THE GAME - Sun Devil Football heads to the Bay Area this weekend to square off against the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday, Sept. 30 in Stanford, Calif. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. AZT kickoff and will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network.
AN ASU VICTORY WOULD...
- Give ASU consecutive wins over Stanford for the first time since winning three straight from 2006- 08.
- Give the Devils consecutive wins in Pac-12 games for the first time since beating Washington and Arizona back-to-back in 2015.
- Mark the first time the Sun Devils have started 2-0 in Pac-12 action since the 2012 season when it started 3-0.
- Improve ASU to 18-13 all-time against the Cardinal and to 7-8 when playing at Stanford.
- Be the first time that ASU has defeated both Stanford and Oregon in the same season since the 2004 campaign.
#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)
- With Jalen Harvey's 133 yards vs. UO, ASU has 5 players w/ 100+ receiving in a game in 4 gms. Had never had 5 players do so in a WHOLE SEASON prior.
- .@FootballASU is the only team in the country with 5 different players with 100+ receiving yards in a game. 2 other teams with 4. 6 with 3.
- D.J. Calhoun is one of just 12 ILBs in the Pac-12 to not miss a tackle this season despite playing the second-most snaps
- The Sun Devils have scored 71.0 percent of the time following an opponent turnover since 2012 (93 of 131) w/ 72 TDs (55.0 percent).
- .@FootballASU and Ohio State are only teams in country with three defensive linemen with 10+ QB pressures (Latu 13, Wicker/Smallwood 12).
- After having just 1.5 TFL and no sacks in his career entering '17, @Aj_latu44 already has 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks this season.
- .@BrandonRRuiz is fourth nationally in touchback percentage (84.61%). His 22 touchbacks are 5th in nation and 9 more than closest freshman.
- .@MannyWilkins5 (16-17) now holds the ASU school record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception at 188
- 15 of Jalen Harvey's 16 catches this season have been for a first down and 34 of his 41 career catches (82.9%) have moved the chains as well
- .@dj_calhoun is 1 of just 2 inside linebackers in the Pac-12 to not miss a tackle this season despite playing more snaps than any other ILB.
THE CARDINAL
- ASU leads the all-time series against Stanford, 17-13, though it is 6-8 in games played at Stanford Stadium. Stanford is winners of four of the last five games between the two programs with the Sun Devils having last won a game against the Cardinal in Stanford in 2007.
- Stanford is 2-2 to start the 2017 season and coming off a 58-34 victory over UCLA in the Cardinal's home opener this past weekend. Through four games, junior running back Bryce Love has 787 yards rushing on 73 attempts. In the past 20 years, only LSU's Leonard Fournette (864 yards on 99 attempts) and Northern Illinois' Garrett Wolfe (828 yards on 96 attempts) had more.
THE PAC-12
- ASU is looking to move to 2-0 to start Pac-12 action for the first time since the 2012 season, when it started 3-0 in conference action. With a victory, it would mark the first time the Sun Devils have defeated both Stanford and Oregon in a single season since the 2004 campaign. ASU is 16-22-1 all-time in their first Pac-12 road game of a season and 3-2 in such games under Todd Graham.
- Since 2012, ASU has won at least one Pac-12 game in California in four of five seasons, with wins over #7 UCLA (2015), USC (#JaelMary in 2014), #14 UCLA (clinched Pac- 12 South) and California (first Pac-12 road game in 2012). Prior to the California win on Sept. 29, 2012, ASU had lost seven straight Pac-12 games in California and was 3-23 from 1998-2011.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
- Heading into Week 4, Oregon was the only team in the country to have scored at least 42 points in the first half of every game. The Sun Devils limited the Ducks to just 14 first half points in the contest en route to a 17-14 first-half lead
- In the first three games of the season, the Sun Devils had 20 third down stops all season with opponents putting up a gaudy 23-of-43 (53.4 percent) third down conversions. ASU was able to reel things in against the Ducks, holding Oregon to just 1-of-11 on third down this past weekend with the 10 third-down stops representing half of the team's season tally entering the contest.
- D.J. Calhoun is one of just two inside linebackers in the Pac-12 this season to not miss a single tackle, despite playing more snaps than any other inside linebacker in the league (288).
- ASU and Ohio State are the only teams in the country who have three defensive linemen with double digit pressures this season with the trios 37 total pressure ranking just behind Ohio State's total of 30.
- The Sun Devils have had 5 different receivers with 100+ yards in just four games this season, a total it had never reached in an entire season prior to this year. That total currently leads the nation with just one other teams has four players reach the milestone and only eight who have had three players reach the mark.
