Deion Sanders and Colorado next foe for struggling Arizona State football team
This looked like a compelling matchup coming into the season with so many similarities in the programs and Colorado being led by the charismatic and sometimes controversial Deion Sanders. Sanders even stoked the fire a bit when it was announced on the College Football Championship Game broadcast that his team was going to open with a Week 0 game against Arizona State.
That projection proved premature and off the mark, but they are squaring off this weekend and both teams are looking to change their trajectory. ASU is looking to snap a four-game losing streak that followed a win in its season opener; Colorado is looking to bounce back from consecutive Pac-12 losses after going 3-0 in nonconference play.
Let's take a look at the matchup:
Colorado (3-2, 0-2) at Arizona State (1-4, 0-2)
Time/site: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
TV: Pac-12 Network (Jordan Kent, Lincoln Kennedy). Radio: ESPN 620 AM
Last time they played: Last season ASU defeated Colorado 42-34 in Boulder. That marked the first career start for Trenton Bouguet and he threw for 435 yards and three touchdowns. TE Jalin Conyers also had a career day with six catches for 108 yards and three touchdowns with Elijhah Badger catching eight balls for 137 yards.
Series history: ASU leads the series 10-3, with wins in the last two. Colorado's last win over ASU was by a 34-31 score in 2019.
Coaching matchup
ASU: Kenny Dillingham (first year). At 33, Dillingham is the youngest head coach at an FBS school. He served as offensive coordinator at Oregon last season. His first win as head coach came in ASU's season opener against Southern Utah, 24-21.
Colorado: Deion Sanders (first year). Sanders joins the CU program after three years at Jackson State, where the Tigers compiled a 27-6 record and won back-to-back Southwestern Athletic Conference championships and Celebration Bowl appearances competing on the FCS level. His 16-year NFL career was highlighted by two Super Bowl victories. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame, both in 2011.
Storyline
The similarities in the programs are many. Both are coming off abysmal seasons in which they parted ways with their head coach during the season, leaving interim coaches to try to keep things together. Dillingham was named head coach at ASU a week or so before Sanders got the nod in Boulder.
Both teams relied heavily on the transfer portal in rebuilding their rosters with Colorado bringing in 58 new players, more than any other program in college football. ASU was second in that department, landing 40, a handful of those coming from FCS schools. Counting other newcomers, Colorado has a nation-leading 87 new players while the Sun Devils are right behind them at 78.
Colorado has gotten a little more return on its investment and has been the talk of college football, thanks to Sanders' presence, which has brought national attention to a program that had been irrelevant for the last decade.
Both teams are ending their tenure in the Pac-12 and heading to the Big-12 next season. Colorado had previously been in that conference before coming over to the Pac-12 in 2011.
Arizona State will win if . . .
1. It can come up with some extra possessions: There are 130 teams in the FBS and the Sun Devils are dead last in turnover margin with 13 turnovers and only one takeaway. Granted that is a bit skewed with eight turnovers coming in one game, the loss to Fresno State. But they're last by a lot with Texas-San Antonio having the same number of takeaways and five fewer turnovers. When your offense is struggling and you're also lacking in explosive plays you need some extra possessions to have a chance at winning and this is where ASU is coming up short.
2. The offensive line can hold up: The situation seems to get worse here each week. Now the Sun Devils are down to six healthy offensive linemen so they can barely fill out a starting rotation, forget a two-deep depth chart. Among those six are a true freshman who will now have to start in Sean Na'a and a community college transfer Kyle Scott. Because of the injuries they've had to shuffle positions each week too so there's little continuity. We saw this unit wear down quite a bit in the second half of the Fresno State game and they have fewer bodies now than they did then. The Sun Devils have given up 17 sacks in five games although, surprisingly, didn't give up one last week.
3. Dillingham's gambles pay off: We know by now that the head coach likes to take chances. When you're undermanned and have nothing to lose it often makes sense. But fourth down tries on ASU's side of the field backfired horribly in the second halves against USC and Cal. The calls also make less sense when you're so compromised on the line of scrimmage as is the case for the Sun Devils. ASU has converted .438% (7-of-16) fourth down tries which ranks 88th out of 130 FBS schools.
Colorado will win if . . .
