The Arizona State Sun Devils head to Tuscon for an in-state showdown against rival Arizona on Friday, December 11, 2020. The Sun Devils are coming off a 25-18 loss to UCLA while the Wildcats are fresh off a 24.13 SU loss to Colorado in a game where they were 9.5 point betting underdogs.
Arizona State has lost just thrice in their last 10 head-to-head meetings against Arizona but the Wildcats have covered the spread in four out of their last six meetings against the Sun Devils.
The Arizona State Sun Devils have seen two of their games canceled due to COVID-19 precautions. With the team winless in two games played this shortened season, they will be playing their final assignment on Friday against their rivals.
Arizona State was a 2.5 points favorite against UCLA the last time out, but they failed to take down the Bruins and lost that game 25-18. ASU started the game slowly, trailed 17-3 at the half, and never recovered. Jayden Daniels has thrown for 359 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Daniels has also rushed of DeAmonte Trayanum leads the team with 192 rushing yards and two scored while Rachaad White is ASU’s leader with 123 receiving yards and one TD grab.
The Sun Devils’ offense hasn’t played well this season and has averaged just 22.5 points per game and is putting up 205.5 passing yards and 211.5 rushing yards per game this season. Defensively, they are allowing 26.5 points per game this season and gave up 25 points against UCLA in their last outing.
Arizona is also coming off a loss in their last assignment. The Wildcats were beaten 24-13 by Colorado for their fourth straight loss of the season. Arizona led that game 13-0 but collapsed and was held scoreless in the second half. Grant Gunnell has been impressive as the starter but he isn’t available in this game with a shoulder issue. Freshman Will Plummer, who started the last game will get the start here.
Plummer completed 59.4% of his passes for 154 yards with one interception in their last game while Gary Brightwell and Michael Wiley combining for 239 rushing yards. Brightwell led the rushing attack with 337 yards and one touchdown while Stanley Berryhill leads the team with 206 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
The Wildcats are averaging just 213 passing yards and 161.3 rushing yards per game this season. They have a poor offensive team that scores an average of 20 points per game. On defense, Arizona is one of the worst defensive teams in the nation at 32.3 points per game allowed but they have conceded only a total of 51 points in their last two games played.
Arizona St. is 3-6 SU in their last nine games played. The Sun Devils are 1-4 SU in their last five games played on the road. Arizona is winless in their last 10 games played. The Wildcats are 0-10 SU in their last 10 games played as the betting underdogs and 0-11 SU in their last 11 games played against the Pac-12 Conference.
Head to head, the Arizona ST is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games played against Arizona.
After a tough 28-27 loss to USC, the Sun Devils saw three consecutive games get canceled due to the pandemic. That was tough for a program that was still trying to work on new pieces. That showed against the Bruins the last time out as ASU was out of synch during a 25-18 loss.
Arizona has a good quarterback in Grant Gunnell but he has been ruled out for this game with a shoulder problem. Starting for the Wildcats will be freshman Will Plummer who has three interceptions and no touchdowns this season. Their defense though has picked up in their last two games, giving up just a total of 51 against Colorado and UCLA.
Both these teams struggle on defense but the absence of Grant Gunnell is going to hurt the Wildcats. I think the Sun Devils’ run game will test the Wildcats’ porous run defense and this will open up the aerial assault led by QB Jayden Daniels. I think the Sun Devils will have enough offense to pull off this winnable road game.
Prediction: Arizona State
The Sun Devils are 3-6 ATS in their last nine games played. Arizona State is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games played against the Pac-12 conference, and 1-6 ATS in their last seven December games. The Wildcats are 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games played. Arizona is 0-5 ATS in their last five December games, but 11-4 ATS in their last 15 Friday games. Head to head, the Wildcats have covered two out of the last three games played between these two teams.
This is a rivalry game between two bad teams who have not played well defensively and have struggled to find consistent offense. The Wildcats have a hard time stopping the run and will have trouble with Herm Edwards’ offense which likes to run. Arizona has shown some improvement in their last two games but those gains aren’t enough to topple the Sun Devils in Tucson. You love a rivalry game to be closely contested but the Wildcats have been terrible this year.
Prediction: Arizona State -11.5
The total has gone under in four out of the last five games played by Arizona State. The under is 5-1 in the last Week 15 games played by the Sun Devils. The total has gone under in six out of the last seven games played by the Wildcats. The under is also 5-1 in Arizona’s last five games played at home. Head to head, the total has gone over in six out of the last eight games played between these two teams.
Arizona St. is conceding 26.5 points per game this campaign while Arizona is giving up and an average of 30.6 points per game this season. But before we jump to a conclusion that these teams will hit the over because of their poor defense, let us not forget that these are two offenses who have struggled to put up points consistently this season. The Sun Devils are coming off an 18-point effort against UCLA and two games earlier, they put up just 20 points in a winning effort against Florida State. Arizona meanwhile, has scored 14 or fewer points in three of five games played. I think 55 is too much for these teams.
Prediction: Under 55
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