STRIKE FIRST
- Arizona State has scored first in 46 of the 69 games with Todd Graham at the helm and is 34-12 when doing so.
- The Devils are 2-1 this season when scoring first (wins vs. NMSU, ORE).
STRIKE FAST
- 269 of the Devils' 388 scoring drives since 2012 have come in three minutes or less (69.3 percent) though ASU has been content with more methodic drives in 2017 with just 10 of 22 doing so (45.5 percent)
- Two of ASU's four scoring drives against NMSU came in under 30 seconds - marking the first time ASU had two scoring drives of 50+ yards occur in less than 30 seconds since the 2014 USC game. ASU had four scoring drives under two minutes against Oregon after having just two in the season to that game.
GETTING STARTED ON THE RIGHT FOOT
- The Sun Devils have outscored their opposition 595-367 in the first quarter under Todd Graham. ASU is currently 14th nationally in scoring 10.2 points per first quarter this season.
- The Sun Devils are 25-4 under Graham when holding their opposition scoreless in the first quarter. ASU has posted an impressive 33-3 overall record under Graham when leading at halftime.
- ASU forced 24 plays against Oregon that resulted in negative or no yardage (16 incomplete passes, 6 tackles for loss, 2 rushes for no gain) of the 65 total plays in the contest (36.9 percent)
- This season, ASU has forced 91 plays resulting in negative or no yardage of 293 total (31.0 percent).
- Under Graham, ASU has forced 1,749 plays that have not resulted in positive yardage out of 4,937 (35.4 percent).
- ASU is currently second in the nation since 2012 with 3.17 sacks per game. Additionally, ASU is first in the Pac-12 and second in the nation (Clemson) with an average of 7.84 TFL per game under Graham (since 2012) and one of five teams in the nation with more than 500 total tackles for loss.
- Last season, the Sun Devils had at least two players who reached double digits in tackles for loss (Koron Crump, JoJo Wicker and DJ Calhoun) for the 5th time since 2012.. ASU has had 17 such occurrences under Graham (2012-p) after having just 17 TOTAL reach the mark in 10 previous seasons (2002-11) with at least two players reaching double digits in the category just six times in that span.
HE'S THE MAN(NY)
- Despite being pressured on 38.4 percent of his dropbacks - the fourth highest total nationally among QBs who drop back at least 50 percent of the time - Manny Wilkins is eighth nationally with a 112.7 QB rating under pressure and third among all QBs with at least 175 dropbacks.
- His three touchdowns under pressure are tied for seventh nationally among all quarterbacks.
- Wilkins has three touchdown passes over 50 yards this season after not having any in his career previously and has at least one 50-yard pass in each game this season. Wilkins has a 124.7 quarterback rating on deep passes (passes of more than 20 yards), good for first in the Pac-12 and fifth nationally.
- Since his first quarter interception at Arizona last year, Wilkins is 127- of-188 (67.6 percent) with 1,605 yards, 11 touchdowns, no interceptions with a 158.57 passing efficiency in that time . Wilkins has thrown for 300 or more yards in five of his last seven games, and had 298 in one of those.
- Wilkins now holds the school record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception at 188 dating back to last season, matching Rudy Carpenter's school record from the end of 2005 to 2006
- He is one of just four players nationally with over 100 attempts this season without an interception (142), behind only NC state's Ryan Finley (157).
- The Sun Devils rushed for 27 touchdowns last season after having 19 in the entirety of 2015. The 26 touchdowns were good for 43rd among all FBS teams.
- ASU has nine rushing TDs this year (32nd in FBS). ASU has reached 25 rushing touchdowns three times under Graham in five seasons. That total is notable as the Devils had just three previous seasons with at least 25 rushing touchdowns from 1980-2011 (1985, 1986 and 1996).
- After having just two five-rushing touchdown games in nine previous seasons, the Sun Devils did it in back-to-back games to open the 2016 season, marking the fifth and sixth times in the Graham era that ASU had gone over five rushing touchdowns in a game. The Devils had three such games TOTAL from 1997-2011.
- Yards after contact have been a been impressive in recent years with the likes of Demario Richard, Kalen Ballage and Nick Ralston. 236 of ASU's total 433 rushing yards this season have come after contact (54.5 percent) with Ballage accounting for 140 of those (2.30 yac per rush).
- ASU is one of just 17 schools remaining with a perfect red zone scoring percentage so far (14-of-14) and currently sits 10th nationally in red zone touchdown scoring with 12 touchdowns on those 14 attempts (85.71).
- The Sun Devils scored on 43-of-47 trips to the red zone in 2016 (91.5 percent), a total that ranked 10th in the nation. ASU scored a touchdown on 33 of those trips (70.2 percent). That percentage was ranked 22nd nationally and notable as ASU found the end zone on just 51.5 percent of its red zone trips in 2015 - a total that ranked 108th in the country.
- Demario Richard is currently 12th in Sun Devil history with 2,288 career rushing yards and needs 41 yards to move into the all-time Top 10.
- Richard now has nine 100-yard rushing games in his career, three shy of cracking the ASU top-five in the category.
- Of Richard's 1,697 rushing yards as a sophomore and junior, 780 came after first contact (46.0 percent/2.1 yards per touch).
- In 2015, Richard became the fourth Sun Devil in history to have at least seven 100-yard rushing games in a single season, joining Freddy Williams and Art Malone (8) and Woody Green (7, 2 times).
- Kalen Ballage had 14 rushing touchdowns last season, making him just the fourth Sun Devil since 2000 to reach double digits and moved him into a tie for the seventh most single season rushing touchdowns in ASU history. He finished 26th in the nation in rushing touchdowns (14) and 34th among all position players with 94 total points scored.
- Ballage has four rushing touchdowns this season, good for 17th nationally and now has 25 in his career, creeping up on ASU's all-time Top-5 in the category (the threshold being 28 rushing TDs).
- He has averaged a touchdown rush every 13.68 times he has carried the rock in his career.
- Ballage returns with the highest receiving grade among all returning Power Five running backs in the country with 84.4 according to Pro Football Focus.
- The Sun Devils have held 24 opponents under 100 rushing yards in the Todd Graham era (68 games/35.3 percent), including four of 12 games last year and once so far in 2017.
- Last year, ASU held three straight opponents under 100 rushing yards for the third time under Graham (2013, 2015, 2016). The Devils had limited opponents to under 100 rushing yards in three straight games in just five previous seasons dating back to 1986.
- ASU is ranked second in the Pac-12 and 13th in the nation at 36.6 points per game in the Graham era.
- ASU has outscored opponents 560-301 in points off takeaways since 2012 and 24-17 this year. ASU has three takeaways this season and has scored touchdowns on all three of them.
- Since 2012, ASU has scored 71.2 percent of the time following an opponent turnover since 2012 (94 of 132) w/ 72 TDs (54.5 percent)
- Conversely, opponents have scored just 52.6 percent of the time following an ASU turnover since 2012 (51 of 97) w/ 39 TDs (40.2 percent).
- The Sun Devils have forced 132 turnovers under Todd Graham, which is tied for the 11th-highest total in the country in that span.
- ASU has 15 interception returns for touchdowns under Graham, compared to posting just four total in the three previous seasons prior to 2012. The total is second in the FBS behind only Ohio State in that time (16). ASU has added four fumble return touchdowns as well for 19 defensive touchdowns since the 2012 season, good for fourth in the country in that time span behind Ohio State (24), Alabama (21) and Boise State (20).
- ASU is ranked eighth in the nation with a .49 average turnover margin per game since Graham took over the helm and is 10th in the nation with a plus-34 total turnover margin since 2012.
- The Devils are third in the Pac-12 and tied for 10th in the nation with 82 total interceptions in that span.
- Since 2012, ASU has an average starting yard line of its own 34.4 in 41 victories compared to 25.7 for their opponents in such contests.
- Conversely, opponents have an average starting field position of their own 32.0 yard line compared to ASU starting at its own 28.5 in ASU's 28 losses under Graham.
- ASU has outscored other teams 710-564 in the fourth quarter and overtime under Todd Graham (10.3 points per fourth quarter and OT/+2.2 points per game) and averaged 12.8 points per fourth quarter last season (outscoring opponents 155-125).
- Excluding FCS NAU, the Sun Devils finished 2016 seventh nationally in averaging 19.6 points per second half against FBS opposition and second in the country with 11.9 points per fourth quarter against FBS teams.
- The Sun Devils are currently ranked 22nd nationally in second half points per game at 19.2.
- Todd Graham has 10 Pac-12 road victories under his belt already, the second-most among all ASU coaches since 1980 behind only Bruce Snyder's 18 from 1992-2000. Graham is 10-12 in Pac-12 road games at ASU, notable as the Devils were 5-13 in four seasons prior.
