ASU Football: Three keys to an ASU victory this weekend in Washington

After a tough defeat at the hands of San Diego State, ASU football will need to turn their fortunes around quickly on Saturday against the No. 10 team in the nation.

Two weeks into the season, ASU Football was sitting pretty in the AP Top 25 rankings at No. 23 following the team’s impressive victory over the then 15th-ranked Michigan State Spartans.

That fantastic start for the season quickly evaporated last Saturday night when the Sun Devils fell on the road in San Diego to SDSU, 28-21.

ASU allowed 311 yards on the ground during the loss as the offense sputtered in the second half without a first down until late in the fourth quarter.

With Washington on the schedule this weekend, ASU will need to revert back to the team that upset the Spartans in Tempe two weeks ago.

1. The defense must limit the Huskies’ rushing attack

The main reason why ASU lost last weekend stemmed from the Sun Devils inability to stop San Diego State from running the football.

“We need to continue to improve on assignment, we need to continue to improve on playing hard,” ASU defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said. “We got a little bit tired on Saturday and there’s no reason to get tired when you rotate as many guys as we do.

The Aztecs beat the Sun Devils in time of possession by 12 minutes and 10 seconds. This weekend, ASU will need to be able to stop running back Myles Gaskin from shredding the front six.

Gaskin has rushed for over 1,300 yards in every year of his career as a Husky. The 5-foot-10, 193-pound running back has yet to explode this season with on 272 rushing yards in three games but it’s safe to say that Gaskin is due for a big game.

If ASU has any chance of winning this week in Washington, stopping Myles Gaskin has to be the No. 1 priority for a defense that failed to contain the run a week ago.

2. Eno Benjamin must be more effective this week

In the past two weeks, Eno Benjamin has rushed for a combined 48 yards.

The Sun Devils No. 1 back has been limited in large part due to the stout rushing defenses of San Diego State and Michigan State, but this weekend that narrative will need to change against an elite defensive group in Washington.

An explosive Benjamin out of the backfield brings an extra dimension to an ASU offense that has become somewhat predictable in recent weeks. Manny Wilkins has been forced to throw the ball over 45 times the last two weeks.

Although Wilkins has done a relatively solid job at churning out yards in the air (65.3 percent completion percentage and seven touchdown passes), the Sun Devils’ signal caller is going to need a strong running game in order for ASU to churn out yards against one of the best defenses in the country.

3. ASU must contain Jake Browning in the pocket

Senior quarterback Jake Browning has had a very interesting career at Washington. The veteran QB took a step back last season after throwing 43 touchdown passes in his sophomore campaign.

Browning’s regression in year three has somewhat continued to plague the Huskies quarterback in year four as Browning has as many touchdown throws as interceptions through three games played this season.

In order to prevent Browning from regaining his rhythm this weekend, ASU will need to maintain the 6-foot-2 senior in the pocket as much as possible.

“They like establish the run to set up some of their play-action stuff and get Jake (Browning) out of the pocket,” Gonzales said.

In Summary:

Coach Edwards described Washington pretty accurately at Wednesday’s press conference.

“They’re pretty good at all three phases,” Edwards said.

For ASU to have a chance at upsetting the No.10 ranked Huskies, ASU will need to stop Myles Gaskin in the running game, establish a prominent rushing attack with Eno Benjamin and contain Jake Browning in the pocket in order to stave off an 0-2 start in road contests in 2018.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.