| Sun Devils QB Taylor Kelly hopes as many of the ASU faithful travel to Colorado as made it to Berkeley on Sept. 29. (AP) |
Arizona State (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12) at Colorado (1-4, 1-1 Pac-12)
Kickoff: Thursday, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Spread: Arizona State by 22.5
Watchability: ESPN! Thursday night! Sun Devils! Buffaloes! Anyone care?
Shining Stars: Arizona State: Defensive lineman Will Sutton ranks second in the Pac-12 with 1.3 sacks per game. That's what one huge game will do. Sutton sacked Zach Maynard three times in the Sun Devils' 27-17 win at Cal, and he should be on the prowl for Colorado's Jordan Webb. Colorado: Kenneth Crawley leads a host of four Buffaloes who average between 6.4 and 6.6 tackles per game. Crawley helps in other ways, too, breaking up passes in three consecutive games.
Who could steal the show: Arizona State: It's weird to consider four touchdowns in five games to be a disappointment, but for RB Cameron Marshall, it is, considering those touchdowns accompany just 164 rushing yards. Marshall started to show some of his potential against the Bears, with a season-high 17 carries and 69 yards. Is it time for him to break out and break 100 yards? Or are RBs Marion Grice and D.J. Foster simply better fits for OC Mike Norvell's offense? Colorado: Wideout Nelson Spruce had a monster game in Week 4 with eight receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown. Then he disappeared a week later against UCLA. He'll need to reappear against the Sun Devils for the Colorado offense to step up.
You going? Ranking the road trip: Giving Boulder a Thursday night football game is like giving a giraffe a ladder and stilts. Either way, it's going to end up messy, and we want to see it. No matter the ability of the host team, the city offers plenty of tourist options.
Magic number for Arizona State: 7. The Sun Devils lead the conference in seven major statistical categories, including sacks, tackles for loss, pass efficiency and pass efficiency defense. Talk about well-rounded.
Magic number for Colorado: 9. On the flip side ... the Buffaloes rank either 11th or 12th in the Pac-12 in nine categories.
The game comes down to: Arizona State successfully deboarding the plane.
Prediction: Arizona State 44, Colorado 12
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