THE GAME - Sun Devil Football will have two games on the road with a chance to lock up the Pac-12 South title beginning this week at Oregon on Saturday, Nov. 17. The contest against the Ducks will kickoff at 8:30 p.m. Arizona time (7:30 p.m. in Oregon) and will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. Roxy Bernstein will be on the call alongside analyst Anthony Herron and field reporter Lewis Johnson. The game will be broadcast over the airwaves on ESPN 620 AM with the Voice of the Sun Devils, Tim Healey, on the call alongside analyst Jeff Van Raaphorst and sideline reporter Jordan Simone
ASU VS. OREGON - Oregon leads the all-time series against ASU, 19-17, due in large parge to the Ducks gaining the upper hand in 10 straight games prior to last season's upset win for the Devils at Sun Devil Stadium. The Sun Devils have not defeated Oregon in the last four trips to Eugene.
Sun Devil Athletics has set a new all-time high 88 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for its student-athletes.
— Arizona State Sun Devils (@TheSunDevils) November 14, 2018
More: https://t.co/VlfVuacyu1
PAC-12 SOUTH SCENARIOS - ASU currently controls its own destiny in the Pac-12 South race. If the Sun Devils win at Oregon Saturday and then defeat Arizona, they will be the Pac-12 South's representative in the conference's title game on Nov. 30 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. If Colorado beats Utah this weekend, Arizona would control its own destiny as well, meaning that if the Wildcats were to defeat Washington State and then ASU, they would be the Pac-12 South champions. Utah needs to beat Colorado and have ASU fall to either Arizona or Oregon to take the division. USC is 4-4 in the conference with just one conference game remaining (Saturday at UCLA), but can't win the division because of its head-to-head loss to Utah. There is a scenario where Utah, USC, ASU and Arizona could all wrap up Pac-12 play with 5-4 records and end the regular season in a four-way tie in the South. The Sun Devils would earn the Pac-12 Championship Game berth in that situation if they beat Arizona. Utah would be the South champion if the Sun Devils lose to the Wildcats.
AN ASU VICTORY WOULD...
- Give ASU four straight wins for the first time since opening the 2016 season at 4-0.
- Give ASU two consecutive road wins for the first time since 2014 (at USC and at Washington).
- Guarantee that ASU will at least play for a shot at playing for a spot at the Pac-12 Championship when it takes on Arizona in the finale.
- Give ASU 7 wins in a season for the 5th time in the last 7 seasons.
- Give ASU 2 straight wins over Oregon after losing 10 straight to the Ducks prior.
- Give ASU its first win at Autzen Stadium since a 28-13 victory in Eugene in 2004.
MILESTONE COUNTDOWNS
- 771 passing yards needed for Manny Wilkins to move into 2nd in program history (8,819, currently at 8,048).
- 779 passing yards needed for Wilkins to move into 3rd in program history (8,827, currently at 8,048)
- 138 receiving yards needed for N'Keal Harry to move into 3rd in ASU history (2,867, currently at 2,729).
- 265 receiving yards needed for Harry to move into 2nd in ASU history (2,993, currently at 2,229).
- 2 receiving touchdowns needed for Harry to move into 4th in ASU history (24, currently at 22).
- 3 receiving touchdowns needed for Harry to move into 3rd in ASU history (25, currently at 22).
- 18 rushing yards needed for Eno Benjamin to move into the Top-Five in ASU single season history (1,313, currently at 1,295).
- 270 rushing yards needed for Benjamin to set the all-time single season school record for the Sun Devils.
- 2 rushing touchdowns needed for Benjamin to move into the Top-7 in single-season history (14, currently at 12).
- 3 rushing touchdowns needed for Benjamin to move into the Top-6 in single-season history (15, currently at 12).
#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)
1. Eno Benjamin ranks 7th among Power-Five running backs with that 81.4 score, though he only had 23 career rushes prior to this season. No players in PFF's current Top-10 Power Five running backs had fewer than 100 touches last season.
2. N'Keal Harry ranks in the Top-30 nationally in receiving touchdowns (9/9th), receiving yards (928/17th), receiving yards per game (92.8/17th), receptions per game (6.2/25th) and total touchdowns (11/28th).
3. Arizona State holds the FBS active streak for consecutive games scoring more than 7 points, currently doing so in 131 straight games
4. No ASU running back has lost a fumble (or even put the ball on the ground) in 822 consecutive carries, dating back to the 2016 season - a streak of 29 consecutive games.
