The ASU football team is saying all the right things.
Colorado isn’t a team to look past. The team will take one game at a time. Nobody is looking ahead to the Pac-12 title game.
But when the No. 21 Sun Devils (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12) take the field Saturday for a homecoming matchup with the bottom-feeding Buffaloes (1-7, 0-4 Pac-12), they’ll be an overwhelming favorite. A 31-point favorite, to be exact.
“They are going to come in fired up and ready to play,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “For us, it’s a game that we have to focus on because they have some explosiveness. You better play your rear end off or else you’re not going to win.”
There isn’t just one aspect that Colorado has struggled with in 2011. It’s been everything. The Buffaloes rank dead last in the Pac-12 in both scoring offense and scoring defense. In fact, in all but one team category, Colorado is ranked ninth or lower in the conference.
On top of the mounting failures is a long list of injuries to key contributors to both sides of the ball. The most devastating of which happened when senior running back Rodney Stewart went down with a sprained knee.
“They are a football program that has some injury issues but still has some players,” Erickson said. “Obviously in this league a lot of things can happen. You can play well and then get on a bad streak.”
While Stewart will definitely not play Saturday in Tempe, Colorado’s senior quarterback Tyler Hansen is questionable after suffering a concussion last week.
“It’s a similar situation to when we played Utah,” ASU senior defensive tackle Bo Moos said. “You just have to follow the game plan and execute. If something happens, then you adjust.”
Pac-12 quarterbacks have picked the embattled Buffaloes’ defense apart, but it will throw some new schemes at ASU.
“They do a few things we haven’t seen as far as coverage goes,” ASU junior quarterback Brock Osweiler said. “We have to study a lot of tape and be prepared. I see them being a pretty athletic defense and they are very assignment sound.”
CU does boast the fourth-best pass defense in the conference, so a rejuvenated Sun Devil running game will be a focal point Saturday. ASU junior running back Cameron Marshall is feeling better after playing through an ankle injury all season. He leads the Pac-12 with nine rushing touchdowns in 2011.
When ASU does take to the air though, Osweiler will be ready with continually growing confidence.
“When I talked to you guys before the season I said game experience was the one thing that can’t be traded for,” he said. “Everything now is slowing down. It’s been noticeable. I can recognize blitzes and coverages and hopefully that continues.”
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
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