THE GAME - Sun Devil Football returns home from its bye weekend this Saturday to take on #5/#4 Washington in Tempe in the annual Blackout Game at Sun Devil Stadium. The game is scheduled to kick off around 7:45 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on ESPN.
HALL OF FAME GAME - Arizona State University will welcome eight new members to the Sun Devil Athletics Hall of Fame during Saturday's game. Eight student-athletes from seven different varsity sports make up the 2017 Class, including one inductee who was both a student-athlete and assistant coach. Alejandro Canizares (Men's Golf), Amy Hastings-Cragg (Track and Field/Cross Country), Emily Westerberg (Women's Basketball), Aaron Aguayo (Track and Field/Cross Country), Andrew Walter (Football), Jim Newman (Men's Basketball, posthumously), Ron Davini (Baseball) and Adria Engel (Women's Tennis) will be honored at halftime of the Sun Devils-Huskies game at Sun Devil Stadium.
GREEN GAME
Despite it being a Blackout Game this weekend, Sun Devil Athletics and Sun Devil Football will also be hosting the annual #GreenGameASU on Saturday to celebrate Arizona State University's continued recognition as a national leader in sustainability.
THE HUSKIES - ASU leads the all-time series against Washington, 19-15, after the Huskies ended the Sun Devils' 10-game winning streak in the series in Seattle last season.
The Huskies are off to a 6-0 start for the second year in a row, the first time they've started 6-0 in consecutive years since 1991 and 1992. Washington is 21-2 over its last 23 games and hasn't allowed 30 points in a game since the 2015 Heart of Dallas Bowl (a 44-31 win over Southern Miss), a span of 20 games, and notable as ASU has scored 30 or more at home 26 times in 36 home games since the 2012 season.
One of the two teams (or both) has been ranked in 15 of the last 21 meetings, the only exceptions the 1999 game when the Devils went to Husky Stadium and beat Washington, 28-7, and the 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2015 games, all ASU wins.
AN ASU VICTORY WOULD...
- Give ASU its 10th win against a team ranked in the AP Poll since 2012 (currently 9-11), after winning just 5 such games from 1998-2011. 10 wins would be the 5th-highest total for a Pac-12 team since the 2012 season - one behind USC.
- Give the Devils their second victory over a Top 25 team this season (defeated Oregon earlier in the year).
- Improve ASU to .500 or better at the midway point in the season for the ninth consecutive season.
- Be the 11th win in the past 12 contests between the two programs.
- End ASU's two-game losing streak in the first game following a bye weekend.
#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)
1. With Jalen Harvey's 133 yards vs. UO, ASU has 5 players w/ 100+ receiving in a game in 5 gms. Had never had 5 players do so in a WHOLE SEASON prior.
2. .@FootballASU is one of just six schools remaining with a perfect red zone scoring percentage so far (18-of-18).
3. Demario Richard is 9th in Sun Devil history with 2,368 career rushing yards and needs 332 more yards to move into the all-time Top-5 at ASU.
4. The Sun Devils have scored 71.4 percent of the time following an opponent turnover since 2012 (95 of 133) w/ 72 TDs (54.1 percent).
5. .@FootballASU and Ohio State are only teams in country with three defensive linemen with 10+ QB pressures (Latu 13, Wicker/Smallwood 12).
6. 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.
7. .@BrandonRRuiz is fourth nationally in touchback percentage (83.87%) while his 26 total touchbacks are eighth nationally.
8. Jake Browning has thrown multiple interceptions in just four of his 30 regular season games, two of which have come against ASU.
9. 16 of Jalen Harvey's 17 catches this season have been for a first down and 35 of his 42 career catches (83.3%) have moved the chains as well.
10. .@dj_calhoun is 1 of 4 ILBs in the country to not miss a tackle this season. One of just 2 players in FBS with 30+ tackles and none missed.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
- Demario Richard is currently 9th in Sun Devil history with 2,368 career rushing yards and needs 332 more yards to move into the all-time top five at ASU.
- D.J. Calhoun is one of just four inside linebackers in the country this season - and the only Pac-12 ILB - to not miss a single tackle, despite playing more snaps than any other inside linebacker in that group of four (344).
- ASU is one of just six schools remaining with a perfect red zone scoring percentage so far (18-of-18) and currently sits seventh nationally in red zone touchdown scoring with 15 touchdowns on those 18 attempts (83.33).
- The Sun Devils have gone 9-8 in the last 17 games against ranked teams. In his time at ASU, 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.
