This Saturday, ASU’s football team (3-3, 1-2 Pac-10) travels to Berkeley, Calif. to take on the California Golden Bears (3-3, 1-2 Pac-10). ASU will be coming off a bye week. In their last game, they beat Washington 24-14 in night game that featured constant rain. Perhaps Sparky should do some rain dancing in Berkeley to recapture some of the magic from last game. He may not need to, as the National Weather Service predicted a 60 percent chance of rain for the Berkeley area this Saturday.
California will be looking to continue their dominance at home as they were blown out 48-14 at USC last Saturday. “They’re a good football team,” head coach Dennis Erickson said in his weekly press conference. “What you saw on last Saturday against USC you won’t see this Saturday against us.”
So far this season, the Golden Bears have defeated their three visiting opponents by a combined score of 139-17. However, they have failed to win a game on the road this season. Former Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast is in his first season as the defensive coordinator for the Golden Bears. He has been a defensive coordinator for the last six years in the NFL. Pendergast has done a tremendous job with California so far as their defense against the pass is ranked second in the Pac-10 (average of 189.2 yards per game) and their defense against the run ranks third in the Pac-10 (average of 123.5 yards per game) just behind ASU (average of 122.7 yards per game).
“You don’t coach in the NFL as long as [Pendergast] has with out being good on defense,” Erickson said. “They led the country in defense until the last football game. They’re very physical against the run.”
ASU did a good job of controlling the amount of penalties and turnovers in their last game against Washington. They’re going to have to continue that trend if they want the wins to keep coming. Despite their impressive win in Washington, the Sun Devils still have the most penalty yards (average of 76.2 per game), second-most amount of penalties(50, seven less than USC), most turnovers (seven) and rank last in turnover margin in the Pac-10 (-7). On paper, this looks to be an even matchup between two strong defensive teams that are tied for seventh place in the Pac-10. However, California has looked their strongest at home so ASU has a tough game ahead of them. The winner will keep their bowl hopes alive. The Sun Devils will be well rested coming off their bye week and they’re going to need all their energy to come away with a victory in Berkeley this Saturday.
