As much as 2022 has been a struggle for both the Cardinal and the Sun Devils, both teams find themselves this weekend entering their matchup in Palo Alto, Calif.. with some momentum on their side. What are the challenges and opportunities that await ASU? Here's my examination of Arizona State's road opponent this Saturday afternoon.

Stanford Offense

Likely to be the next member of a string of several Stanford QBs to go on to NFL careers, Tanner McKee is in the midst of his second full season as the starter for the Cardinal and has established himself as one of the better passers in the conference.

Through six games, McKee averages 256.2 yards per game and has thrown ten touchdowns with five interceptions while completing 64.6% of his passes. He also has one rushing touchdown, but as the prototypical “Pro Style” quarterback, he has -60 rushing yards on 31 attempts thus far.

So far in 2022, McKee has three games with at least 280 passing yards, including a season-high 308 in the opener against Colgate. Last season in a 28-10 loss at ASU, he had what remains his career high with 356 passing yards – though he also set what remains a career-high with three interceptions.

At running back, E.J. Smith, the son of NFL legend Emmitt, had an explosive start with 206 rushing yards and four total touchdowns in just two games but was sidelined for the remainder of the season due to a September injury.

Casey Filkins was inserted into the starting lineup in his place, and Filkins has done a more than adequate job, as he has a total of 430 rushing yards on 114 carries with four touchdowns on the year.

He also presents a threat as a receiver, as he has 16 catches for 203 yards and a touchdown and has caught at least three passes in each of the past three games and four of the last five.

In all, Filkins fills that “Jack of All Trades” role for Stanford as he ranks second in the Pac-12 and 30th nationally in all-purpose yardage averaging 124.2 yards per game.

Entering the 2022 season, Filkins had only 11 career carries accumulated across the 2020-21 seasons, but he has had 75 or more rushing yards in four of the past five games and had career-highs in both carries (32) and receptions (four) last week against Notre Dame. He recorded his first and only triple-digit rushing day with an even 100 yards on 20 carries in Stanford’s loss to Washington earlier this year.

He has shown a bit of ball control issues as he has four fumbles in six games, though just one has been lost for a turnover.

No other running back on the roster has more than 11 carries thus far, making it a plausible expectation that Filkins should once again shoulder the overwhelming majority of carries on Saturday.

McKee spreads the ball around a bit in the pass game, as five players have between 16 and 26 receptions on the year, paced by Michael Wilson, who has team-highs in receptions (26), receiving yards (418), and touchdown catches (four).

However, Wilson is not listed on the two-deep for this week’s game, and John Humphreys, who has eight catches for 128 yards and one touchdown in six games this season, is tabbed as a starting receiver for Saturday.

Elijah Higgins has 24 catches for 296 yards and a score, while Brycen Tremayne has 226 yards and two scores on 17 total catches. Higgins posted seven catches for 110 yards and a touchdown against ASU last season. If Wilson is out of action Saturday, it is reasonable to expect Higgins and Tremayne to earn more targets than usual.

Tight end Benjamin Yurosek, an Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 pick in 2021, presents a potential danger to the Sun Devil defense as he has 18 catches for 172 yards thus far in 2022. Yurosek had a monster performance against the Sun Devils last year, as he had 118 yards on six catches.

The Cardinal offensive line figures to start Walter Rouse at left tackle, Jake Hornibrook at left guard, Drake Nugent at center, either Levi Rogers or Drake Metcalf at right guard, and Myles Hinton at right tackle.

Hornibrook and Nugent have started all six games, while Rouse and Rogers both started the first five but missed starts last week. The right tackle position has been a bit of a turnstile as three different players have each started twice, with Jack Leyrer, who has started the last two games at the position, not listed on this week’s depth chart.

Stanford Offense Summary

Through six games, Stanford has the identical amount of total points (161) and points per game (26.8) as ASU, which puts the two schools in a tie for eighth in the Pac-12 and 81st nationally.

However, with the exception of a 41-point outing in week one against FCS opponent Colgate, Stanford has not scored more than 28 points in a game this season.

Stanford also ranks eighth in the conference in passing offense (266.0), rushing offense (131.7), and, you guessed it, total offense (397.7).

The loss of Wilson is quite significant, but Stanford still has multiple tall receivers and a talented tight end that can make ASU pay if given the opportunity.

Stanford Defense

Up front, Tobin Phillips and Jaxson Moi are listed as the top options at defensive tackle, with Stephen Herron and David Bailey on the edges.

Herron is the team leader in sacks (3.5) and shares the team-high of 4.5 TFLs as part of his 17 total tackles. Bailey also has 4.5 tackles-for-loss along with 1.5 sacks as part of his 21 total tackles.

