ASU Football: 5 takeaways from the victory over Colorado

Over under has seen the Colorado Buffaloes go a 1-3 so far, while the Arizona State Sun Devils go 0-4. Today’s game has a late start time and airs on a specialty TV channel as well as being made available on a live stream online option. But were the Sun Devils making a cameo in the Pac-12 South race, or are they here to stay? “We’ve got to find a way to coach it better and play it better”. The Sun Devils proved this perceived weakness to be unfounded in the way they handled star junior Paul Perkins, who has drawn accolades as one of the best rushers in the nation.

Colorado briefly threw a scare at the Sun Devils by driving 75 yards in four plays for a touchdown in the first quarter.

Colorado answered back with a touchdown drive on the ensuing possession, a 16-yard Phillip Lindsay run keyed by a 42-yard reception by Sean Irwin. Oregon had won the previous four games in the series by an average of 43 points, but the Buffaloes were tied at halftime and still within a touchdown in the fourth quarter before the Ducks pulled away.

All of this and more in Episode 75 of the podcast you all know and love, the What’s Bruin Show.

Arizona State does many things well, but they happen to excel in the facets of the game where the Buffs are now most vulnerable. White had seven catches for 144 yards, but his efforts would not have been possible without the pretty passing from Bercovici. The Buffs hope to end the streak Saturday against Arizona State in Tempe.

The seventh all-time meeting between these two schools looks much different now than it did just one week ago. Soon thereafter, CU failed to take advantage of a Witherspoon interception and was forced to punt – and the punt was blocked, leading to an ASU field goal and a 17-7 lead.

That’s part of the reason why Plummer believes ASU may have bought into its own hype a bit too much heading into the season, resulting in a pair of early-season blowout losses and reduced expectations. “It was so hot and both teams were desperate for wins”, said coach Amanda Cromwell.

Brown, who joined the starting lineup when Myles Jack went down with a season-ending knee injury, left the September 26 game at Arizona with back spasms and did not play against Arizona State. Kohl would snag three passes for 32 yards and a score, but would also recover a Demario Richard fumble and rumble 28 yards for a touchdown for the game’s first score.

Utah was picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12, yet has become the team to beat at the midpoint of the season. ASU has the talent in the backfield to take over this game on the ground if the Buffs aren’t up to the task.

I covered the 1st ASU-Colorado game in Boulder in 2006, a 21-three win that meant so substantially to coach Dirk Koetter at the time but didn’t save his job after a 7-6 season. The senior seemed to hit his stride against UCLA last week, throwing for 273 yards and two touchdowns. “We have a few great games ahead of us to get our RPI up”.

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