Getting To Know USC’s Week 10 Opponent Arizona State Sun Devils
On Saturday evening, the USC Trojans will take on Arizona State at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ. The Trojans come into this week 4-4 and the Sun Devils are 5-3. This will be the 37th time these two teams meet with USC winning the series 23-13. MyBookie.ag has the Sun Devils favored at -10, so they expect the Trojans to lose by multiple scores.
2020 Season In Review
Herm Edwards, who was in his second year in 2019 took this team to an 8-5 record and would go on to beat the Florida State Seminoles in the Sun Bowl 20-14.
Arizona State surprisingly started off last season with a close loss to USC 27-28. They would go on to lose another close one to UCLA the next week but end up blowing out Arizona 70-7. Lastly, they finished off the season with a win against Oregon State 46-33.
So for them to go 2-2 in the shortened covid season, they left much to be desired as they have a big-name coach with loads of talent to go with it.
Key Additions And Departures
There weren’t many additions and or departures made by the Sun Devils. Although there were a few worth mentioning. Left tackle Kellen Diesch transferred from Texas A&M and is currently starting. Running back Rachaad White transferred from a small community college in Walnut, California. Left guard Henry Hattis transferred from Stanford and is the starter.
On the Defensive side of the ball they have DeAndre Pierce, who is a safety that transferred from Boise State, and former USC cornerback Jack Jones, transferred as well.
They only lost a few players worth noting. They lost a three star quarterback coming out of high school in Joey Yellen. They lost wide receiver Angel Ruiz to a small Division II school. Lastly they lost AJ Carter, a running back, who transferred to McNeese State.
The most recent transfers to happen for the Sun Devils are four-star defensive lineman Stephon Wright to SMU ; Three-star quarterback Ryan Kelley to Eastern Washington, and offensive lineman Cody Shear, who transferred to Syracuse.
This team recruits very well so the additions and departures come few and far between.
2021 Outlook
Arizona State started the season off strong with a win against Southern Utah, and the other win coming against UNLV. Yes those are two games they should’ve won emphatically, but, they did so nothing to see there. They end up losing a close game to now 17th ranked BYU, however, they win three straight against Colorado, UCLA, and Stanford.
Those three teams have have had their own version of success against the rest of the Pac 12. Stanford has a win against Oregon and USC, UCLA made a huge statement with a win over LSU, and Colorado has played competitive and almost spoiler in a few games.
With all that being said, they go on to lose to Utah and Washington State by multiple scores. So in a way, they’re in a similar situation as USC because they have all the talent to contend, but, haven’t put it together completely.
There’s no question the biggest and most talented player on this team, in my opinion, is quarterback Jayden Daniels. The offense this year for ASU is pretty balanced with Daniels having only 1,734 passing yards and seven touchdowns, and the lead running back Rachaad White with 477 yards rushing and nine touchdowns. They spread the ball around to a lot of different receivers. The lead receiver in this offense is junior Ricky Pearsall with 378 yards receiving.
Much of the success of this offense comes from Daniels leaving the pocket and running with it. If USC can’t stop Daniels from breaking out of the pocket and getting loose, it’ll be a long day for the defense.
History Against The Trojans
This will be the 37th time these teams meet, and like I stated earlier, USC leads the series 23-13. USC has won the last two times these teams have met in 2019-2020. The last time the Sun Devils won was in 2018 at the Coliseum where they won 35-38. With these two teams playing to keep whatever bowl hopes are still alive, we should be in for a good one.
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Sun Devil Stadium. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons