Beavers rank last in the Pac-12 in turnover differential (-9) so it’s vital the Sun Devils don’t gift OSU great field position off mistakes.

Arizona State’s defense will need to play better than it has the last couple of weeks facing Beavers quarterback Darell Garretson and running back Ryan Nall.

Garretson is coming off his best game of the season throwing for 208 yards, four touchdowns and one interception as he’ll likely make his seventh consecutive start.

Nall is Oregon State’s leading tailback having rushed the ball 139 times for 727 yards and seven touchdowns.

Arizona State has faced its share of good running backs this season and should be prepared to stop Nall.

The Sun Devils hope they’ll be able to take away OSU’s running game and force Garretson to beat them passing the ball allowing Arizona State’s defense to get pressure on the senior as the Beavers rank fourth in the Pac-12 in sacks allowed (16).

Graham and the rest of the coaching staff is trying to keep the team even-keeled and not over confident heading into Saturday’s game.

Arizona State hopes it can erase the horror of what happened last time the Sun Devils were in Corvallis, when an unranked Oregon State stunned No. 6 Arizona State in November 2014 dooming the Sun Devils’ College Football Playoff hopes.

The Sun Devils, after missing out on a bowl game last season, will look to take care of business Saturday and clinch bowl eligibility before hosting the Territorial Cup clash next week and earn their first win in Corvallis since 2005.

Broadcast Information:

Kickoff: 1 p.m. MT

TV: Pac-12 Network

Stream: Pac-12.com and Pac-12 Now app

Broadcast Team: Ted Robinson, Yogi Roth and Jill Savage

Next: ASU Football: 2017 Pac-12 Week 12 Power Rankings

This will be Arizona State’s seventh appearance on Pac-12 Network where the Sun Devils sport a 3-3 record. ASU has a 1-1 record in games televised on ESPN, 1-0 on FS1 and 0-1 on FSN.

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