Homecoming in Tempe could get ugly — fast.
With two of the most turnover prone teams in the country matching up, Saturday’s game might be decided on mistakes, rather than positive plays.
“The last two weeks we’ve lost the [turnover margin] by two or three,” Washington State coach Paul Wulff said. “Very few teams are good enough to overcome that and win games and we clearly are not at that level.”
ASU and visiting WSU are tied for No. 106 in the country with 17 turnovers committed apiece.
“We’ve got to win that battle,” Wulff said. “I don’t know if [finishing] even is going to be enough. We may have to get to plus-two to have a shot to win this game.”
The Cougars (1-7, 0-5 Pac-10) are riding a six game losing streak and haven’t beaten a FBS team since Southern Methodist Sept. 19 of last season.
“We are going to have to make some big plays,” Wulff said. “The statistics for [ASU] on defense [are] a little misleading. If you watch their film, they are the most physical defensive line we have faced, period.”
Only Rutgers has allowed more sacks than WSU, which ranks No. 119 in the country, giving up just under four per game.
“If [the ASU defense] hasn’t gotten sacks they have gotten to and hit the quarterback a lot,” Wulff said. “So they provide a tremendous amount of pressure, but because of the turnovers they’ve had on offense it at times puts them in some tough situations.”
Despite the Sun Devils’ (3-4, 1-3) lackadaisical performance against California last week, Wulff said ASU is still capable of beating any team in the conference.
“I see the difference between Arizona State and the teams we’ve been playing as three or four plays different,” Wulff said. “They played Oregon really tough and that’s the one common opponent [we have]. But we’re three or four plays away as well so the difference in the top and bottom of this league right now is not very much and it’s at a very high level.”
On offense, the Cougars are led by two young stars-in-the-making.
Sophomore quarterback Jeff Tuel has thrown for 2,033 yards this season, completing nearly 60 percent of his passes for 14 touchdowns.
His clear favorite target is true freshman wide receiver Marquess Wilson, who caught six passes for 150 yards and a touchdown last week against Stanford.
“He’s got a quarterback that can get him the ball and he’s a special talent, I knew that when we signed him,” Wulff said. “I didn’t know he’d be mentally mature enough to perform at this level yet but he’s been my surprise.”
Wilson leads the Pac-10 with 99.5 yards receiving per game.
“He’s done some great things and I hope he breaks some records because that would mean we have some good games coming,” Wulff said. “There are a lot of bright things coming for him.”
A family affair
Redshirt junior defensive lineman Bo Moos will have his mom cheering for him to win Saturday.
His dad? Not so much.
Moos’ father, Bill, is currently the athletic director for WSU.
“I’m very proud of him, he’s playing very well this year and has worked hard to get the playing time that he has gotten,” Bill Moos said. “Our coaches that have watched him on tape this week have been impressed; they’ve been impressed with the entire Sun Devil defense.
“We’ll definitely have our work cut out for us but in the end I hope Bo has a great game but that the Cougars come home with the win.”
Bo Moos got his first start for ASU Sept. 11 against NAU.
“We definitely looked at him [when I was coaching at] Eastern Washington,” Wulff said. “But it got to the point where we weren’t going to get him as an athlete so we didn’t really pursue him. He’s a big physical tough guy at defensive tackle and you can never have enough of those guys.”
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
