A familiar opportunity to bounce back from a blowout loss will be presented on Saturday in Tempe. Once again Arizona State will face an Air Raid offense, but this time contending with bigger in-house offensive issues than they encountered last month. What can we expect from the Sun Devils’ Homecoming game opponent? Joe Healey examines Saturday night’s foe.
Washington State Offense
The story is now well known of Falk, the Utah product who had dreams of attending Florida State but ended up walking on at Washington State before becoming one of the nation’s most prominent passers.
After taking over as a starter late in his freshman season of 2014, Falk exploded as a full-time starter as a sophomore, passing for 4,561 yards and 38 touchdowns helping Washington State to its most successful season since 2003.
Wazzu entered 2016 with great expectations but stumbled out of the gates, with its second loss to an FCS team in as many years when it was downed by Eastern Washington, followed by a defeat at the hands of Boise State. From there, Falk and the Cougars have ripped off four straight wins, including three in conference play.
On the year, Falk has completed 211-of-295 passes (71.5%) for 2,113 yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions. He has four games with at least 350 passing yards and two with more than 400, with his season high being his 480 in the loss to Boise State.
Falk ranks sixth in the nation in passing yards and stands only behind California’s Davis Webb in the conference passing list. These days, Falk is no longer just the novelty former walk-on done well, but one of the most legitimately talented, and to a shoddy pass defense like ASU’s, dangerous quarterbacks in college football.
Falk has had impressive days against the Devils, as last season he threw for 497 yards with five touchdowns and engineered a comeback victory in Pullman and the year before threw for 601 yards – second-best in WSU history only behind NCAA record holder Connor Halliday’s 734 – in defeat in Tempe.
Though the passing game garners all the press, the Washington State run game is notably improved in 2016. The team average of 140.2 yards per game won’t challenge for the FBS rushing title anytime soon, but the trio of Jamal Morrow, James Williams, and Gerard Wicks has been quite impressive this year in the number of carries that have been received.
The distribution has been very even with Morrow leading the way with 51 carries, Wicks with 49 and Williams at 46. Altogether the trio has combined for 824 yards and an impressive 15 rushing touchdowns on the year, with Morrow’s 316 yards and Wicks’ seven rushing scores leading the way.
As can be expected in the Air Raid offensive scheme, the Cougar backs are also heavily used in the passing game, as Morrow, Williams and Wicks have combined for 60 catches on the year.
A First-Team All-Pac-12 selection last year, Falk’s rise to prominence has been largely due to his pairing with star receiver Gabe Marks, also a First-Team All-Pac-12 pick in 2015.
To no surprise, Marks leads the team in receptions (40) and touchdown catches (six), while ranking second on the squad with 337 yards. His receptions average of 6.7 per game ranks second in the Pac-12, behind only Chad Hansen of California.
Including his work this season, Marks has 267 career receptions for 2,896 yards and 30 touchdowns. Already the school’s all-time leader in receptions, Marks ranks second in school history in receiving yards behind Marquess Wilson’s 3,207 and tied for second in receiving touchdowns behind Jason Hill’s 32. Soon enough, Marks should be the “triple crown” career leader in these categories for the Cougars.
Beside Marks, veteran pass-catcher River Cracraft is a dynamic option (31-391-1), while Tavares Martin, Jr. (31-352-3) has stepped up admirably to fill the void left by departed 1,000-yard receiver Dom Williams from last year. Isaiah Johnson-Mack (18-112), Kyle Sweet (14-244-2) and Robert Lewis (12-148-1) are also good for at least a couple catches a game from the wide receiver positions.
The Cougar offensive line from left to right figures to consist of tackle Andre Dillard, guard Cody O’Connell, center Riley Sorenson, guard Eduardo Middleton and tackle Cole Madison.
In 2015, both Sorenson and Madison were Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 selections.
This group of five from Pullman has some absolute beef to it as the lightest lineman is Dillard at 295 pounds but goes all the way up to O’Connell’s mammoth 6-foot-8, 354-pound frame. The average weight for the Cougar offensive line starters comes out to about 323 pounds.
Washington State Offensive Summary
The Cougar pass game with Falk, Marks, Cracraft and company is a well-known commodity on a national scale, but its three-man run game should not be underestimated.
Though no individual rusher for WSU presents the threat of, say, Phillip Lindsay of last week, the group can be dangerous if ASU’s rush defense cannot bounce back from being dominated last Saturday.
Above all, ASU will have to have an out of body type of experience in a rare effort to limit the powerful Cougar pass attack.
Washington State Defense
The defensive front for WSU includes standout Hercules Mata’afa at end, Robert Barner at nose tackle and Daniel Ekuale at tackle.
An Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 pick as a freshman in 2015, this year Mata’afa leads the Pac-12 with 9.5 tackles-for-loss as part of his 24 total tackles. He also has three sacks and four quarterback hurries. Ekuale has 12 tackles and Barner owns 10, including 2.5 for loss with 2.0 sacks.
Dylan Hanser has been an impact player from his Rush position, with Isaac Dotson at WILL and leading tackler Peyton Pelluer at MIKE.
