Michigan State Football: Meet the Spartans’ Week 2 opponent, Arizona State
By Stephen Robb
Michigan State football travels to Tempe, Ariz., to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils Saturday night. Who are the Sun Devils?
“You play to win the game,” new Arizona State coach Herm Edwards once famously said. Come late Saturday night, Michigan State will have its hands full with these Sun Devils.
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Arizona State looked the part of an elite team against a UTSA squad that was a bowl team a year ago beating them 49-7. However, UTSA had troubling tackling in space and on one play, I counted six missed tackles by the Road Runners.
Nevertheless, ASU has skill players at key positions and they can make people miss. Their offense seemed similar to Utah State’s. They spread you out in the shotgun with four wide receiver sets and their senior quarterback Many Wilkins is a surgeon of a gunslinger. He is patient and will pick a team apart in the secondary. He did not run much but he also did not have to against UTSA.
N’Keal Harry is their big-time wide receiver at 6-foot-4 and he had six catches for 140 yards with a long of 58 yards. Michigan State cornerback Justin Layne will most likely be on him given his length.
Arizona State running back is Eno Benjamin and he rushed 16 times for 131 yards. UTSA was able to put them into third down situations and time after time ASU just converted. They have much firepower.
The Sun Devils play a 3-3-5 defense. That means three down linemen, three linebackers, and five defensive backs. It is a great defense for the pass-happy Pac-12. Former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez made that defense famous. Teams will play this defense if they don’t have big guys and more speed. Often, ASU brought the speed off the edges on third downs. They will watch the USU film and do the same against the Spartans.
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An interesting fact is that the Big Ten is 0-9 when playing in Tempe. This is a dangerous game for MSU. The game is late and if the Spartans attempt to sleepwalk through this then they will find themselves on the losing end. I anticipate this being a shootout type game. It is going to be a wild one.