Redshirt junior wide receiver Jaelen Strong runs the ball during a play against Weber State on Aug. 28 at Sun Devil Stadium. (Photo by Andrew Ybanez)ASU hits the road for its first away game of the 2014 season when it heads to Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday to face the New Mexico Lobos. While the road presents its own challenges, let's take a look at what the Lobos bring to the table.
Offense
This is where the Lobos hope to trip you up. They run a triple-option offense that isn't seen much in college football. The offense took a hit when starting quarterback junior Cole Gautsche was ruled out of Saturday's game after suffering a hamstring injury in New Mexico's 31-24 loss last week to UTEP. Gautsche ran for 184 yards on 14 carries in Week 1, but he'll be replaced by a man who rushed for negative yards against UTEP: senior Clayton Mitchem. Despite playing just the fourth quarter, versus Gautsche's first three, Mitchem threw just one less time (four vs. five) and for five less yards (31 vs. 36).
The Lobos ran 61 plays against UTEP, and 52 of them were run plays. When Mitchem was in the game, however, that ratio drops to 17 total plays and 12 runs. The biggest difference is who will be running the ball. Gautsche led the team in carries with 14. With him out, the large majority of the carries went to a mix of running backs.
The three players ASU coach Todd Graham said he's looking out for are "No. 6, No. 7 and No. 24." In other words, redshirt junior running back Jhurell Pressley, sophomore running back Teriyon Gipson and junior receiver Carlos Wiggins. Those three combined for 226 of New Mexico's 477 total yards against UTEP (Gautsche added another 220, himself).
Defense
While the New Mexico offense has the potential to cause trouble, the defense is not on the same level. The Lobos gave up 24 first-half points to UTEP and 31 total. The 31 points came on 446 yards, though. The 446 yards could actually be considered an improvement from last season, amazingly, when the Lobos gave up an average of 517 yards per game and 42.8 points on top of that.
Don't expect ASU to struggle offensively against an overmatched New Mexico defense. The front-seven was barely able to get pressure on a UTEP team that won just two games last season, playing in Conference-USA. It also struggled against the run, giving up 331 yards, so it could be a field day for Taylor Kelly and D.J. Foster in the first half, before the second-stringers come in.
See who has the edge at each position here
Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EvanWebeck
