Washington Football: What you need to know for ASU 9/22
By Ed Stein
Washington Football resumes this week in Seattle as the Huskies continue their PAC-12 season against ASU. Emerald City Swagger has all you need to know.
It’s a Washington football Saturday. Emerald City Swagger presents, what you need to know in order to enjoy the Washington Huskies PAC-12 game against the Arizona State Sun Devils today. Whether you are going to see the game in person, or staying at home and watching on television we have you covered.
Who: Arizona State University Sun Devils (2-1, 0-0) at Washington Huskies (3-0, 1-0)
Where: Husky Stadium – Seattle, Washington
When: 7:30 p.m. PDT
TV: ESPN
Line: Washington Huskies -18, Over/Under 52 (Odds Shark)
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- Washington Football: What you need to know for WSU 11/23
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- PAC-12 Football Power Rankings week of 11/21 – Emerald City Swagger
Last Week
Arizona State lost at San Diego State last Saturday 28-21. Worse for Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards, the Aztecs ran all over his defense. Not many teams in this environment can put up 311 rushing yards against an FBS opponent. The game wasn’t as close as the final score, ASU scored in the final two minutes to close to the gap to seven.
It was obvious in Edwards’ Monday morning press conference that he was quite disappointed in his defense. He even went as far as saying that ASU couldn’t handle a pulling guard on runs to the outside. The Sun Devils pass defense was much better, holding San Diego State to 5.4 yards per pass attempt.
ASU’s passing game looked strong. Senior quarterback Manny Wilkins threw for 341 yards and two touchdowns. His leadership is one of the team’s strengths.
The Washington Huskies beat Utah in Salt Lake City 21-7 in their PAC-12 opener. UW played well on both sides of the ball. The Huskies running game finally came around, or more accurately Myles Gaskin broke out for 143 yards against a very good defense. While Huskies quarterback Jake Browning didn’t have his best game, he still kept the Huskies viable all night.
On defense, UW was a hitting machine, making Utah pay for every yard they got, especially in the red zone. Just ask Utes receiver Brian Covey, who was physically beaten up from pillar to post by a hard-hitting Washington secondary. Linebacker Brian Burr-Kirven was outstanding, making 11 tackles and earning PAC-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.
This Week
Picture the scene. It’s early Monday morning, the Huskies have just finished morning workouts and had a good breakfast. The players break off into positional meetings to go over the Arizona State game film from two days prior. A tired Myles Gaskin starts watching the film with his teammates and gets increasingly excited. By the end of the session, he’s ready to get on the field and pick up where he left off in Salt Lake City.
Arizona State is going to put pressure on Browning early. The Huskies offensive line doesn’t have Trey Adams and center Nick Harris has been far less than 100%. Last week he was visibly limping and had to come out of the game. Harris is the lynchpin of the line. With him, they are very good, but there is a huge drop off when he’s out of the game.
If the offensive line can open some holes for Gaskin, it will take the heat off of Browning. Its simple for the Huskies, control the offensive line of scrimmage, control the game.
Next. Our football predictions for the weekend of September 21-23. dark
On the defensive side off the ball, Washington is very good and hit hard. They are fully capable of handling the ASU offense. Even if the Huskies offense has a mediocre day, their defense should keep the score down. Washington wins by at least a touchdown at home, probably by two.