- The Sun Devils are 4-4 in Pac-12 games in the State of California since 2012 after going just 3-23 from 1998-2011.
- The Sun Devils have a classification of "explosive plays" that equal a run of 12 or more yards or a passing play of 16 or more yards. ASU had 10 such plays against Oregon and 39 total this season.
- The Devils are tied for first nationally with six passing plays of over 50 yards this season. It had one in all of 2016. ASU is sixth nationally with six plays over 50 yards this year after having just two total last season.
- ASU had two 50+ yard scoring passes in the opener, something it had not achieved since the Jael Mary game against USC in 2014. They were the first two 50+ yard scoring passes of Manny Wilkins' career.
- ASU has averaged just 37.25 penalty yards per game since 2012, good for the fourth-lowest total in the country behind only Navy (24.4), Army (36.7) and Georgia Tech (37.1)
- Since Todd Graham arrived at Arizona State, the Sun Devils have had just 307 penalties in 69 games (4.45 penalties per game).
- ASU is 20th nationally with 40.50 penalty yards per game this season.
- ASU is 27-9 at Sun Devil Stadium since Todd Graham took over in the 2012 season. The 27 wins is tied with Bruce Snyder for the second-most home wins under any Sun Devil head coach behind Frank Kush
- In 36 regular season home games under Todd Graham, the Sun Devils have averaged 39.1 points per game. Against non-conference Power Five teams, ASU is averaging 50.0 points per game at home under Graham.
- The Sun Devils join Baylor and Oregon as the only schools in the country to be ranked in the Top-40 in home points per game in EACH of the previous five seasons.
- ASU has posted under 20 points in a regular home game just twice in Todd Graham's tenure - a 19-16 overtime victory over Utah in 2014 and a 42-14 loss to #19 USC in 2015.
- The Sun Devils are 284-104-3 (.730) all-time at Sun Devil Stadium since 1958, the 28th-highest active winning percentage in a stadium among all FBS schools.
- Since the start of the 2012 season, ASU has used 70 timeouts on defense in third down situations, and have not allowed a first down on the ensuing play and/or forced a turnover on 49 of those occasions (70.0 percent).
- ASU has now gone 11-7 in games decided by a touchdown or less since the 2012 Arizona comeback in Tucson. ASU had gone 6-16 in such games since the 2007 season up until that moment. The Devils are 2-1 in games decided by a touchdown or less this season.
- ASU is now 13-3 under Todd Graham in games where it does not have a turnover after the NMSU victory this season.
- In 2014, the Sun Devils had six games where they did not turn the ball over and went 6-0 in those contests. That number was notable because in the previous two seasons, ASU had just five combined games where it did not turn the ball over.
- ASU earned its first victory in a game in turned the ball over three times against UTSA last year after going 0-6 in the Todd Graham era prior.
- The Sun Devils have gone 9-8 in the last 17 games against ranked teams.
- In four seasons at the helm, Todd Graham is 9-11 against AP-ranked opponents after defeating Oregon this season.
- Graham has more than doubled the Top-25 win total of Dennis Erickson (3) and Dirk Koetter (2) during their tenures.
- In the previous 14 seasons, ASU was 5-40 in games against teams ranked in the AP poll.
- Possessing deceptive speed and elusiveness, N'Keal Harry has 196 yards after the catch this season on 436 yards (45.0 percent) and is averaging 6.3 yards after catch per reception this season.
- Harry has proved himself as a valuable possession receiver as well and has 31 receptions on 42 targets this season. The 42 targets are third in the Pac-12 this season, as are his 31 catches.
- Harry is third in the Pac-12 and 10th nationally with a 130.7 wide receiver rating this season. He has 20 catches for 318 yards in his last two games, setting career highs for receiving yards in consecutive games and has had over 100 receiving yards in four of his last six games dating back to last season.
- At 436 yards thus far this season, Harry is already over two-thirds of the way toward surpassing his freshman total of 659 receiving yards.
- Harry has a touchdown in three consecutive games and four of the last five games dating back to last season.
- The sophomore has started every game at Arizona State, now at 16 straight games - tied with Quinn Bailey for most among all offensive players. He has a reception in every one of those games.
- ASU has scored 50 or more points 16 times since Todd Graham arrived in Tempe for the 2012 season.
- To put that in perspective, ASU eclipsed 50 points 10 times total in the previous 10 years before the current coaching regime (2001-11).
- Against Pac-12 opponents, the Sun Devils have scored 50 or more points 10 times under Coach Graham, after only tallying nine in the conference era prior (since 1978).