5. The Devils are 15th nationally if Offensive First Down rate (drives that result in at least a single first down) with 79.4 percent of its drives resulting in at least one first down.
6. No true or redshirt freshman on a Power Five Team has more defensive stops (as graded by Pro Football Focus) than Merlin Robertson (30), while Butler is right behind him in third among freshmen with 28.
7. The Sun Devil defense causes havoc (tackles for loss, fumbles forced or passed defended/intercepted) 18.6 percent of the time - good for 25th nationally - and 2.5 points over the nation average.
8. ASU hasn't finished in Top-100 in fewest sacks allowed per game since 2011 (74th). In fact, since 2003 (as far back as easily accessible team rankings go), ASU has finished in the top-100 just 3 times, and never better than 70th. ASU is currently t-13th in FBS with 1.10 allowed per game.
9. The Sun Devils are forcing opponents into the third-best starting field position nationally, with teams starting on average at their own 24.3 yard line.
10. ASU is currently 18th nationally and first in the Pac-12 in averaging 7.5 tackles for loss per game this season. ASU was 50th a year ago in the category, averaging just over 6 tackles for loss per game.
BY THE NUMBERS
822 - No ASU running back has lost a fumble (or even put the ball on the ground) in 822 consecutive carries, dating back to the 2016 season - a streak of 29 consecutive games. That includes 247 running back carries this season (NOTE: this stat includes only RBs on rushing plays and does not include receptions). The fumble that ended the streak occurred on a direct snap play to a running back. If only conventional running plays were included, the streak of carries without losing a fumble is 1,161 carries over 42 games (since 2015).
131 - Arizona State holds the FBS active streak for consecutive games scoring more than 7 points, currently doing so in 131 straight games. The Sun Devils last scored a touchdown or less when they were shutout, 28-0, against eighth-ranked USC in the 2008 season. They have scored 30 or more points in 74 of those games (56.4 percent). The Sun Devils have scored at least 30 points in each of their victories during the current three-game winning streak. ASU is 5-0 this year when scoring 30 or more points.
1K - At 1,295 rushing yards this year, Eno Benjamin has his eyes on the Sun Devil school record of 1,565 yards - set by Woody Green in 1972. In the Pac-12 era, no ASU running back has finished in the Top-10 nationally in single-season rushing yards. Benjamin is currently 3rd nationally with his currently clip and 8th nationally with 12 rushing touchdowns. .Eno Benjamin ranks first among Pac-12 running backs with an overall grade of 81.4 according to Pro Football Focus, nearly 5 points high than the next closest tailback. It is the 11th-highest grade among all Pac-12 offensive players, regardless of position.
35 - N'Keal Harry has a reception in all 35 games of his career at Arizona State, tied for the 10th-longest active streak among active FBS players. Harry is 3rd place in program history with 202 receptions. Harry is currently 4th in school history with 2,729 career receiving yards. With 22 career receiving touchdowns, Harry is tied for 5th in ASU school history in that category as well. Harry posts an 85.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, the 5th-highest graded WR nationally and the third-highest graded offensive player in the Pac-12 – regardless of position. He ranks in the Top-30 nationally in receiving TDs (9/9th), receiving yards (928/17th), receiving ypg (92.8/17th).
30 - Among all true or redshirt freshmen playing for Power Five teams in the country, none have more defensive stops (as graded by Pro Football Focus) than Merlin Robertson (30), while Darien Butler is right behind him in third among freshmen with 28. The duo ranks 17th and 20th overall in the Pac-12, regardless of year in school.Sun Devil freshmen (true or redshirt) have combined for 2,484 play snaps on defense this season with at least three games left to play. Comparatively, freshmen combined for just 918 total snaps played in 2017 and 1,035 in 2016. Sun Devil freshmen (true or redshirt) have accounted for 312.6 percent of all of ASU's tackles this season (211 of 647).
0 - Cohl Cabral is one of just 18 Power Five centers to not allow a sack on the year and is the 26th-highest graded center as a pass blocker in all of the FBS according to Pro Football Focus (81.1) and 2nd-highest graded center in the Pac-12 (69.8) Quinn Bailey is one of just 17 offensive tackles (that's played at least 50 percent of a team's snaps) on a Power Five team to not allow a quarterback sack this season. Bailey's 9 pressures allowed are tied for 4th-fewest among Pac-12 tackles and 14th-fewest among Power Five tackles.