TEMPE, Ariz. – The natural reaction for Arizona State would be to let up after a four-game stretch that was as tough as any team in the country will face this season.
The Sun Devils can’t afford to do that, though.
Not with their goal of winning the Pac-12 championship in place and certainly not with the rise in competition across the Pac-12.
Arizona State (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) will start the bulk of its Pac-12 season against Colorado on Saturday, the first of seven games against what has become a beefed-up conference.
“There is great parity in this league,” Arizona State coach Todd Graham said. “The danger is not taking a team seriously. What happens in a game like this is you go out there and slop around. It ends up beating you down the road or it can beat you then. Then panic sets in.”
Colorado has struggled since joining the Pac-12, going 3-10 in 2011 and 1-11 last year, their worst season in 123 years as a program.
The Buffaloes fired coach Jon Embree after that debacle and replaced him with Mike MacIntyre, who orchestrated a quick turnaround at San Jose State before heading to Boulder. MacIntyre has a little tougher hill to climb at Colorado but already has made progress in his first season, leading the Buffaloes (2-2, 0-2) to twice as many wins as they had last season.
The next step is to win in the Pac-12.
Since edging Washington State by one last season, Colorado has lost 10 consecutive conference games.
The last two have been ugly, too: 44-14 to Oregon State on Sept. 28 and 57-16 to No. 2 Oregon last week after leading for most of the first quarter.
Beating Arizona State, which went 2-2 during its brutal stretch in the schedule, would be a good start to get going back in the right direction.
“We definitely need to get a ‘W’ and keep going,” MacIntyre said.
Here’s five things to watch when Colorado and Arizona State meet in the desert Saturday night:
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Colorado had all kinds of trouble with Oregon’s speed and up-tempo style of play and was steamrolled after keeping it close in the first quarter. The Sun Devils don’t quite fly like the Ducks, but they are athletic and like to play fast.
Arizona State is tied for 16th nationally in scoring at 42.2 points per game, 22nd in total offense at 489.4 yards, and quarterback Taylor Kelly is fourth in total offense at 372.2 yards per game.
Colorado is 115th of 123 FBS teams on defense, allowing 482.5 yards per game.
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Colorado’s Paul Richardson missed last season with a torn left anterior cruciate ligament and seems to have come back stronger than ever. The junior receiver has been a big-play threat every time he touches the ball, ranking second nationally with 155.3 yards receiving per game. He’s also seventh nationally with 621 yards despite being the focal point of opposing defenses every week.
Arizona State had a few breakdowns in the secondary in its loss to Notre Dame last week and can’t afford too many more against a receiver such as Richardson.
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Arizona State was among the nation’s leaders in sacks and tackles for loss last season. That hasn’t been the case this season, though some of it has to do with the teams the Sun Devils have played so far.
During its tough four-game stretch, Arizona State faced teams with massive offensive lines and some of the best power-running offenses in the country: Wisconsin, Southern California, Stanford and Notre Dame.
The Sun Devils will close the season with seven consecutive games against Pac-12 opponents and hope their negative tackling numbers will increase against teams that spread it out a little more.
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Colorado’s coaches have decided to stick with quarterback Connor Wood despite the junior’s struggles the last two games. Against Oregon State and Oregon, Wood completed 25-of-67 passes for 351 yards, with two touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s thrown two interceptions in three consecutive games and has completed 37 percent of his passes since the Pac-12 season started. Wood was 56-of-82 for 741 yards and six touchdowns in Colorado’s first two games.
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Arizona State is ninth nationally in passing offense, yet when it comes to scoring touchdowns, senior running back Marion Grice is the player the Sun Devils turn to. Grice leads the nation with 13 touchdowns and is 25th nationally with 15.6 points per game. He scored 19 touchdowns last season and has 19 his last eight games over two seasons.
Grice also takes care of the ball: He has no fumbles in nearly 250 touches over the last two seasons.