1. Shedeur does what he does: Sanders ranks second in the country, averaging 356.20 yards per game through the air. That's 1,781 yards with 15 touchdowns and only two interceptions. Dillingham mentioned him as a quarterback much in the same conversation as USC's Caleb Williams in that you can't shut him down, you can only hope to contain him or keep the damage to a minimum. The Sun Devils have done a better job this season of getting some pressure on the opposing quarterbacks and they're going to have to do that to have any chance at all.
2. Its pass defense holds up: Colorado is giving up 296.4 yards per game passing which ranks the Buffaloes 11th in the Pac-12 in passing defense, the only school faring worse being Stanford (305.8 ypg). A big part of the equation here is some injuries that have depleted this unit. ASU hasn't exactly been among the best teams when it comes to passing yards up to this point so we'll see which team gets the better of this battle.
3. The offensive line can hold up: We have talked about this when it comes to ASU but Colorado has issues here as well. It has allowed 26 sacks, that's nine more than ASU, with those sacks for a total of 233 yards. Only one FBS school has allowed more sacks (Old Dominion).
Arizona State football injury tracker: Hits keep coming for undermanned Sun Devils
Personnel notes
Colorado: Most notable for the Buffaloes have been the absences of two-way starter Travis Hunter (lacerated liver) and safety Shilo Sanders (internal injury). The coach said earlier this week Hunter was "two or three weeks away" but Shilo returned to practice on Tuesday. S Myles Slusher returned to practice this week after missing three games. RT Savion Washington (ankle) is out.
There is one notable Arizona product on the Colorado roster, kicker Jace Feely, who is a transfer from ASU. He is 4-for-7 on field goal tries with a best of 49 yards and 10-for-10 on extra point kicks. He also handles kickoff chores. He played in four games last year for the Sun Devils.
Arizona State: OL Ben Coleman, OL Emmit Bohle, DB Montana Warren, QB Jaden Rashada, QB Drew Pyne, WR Jordyn Tyson, LB Travion Brown, and P Josh Carlson are out. OL Isaia Glass, OL Max Iheanachor, RB DeCarlos Brooks, RB, George Hart, DL Clayton Smith, NB Jordan Clark, and DB Macen Williams are questionable. The Sun Devils have 10 players that have missed three or more games this season.
They said it
“They're more talented for sure. Their defensive line is good. Their skill positions are fast. They play really, really hard. They're fundamentally sound, but I think just watching them play the biggest difference aside from the talent is the effort in which they play. This team plays extremely hard. This team runs to the football on defense and they sprint up to the football on offense with tempo. The schemes are drastically different and it's the culture that's being created. There is one that is we're going to play competitively, we're going to finish every play and we're going to play with a passion and you can see it on the table.”
—ASU coach Kenny Dillingham on the difference between Colorado last year and this year
“It's a whole different team and it's a different team here. It's just crazy how fast time flies. It feels like just last week we were out there and got the win there. Just hoping we get another victory this weekend in Tempe. They play hard, with a lot of energy. They have a lot of new guys so that's one thing we got to key on. They're great up front, have solid players at the linebacker position.”
—ASU quarterback Trenton Bourguet on facing a team he had a career-best game against last season
Want to see Deion Sanders in action? Colorado football vs. Arizona State tickets still available
By the numbers
6 — Tackles for loss or no gain by ASU's Dashaun Mallory. That is tied for second among FBS interior linemen. His nine total defensive "stops" are 10th among FBS interior linemen. Mallory's average depth of tackle is 0.82 yards, showing that he owns the line of scrimmage as that's the sixth smallest depth of tackle average among FBS interior linemen.
7 — Receptions needed for junior TE Jalin Conyers to move into sixth among all-time ASU tight ends. (Ron Wetzel is currently sixth at 67).
31 — Tackles for Colorado linebacker Juwan Mitchell. Mitchell, who was at ASU but kicked off the team a week into fall camp, leads the Buffaloes in that department.
74 — Missed tackles the Sun Devils have forced on offense this season, the 14th-best tally in the FBS.
Who will win and why
Colorado 33, Arizona State 28: Injuries and all, the Sun Devils have competed and been close in three of the four losses. Now they face one of the most improved teams in the country but are woefully undermanned, particularly at linebacker and on the offensive line. ASU has lacked explosive plays while Colorado is all about explosive plays.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State-Colorado Pac-12 football game preview, prediction
