ASU Football: Sun Devils return home, host 1-3 Beavers

ASU football return home Saturday night to host the 1-3 Oregon State Beavers as Arizona State looks to end their two-game losing streak.

Recently, the Herm train has lost a bit of steam.

Herm Edwards started his tenure at Arizona State 2-0, defeating UTSA and Michigan State. But after back-to-back losses against San Diego State and Washington, the Sun Devils are back to .500.

Both of the Sun Devils’ losses were on the road, and most recently, they ran out of time at Husky Stadium.

Arizona State returns home this weekend for a matchup against Oregon State, one of the Pac-12’s bottom feeders. The Beavers enter 1-3 overall this season, and in their conference opener, they were routed by Arizona at home.

Despite Oregon State’s struggles, ASU offensive coordinator Rob Likens said he still sees the Beavers as a threat.

““When you’re in that space, you basically have nothing to lose, so they’re dangerous,” Likens said. “They can do whatever they want to do cause they’re building that program — the pressure’s not on them. That’s always dangerous because they’re going to come up here and play loose and have fun.”

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One of the key problems with Oregon State, both in the past and this season, is its defense. Allowing 43.5 points per game, the Beavers are tied for 127th in the FBS in points allowed per game.

Not only has Oregon State allowed points this season, but it also sits toward the bottom of the NCAA in yards allowed per game.

The Beavers have allowed 540 total yards of offense per game, which is third to last in the nation. In comparison, Utah’s defense, which leads the FBS, has only allowed 614 yards on the entire season.

What do these stats convey? Oregon State’s defense is at the level of a meddling FCS school.

After three consecutive games against strong defenses, this could be the cushion ASU’s offense needs.

Manny Wilkins struggled against Washington, throwing for barely over 100 yards with no touchdowns.

This was in part because of the coverage on N’Keal Harry, who has seen a double team most of the season. In the loss, Harry accumulated 20 receiving yards, his lowest since October 2016.

According to ASU head coach Herm Edwards, Wilkins still needs to find Harry despite the increased coverage.

“We’ve got to get N’Keal the ball,” Edwards said. “Every week we do our best to try and get him the ball, we move him around.”

Though Oregon State has struggled offensively in the early season, the Beavers have shown flashes of productivity throughout the year.

Running back Jermar Jefferson has been, for the most part, stellar in the backfield rushing for six touchdowns and more than 400 yards in his first four games. However, he regressed slightly against Arizona, running for just 82 yards on 19 carries.

One of this game’s most anticipated matchups is Jefferson vs. the Arizona State run defense.

At times, ASU’s run defense has been among the stingiest in the nation, but other times, like against San Diego State, it couldn’t stop anything.

In the aforementioned loss to the Aztecs, Arizona State allowed 311 rushing yards to Juwan Washington and the other SDSU backs.

ASU’s run defense played better against Washington, however, allowing just 86 yards to star running back Myles Gaskin.

The team’s Week 1 starter, Jake Luton, has dealt with injuries for the majority season, and in his absence, Conor Blount hasn’t played poorly. Although he’s only thrown for 707 yards this year, he’s thrown just one interception to go along with six passing touchdowns.

Against Washington, the youth in ASU’s secondary was exposed, and Jake Browning had a more-than-solid game. The senior threw for three touchdowns and 202 yards, completing 15 of his 22 pass attempts.

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With Arizona State at 2-2 overall and 0-1 in Pac-12 play, the Sun Devils look to return to .500 in conference. The game begins at 7 p.m. PT Saturday and can be seen on Pac-12 Networks.

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

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