Every Saturday football players take to the field to do battle. Every Saturday players feel like they have a chance at winning. They should feel that way because of how competitive their mental make up makes them. This Saturday Washington State will be lining up against the Sun Devils of Arizona State and competing for another win.
In the Pac-12, the competition is so close that any team can beat any team on any given Saturday. This weekend is no different. The Washington State Cougars come to the desert for a big game for both teams. Washington State is trying to end the season with some more positive momentum after losing their starting quarterback to a broken leg. The Devils are trying to rebound from a devastating loss up in Corvallis last weekend. Thanks to the Beavers, the Pac-12 South division is a mess and the Devils are right in the middle of that same mess.
The Washington State Cougars are a dangerous, wounded team and that can be a very tricky team to beat. These types of teams are that are desperate like this can literally ruin a teams shot at glory. Just ask this same Sun Devil team. They experienced that against Oregon State. However, that is why you play the game. Once you lace the cleats up, the chance is 50-50. You win or lose.
Washington State will try and throw the ball all over the field. They have the second string quarterback Luke Falk to depend on. He is another, in a long line of Wazzu quarterbacks that know how to throw the ball. In his first full game against Oregon State he threw for 471 yards and five touchdowns. He tore the secondary up and got a much needed win, and a win on the road for the Cougars. Falk also threw the ball 61 times for the game. That makes a team fairly one sided to me, and if you look at the season stats for the Cougars that confirms that. They rank first in passing yards at 477 yards per game, but pretty close to last in rushing yards per game at a paltry 43 yards per contest. If you don't have a balanced attack it presents a lot of problems for your team because once you have your strength taken away from you, you have nothing to fall back on to to counter the other team. ASU will present that problem for the Cougars.
Defensively, it's been a struggle for Washington State as well. They ranking 118th right now in points allowed. They give up an average of 38 points per game, and coming into a game with a team that puts points on the board that may call for another long afternoon at Sun Devil Stadium for Mike Leach and his team. I watched this play against Nevada and the Wolfpack pushed the Cougars around the field all night. Figuring that it was early in the year I thought the Cougs would have that toughness problem fixed by this point in the season. They have not fixed that problem. The Cougars can score points, but they can't keep anybody out of the red zone and the end zone.
The chance of the Cougs winning this game isn't good. They just don't have the talent or depth to stay with the Sun Devils. In the end, the Devils should win this game going away. I'm predicting at least a three touchdown win for the Devils. The Devils need some momentum going into the Territorial Cup next week. The Washington State Cougars will provide that positive feeling for the Devils.
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