When: 3:00 PM ET, Saturday, November 18, 2017
Where: Reser Stadium, Corvallis, Oregon

Preview: Arizona State at Oregon State
Gracenote
Nov 15, 2017

Arizona State needs to win one of its two remaining games to become bowl eligible. The first – and clearly best – shot for the Sun Devils will be Saturday afternoon when they visit 1-9 Oregon State.


Last Saturday night in Los Angeles, Arizona State fell short in a 44-37 shootout versus UCLA to fall to .500 and now needs to beat either the Beavers or rival Arizona (7-3) the following Saturday to become postseason eligible for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. A win also would at least clinch a .500 regular-season record for the seventh time in the last eight years for the Sun Devils – a stretch that would be the program’s longest since an eight-in-nine-year run from 1985-93. Oregon State, meanwhile, wrapped up its fourth straight losing season more than a month ago and now is trying to avoid a second winless Pac-12 campaign in the last three years. Saturday’s game will mark the home finale/Senior Day for the Beavers, who close out the season Nov. 25 with their annual Civil War tussle with Oregon in Eugene.

TV: 3 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network. LINE: Arizona State -7


ABOUT ARIZONA STATE (5-5, 4-3 Pac-12): The Sun Devils had won three of four entering the UCLA game but fell short against the Bruins despite racking up advantages in total (584-573) and rushing yards (294-192). Running back Demario Richard and quarterback Manny Wilkins have combined for 936 yards of total offense and seven touchdowns over the last two games, and as a team Arizona State has accounted for a whopping 41 percent (675) of its 1,646 season rushing yards in the last two contests. Junior linebacker Christian Sam has a conference-most 104 total tackles to lead a defense which ranks in the Pac-12’s bottom third in scoring (32.1 points allowed per game) and total defense (455.0 yards).

ABOUT OREGON STATE (1-9, 0-7): Last week against host Arizona, the Beavers became the latest defense to be gashed on the ground by quarterback/darkhorse Heisman Trophy candidate Khalil Tate and the Wildcats, who rushed for a for a school single-game-record 534 yards in a 49-28 win. Down 28-0 at halftime, Oregon State at least showed some second-half fight under interim coach Cory Hall as Darell Garretson tossed four TD passes in the final 30 minutes and running back Ryan Nall totaled 135 yards from scrimmage. On the other side of the ball, linebacker Manase Hungalu trails only Sam in the conference with 8.7 tackles per outing and is one of the few bright spots for a unit which is surrendering the most points (40.7) and second-most yards (464.7) in the Pac-12.


EXTRA POINTS

1. Arizona State leads the series 27-13-1 but is 7-9-1 in Corvallis and has lost five straight there.

2. The Sun Devils own the second-best red-zone scoring percentage (97.3) in the FBS, and their lone scoreless possession was a game-ending kneel-down in their 13-7 upset win over visiting Washington on Oct. 14.

3. Oregon State owns a Pac-12-worst minus-9 turnover margin while Arizona State is tied for third at plus-4.


PREDICTION: Arizona State 38, Oregon State 35