Pelluer leads WSU with 39 tackles and ranks second in tackles-for-loss (5.0), while Hanser has 14 tackles and three forced fumbles to ranks second in the Pac-12. Dotson ranks third on the team with 26 tackles and adds two interceptions.
In the secondary, Wazzu lists a Nickel defense as its platform with Darrien Moulton and Marcellus Pippins at cornerback, Parker Henry and nickel back with Shalom Luani at free safety and Jalen Thompson at strong safety.
Moulton is the leading tackler of the group (35) and has three pass breakups, while Luani, and Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 member a year ago, has 21 tackles and leads the Pac-12 with three interceptions in five games. Thompson has 18 tackles and Henry has 12 stops to his credit.
Washington State Defensive Summary
WSU is great against the run as it ranks 12th nationally in rush defense (104.5) and is very opportunistic against the pass as the Cougars rank second in the Pac-12 with nine interceptions. The defense as a whole is filled with unheralded playmakers such as Mata’afa, Luani, Taylor, and Hanser, which collectively give a battered-and-bruised ASU offense a limited margin for error.
Washington State Special Teams
One area ASU has a very distinct advantage is in the kicking game as Washington State’s Erik Powell has had a miserable season to date as he missed all of his first five attempts before making his first two field goal attempts of the year last week against UCLA. Altogether, Powell is 2-of-7 and both made attempts last week were from 36 yards.
In a very odd turn, wide receiver Kyle Sweet also punts but has pedestrian numbers of a 37.8-yard average on 13 punts. Zach Charme has also punted six times for a 38.5-yard average.
In the return game, Kaleb Fossum averages 7.7 yards on seven punt returns with a long of 16 and Robert Taylor (20.1 avg.) and Tavares Martin, Jr. (21.0 avg.) are the primary kickoff returners.
Overall Summary
Yes, ASU is 5-2 and still has the potential to put together a season beyond what was expected, but between injury issues and two dud losses in the past three games, things appear to be on thin ice as the Sun Devils continue a stretch of challenging Pac-12 games.
This is by no means a favorable matchup for ASU as the Cougars are among the nation’s better teams in pass offense and run defense, two areas that the Sun Devils have been severely challenged by in the past few weeks.
Arizona State has had a distinct edge over Washington State in Tempe – the Cougars haven’t won in Sun Devil Stadium since 2001 and have only done so twice in the past 20 years – but ASU will need to completely erase the slate of last week’s abomination in Boulder to avoid dropping a second straight conference game.
Keys to a Sun Devil Victory
Line of Attack
ASU’s offensive line of late has been flat out bad. The Sun Devils average a mere 68 rushing yards per game at a 2.2 yards-per-carry clip in the last three contests and against Colorado, Arizona State surrendered five sacks.
Though Washington State is one of the poorer teams in the nation in terms of sacks (114th nationally, 1.17 per game), Wazzu is sensational against the run as the Cougars lead the Pac-12 and rank 12th nationally allowing just 104.5 rush yards per game.
If ASU is blown up at the line, if its running backs are smashed before gaining positive yardage and/or if Manny Wilkins is often under duress, the Sun Devil offense will be stuck in the mud on Homecoming.
Limit the Run
Limit the run? Against Washington State? Has the world gone topsy-turvy?
Hear me out here. Yes, Wazzu is one of the most prominent passing teams in college football and has been since Mike Leach’s arrival to Pullman, but this season the Cougs are a fairly solid rushing team. WSU’s three-headed attack averages 5.7 yards per carry and has 15 combined touchdowns and for ASU, last week’s horrendous defensive output against Colorado’s ground game calls the Devils’ previously outstanding rush defense into major question.
WSU will get its yards – as everyone does – against ASU. Well over 400, perhaps creeping into the territory of 500. However, in crunch moments such as short yardage third downs and red zone instances, the Sun Devils have to be aware of the Cougars run game as not to have insult (run game) added to injury (pass game) from Washington State
Ball Control
Standing at +8 in turnover margin, WSU ranks fourth nationally in a category that is all too critical in football. With myriad issues at quarterback and in the run game, the Sun Devils cannot afford giving free opportunities to the dangerous Cougar offense.
Familiar Faces
· Washington State CB Treshon Broughton, LB Greg Hoyd III and S Kameron Powell attended Murrieta (Calif.) Vista Murrieta High School as did ASU’s Coltin Gerhart
· Washington State QB Tyler Hilinski and WR Grant Porter attended Upland (Calif.) High School, as did ASU DB James Johnson
· Washington State CB Darrien Molton attended Temecula (Calif.) Chaparral High School as did ASU LB Malik Lawal and OL Mason Walter
· Washington State CB Marcellus Pippins attended El Cerrito (Calif.) High School, as did ASU LB D.J. Calhoun and WR Jalen Harvey
· Washington State DB Robert Taylor and ASU DL Jordan Hoyt both previous played at UC-Davis
· Washington State RB Gerard Wicks attended Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High School, as did ASU LB Salamo Fiso and DL JoJo Wicker