Bailey, however, is termed as “doubtful” for Saturday’s game, and if he’s absent, either Aeneas DiCosmo or Lance Keneley will start. DiCosmo has 15 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, while Keneley has five tackles on the year.

Phillips has 17 tackles, including 3.5 for loss with 2.5 sacks, while Moi has nine tackles on the year.

At linebacker Jacob Mangum-Farrar and Ricky Miezan are likely to be joined by Levani Damuni in the starting lineup.

Damuni is the team leader with 38 tackles, while Magnum-Farrar has 31 tackles and three pass deflections. Miezan has 27 tackles including 4.0 for loss with 2.0 sacks. However, Damuni is listed as “questionable” and, if absent, would further downgrade an already shoddy Stanford run defense.

In the secondary, elite cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly is figured to start opposite Ethan Bonner, with Jonathan McGill and Kendall Williamson at safety and Oklahoma transfer Patrick Fields at nickel back.

Blu Kelly has 15 tackles with three pass deflections in five games this year, while Bonner has 21 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with three pass deflections thus far.

Williamson ranks second on the team in tackles (36) and adds two pass breakups and an interception, while Fields has 31 tackles, including 3.0 for loss with 2.0 sacks.

McGill has totaled 24 tackles, including 3.5 for loss with 1.0 sack on the year. He was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after he posted four tackles, including one for loss, while also forcing a fumble on Notre Dame’s fourth-quarter drive just after Stanford took the lead as well as deflecting the fourth down pass attempt on Notre Dame’s final possession of the game to seal the win for the Cardinal.

Stanford Defense Summary

Defensively, Stanford has some statistical similarities to ASU as the Cardinal allow 29.7 points per game (ASU allows 30.2), and the teams are nearly identical in total defense (409.7 per game allowed by ASU, 409.8 allowed by Stanford), but Stanford has the second-best pass defense in the conference but rank 10th in the league and 119th nationally in rush defense.

Aside from his stance as the starter for all six games of the season before missing time against Washington due to injury, Emory Jones may be the pick for QB1 by ASU interim head coach Shaun Aguano due to his ability to attack the porous Stanford rush defense – though, of course, Jones has not been used in such a role to a notable degree this season at ASU.

Stanford Special Teams

Joshua Karty is a perfect 7-of-7 this year, and amazingly, six of those seven have come from 40 or more yards. He is one of 11 FBS kickers who qualify for the NCAA statistics leaderboard not to have missed a field goal so far in 2022.

Karty was named Pac-12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance this past Saturday at Notre Dame, as he was responsible for 10 of Stanford’s 16 points and was 3-for-3 on field goals with distances of 43 (twice) and 45.

Punter Ryan Sanborn averages 41.9 yards on 25 punts so far this season.

Filkins is also featured on special teams as he is the team’s top punt returner with a 6.6-yard average on seven punt returns, while he’s also returned three kickoffs.

Bryce Farrell (20.0-yard average on ten returns) and Brendon Barrow (22.6-yard average on five returns) are the top options this year on kickoffs.

Overall Summary

The pendulum of trivia oddities shifts away from ASU’s favor this week, as ASU goes from playing an opponent that hasn’t won in Tempe since 2001 to visiting a venue that the Sun Devils have had nightmarish fates for more than a quarter century.

This may seem odd to read – and I had to fact-check it a few times – but ASU has only ONE win at Stanford since 1996, a victory itself that was 15 years ago when the Sun Devils dominated the Cardinal 41-3 on Sept. 29, 2007.

Overall, the Sun Devils and Cardinal simply haven’t played one another that often in recent years, as the two programs have only played four times dating back to the start of the 2014 season. The two squads have split those two games, with ASU winning the latest contest with its 28-10 victory last year in Tempe.

This is a “zero margin for error” type of game for both teams as ASU and Stanford, both 2-4 at the midway point of the 2022 season, absolutely need a win Saturday to preserve any viable chance at bowl eligibility.

Though both teams have had generally miserable first halves of the 2022 season, the Sun Devils and Cardinal equally enter this game with as much momentum as they’ve had all year, as both clubs most recently claimed their most impressive wins – easy to do when you only have two! – of the season to date.

If ASU can effectively focus on running the ball and not set itself back with turnovers and/or a significant penalty total, the Sun Devils have quite a few advantages in this game – including the fact that Stanford ranks 129th of 131 FBS teams in turnover margin (-1.50 per game).

However, Stanford has an NFL-caliber quarterback, big receivers and tight ends, and a defense that is riding high with confidence after limiting the Notre Dame offense last Saturday in South Bend.

Though on paper, this matchup of two 2-4 teams may not be too striking for those outside the two fanbases, the winner of this game stays alive in the hunt for bowl eligibility, while the loser will then face what could be an insurmountable challenge to reach the .500 mark by the end of the season.