Arizona State Sun Devils @ Arizona Wildcats NCAA Week 14 Picks

Arizona State Sun Devils @ Arizona Wildcats NCAA Week 14 Picks: Tough call, I would absolutely take ASU if I knew that Steven Threet was going to be healthy and playing quarterback for the Sun Devils. I know that back-up Brock Osweiler helped the Sun Devils put up 55 on the Bruins, but will he do it against an actual team (that’s right Bruin fans, I think UCLA is playing worse than any other team in the Pac 10). Like I said, tough call here for sure. I just think that they way Arizona State has been playing, they can hang with anyone – and getting 6 points in a rivalry game against an equal team is too good to pass up, even if Threet ends up sitting.

I know Arizona has been tough, beating Iowa earlier in the year, and starting hot in the Pac 10. But defensively they’ve struggled lately, losing 3 straight (though they were in the middle of the Pac-10 gauntlet – Stanford, USC, and Oregon) and they played the last two teams very tough, losing to SC by a field goal, and leading Oregon at half before falling by 19. What’s been tough for them is run defense. The Cats have been out-rushed in each of their last 3 games.

ASU, on the other hand, filled their struggles throughout the year – but boy were they all close losses. At 5-6, and having just 3 wins against upper division teams, the Sun Devils aren’t even guaranteed a Bowl game with a win that would bring them to 6-6 (though they’ll probably get the okay if they beat the Wildcats). ASU is just coming off dropping 55 on UCLA (though they gave up 34). They lost to Stanford by 4, lost to USC by 1, Oregon beat them by just 11, and Wisconsin (at Wisconsin) won by just a point earlier in the season. The Sun Devils do have two bad losses on their resume, a 17-50 outlier against Cal and a 28-31 loss to Oregon State.

I still say these teams are even, at least, if ASU isn’t better. The Sun Devils haven’t found a way to win, but they’ve been close and they’re about to break through with a big one. The spread helps, but I like ASU to win outright…

Arizona State Sun Devils (+6) @ Arizona Wildcats (Thurs)