- ASU went 86 games without scoring 60 from 2005-2011. Under Coach Graham it has scored 60 or more four times ('12-63 NAU, '12-62 Navy, '13-62 USC, '16-68 TTU).
- The Sun Devils have dropped 50 on Arizona twice in the last three years after doing so just three times in 86 previous contests.
- Tashon Smallwood and JoJo Wicker are tied for third nationally among all defensive tackles with 12 quarterback pressures this season while A.J. Latu is tied for 16th among defensive tackles in the country with 13 pressures.
- ASU and Ohio State are the only teams in the country who have three defensive linemen with double digit pressures this season with the trios 37 total pressures ranking just behind Ohio State's total of 40.
- Tashon Smallwood logged a career best 4.0 tackles for loss with two sacks against NMSU, becoming the first Sun Devil to have 4.0+ tackles for loss since Antonio Longino against Arizona in 2015.
- After having just 1.5 tackles for loss and no sacks in his career entering the season, A.J. Latu already has 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks this season.
- Four times in the Todd Graham era has a defensive player had at least 10 sacks in a season. ASU had just two players reach the milestone from 2003-2011.
- For the fifth consecutive season under Todd Graham, the Sun Devils had at least two players that reached double digits in tackles for loss (Koron Crump, JoJo Wicker and DJ Calhoun). ASU has had 17 such occurences under Graham (2012-present) after having just 17 TOTAL players reach the mark in 10 previous seasons (2002-11) with at least two players reaching double digits in the same season just six times in that span.
- The Sun Devils came into the season as one of just three teams in the country that started the year with no kickers OR punters with D-I experience on the roster, along with Virginia and UAB.
- Brandon Ruiz set an ASU record with his 52-yard field goal in the opener, his first career field goal to make him the first Sun Devil to have their first career field goal go for 50 or more yards.
- The true freshman is currently fourth nationally in touchback percentage (84.61 percent) and the only freshman in the country in the top-19 in the category. He is second in the Pac-12 and fifth nationally with 22 total touchbacks - nine more than the next closest freshman.
- Against #24 Oregon, he was 3-for-3 with a game-winning 41-yard field goal while also kicking a successful onside kick en route to earning Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
- Michael Sleep-Dalton is one of just nine punters nationally without a touchback and has at least one 50 yard punt in three of his four games this season.
- The team is replacing unanimous All-American and 2017 Lou Groza Award winner Zane Gonzalez at the placekicking position in addition to two-time Ray Guy Award watchlist punter Matt Haack.
- 34 of Jalen Harvey's 41 career catches (82.9 percent) have gone for a first down (15 of his 16 catches this season) while he has averaged 16.8 yards per catch average in career and 47 yards per catch on two career touchdown receptions.
- Kyle Williams, Harry and Harvey are each ranked in the Pac-12's top nine highest rated receivers - the only school with three players in the category.
- ASU currently has the 24th-highest grading receiving corps in the country, according to PFF.
- John Humphrey introduced himself to the Sun Devil nation in a big way in the opener, catching seven passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. The debut is the second best for a first collegiate game in Sun Devil history, trailing only Calvin Demery's 1969 school record of 201 yards in his first game.
- The Sun Devils have had 5 different receivers with 100+ yards in just four games this season, a total it had never reached in an entire season prior to this year. That total currently leads the nation with just one other teams has four players reach the milestone and only eight who have had three players reach the mark.
- Only six times in school history has ASU had four different players with at least 100 receiving yards in a game in a single season (2004, 2005, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017) - notable as four of the six times in history it has happened have come since 2012 when Todd Graham arrived.
- D.J. Calhoun is one of just two inside linebackers in the Pac-12 this season to not miss a single tackle, despite playing more snaps than any other inside linebacker in the league (288).
- In fact, of all players in the Pac-12 - regardless of position - that have played at least 50 percent of the defensive snaps this season, Calhoun is one of just 21 that have not missed a tackle on the year.
- Calhoun leads all Pac-12 inside linebackers with 11 combined tackles in the passing game this season and is fourth in the league with 21 tackles in the rushing game.
- Calhoun is second in the conference with 9.8 tackles per game and has double digit tackles in two out of four games this season. He is tied for 30th nationally in averaging 5.8 solo tackles per game.
- Christian Sam is currently ranked third in the nation and first in the Pac-12 with 7.3 solo tackles per game.
- He is 31st nationally and third in the conference in averaging 9.3 tackles per game.
- He is ranked seventh in the Pac-12 among inside linebackers with a 10.8 percent run-stop advantage.