- UW quarterback Jake Browning has thrown multiple interceptions in a game just four times in 30 career regular season games - two of those coming against ASU (3 in 2015 and 2 last season).
STRIKE FIRST
- Arizona State has scored first in 46 of the 70 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
- 270 of the Devils' 392 scoring drives since 2012 have come in three minutes or less (68.9 percent).
- However, ASU has been content with more methodic drives in 2017 with just 11 of 26 scoring drives coming under three minutes (42.3 percent). ASU had three scoring drives over five minutes against Stanford, notable as the Devils had just four scoring drives total in 2016 that lasted longer than five minutes.
- 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 598-374 in the first quarter under Todd Graham.
- ASU is currently 23rd nationally in scoring 8.8 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.
DON'T CROSS THAT LINE
- ASU forced 17 plays against Stanford that resulted in negative or no yardage (9 incomplete passes, 4 tackles for loss, 4 rushes for no gain) of the 57 total plays in the contest (29.8 percent)
- This season, ASU has forced 108 plays resulting in negative or no yardage of 350 total (31.0 percent).
- Under Graham, ASU has forced 1,766 plays that have not resulted in positive yardage out of 4,994 (35.4 percent).
SERIOUSLY, DON'T CROSS IT
- ASU is currently fourth in the nation since 2012 with 3.12 sacks per game. Additionally, ASU is first in the Pac-12 and second in the nation (Clemson) with an average of 7.78 TFL per game under Graham (since 2012) and one of six 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 occurences 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 MANNY
- Despite being pressured on 38.7 percent of his dropbacks - the fifth-highest total nationally among QBs who drop back at least 50 percent of the time - Manny Wilkins is seventh nationally with a 101.5 NFL QB rating under pressure and third among all QBs with at least 200 dropbacks.
- His three touchdowns under pressure are tied for 14 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 four of his five games this season. Wilkins has a 118.7 NFL quarterback rating on deep passes (passes of more than 20 yards), good for second among all quarterbacks in the Pac-12 and 11th nationally among quarterbacks who drop back at least 50 percent of the time.
- Since his first quarter interception at Arizona last year (over 5 1/2 games), Wilkins is 142-of-212 (67.0 percent) with 1,786 yards, 11 touchdowns, 2 interceptions with a 152.98 passing efficiency in that time
- Wilkins has thrown for 300 or more yards in five of his last eight games, and had 298 in one of those.
- Wilkins broke the school record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception at 192 dating back to last season before his first quarter interception against Stanford, breaking Rudy Carpenter's previous school record of 149 from the end of 2005 to 2006.
GOLD RUSH
- ASU has 11 rushing TDs this year (46th 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 and Kalen Ballage. 301 of ASU's total 647 rushing yards this season have come after contact (46.5 percent) with Ballage accounting for 168 of those (2.41 yac per rush).
GOLD ZONE
- ASU is one of just six schools remaining with a perfect red zone scoring percentage so far (18-of-18) and currently sits seventh nationally in red zone touchdown scoring with 15 touchdowns on those 18 attempts (83.33).
- 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.
SUPER DEMARIO
- Demario Richard is currently 9th in Sun Devil history with 2,368 career rushing yards and needs 332 more yards to move into the all-time top five at ASU.
- Richard now has nine 100-yard rushing games in his career, three shy of cracking the ASU top-five in the category.
- Richard has a touchdown rush in three consecutive games for ASU, the first three-game stretch reaching the feat in his career.
- Richard became the 27th Sun Devil to eclipse 3,000 career all-purpose yards against Stanford and also brought his career touchdown total to 25, needing just five more to move into ASU's all-time top-10.
- 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).
CAME IN LIKE A WRECKING BALLAGE
- 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 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).
- Ballage became the 26th Sun Devil this season to eclipse 3,000 career all-purpose yards and his 27 career touchdowns overall are three shy of cracking ASU's all-time Top-10 in the category. He is currently 38th nationally with 122.80 all-purpose yards per game this season.
NO RUSH
- The Sun Devils have held 24 opponents under 100 rushing yards in the Todd Graham era (70 games/34.2 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.
TAKING OFFENSE
- ASU is ranked second in the Pac-12 and 13th in the nation at 36.4 points per game in the Graham era.
MAKE 'EM PAY
- ASU has outscored opponents 563-308 in points off takeaways since 2012 and 27-24 this year. ASU has five takeaways this season and has scored points following all five of those.
- Since 2012, ASU has scored 71.4 percent of the time following an opponent turnover (95 of 133) while finding the end zone 72 times in that span (54.1 percent).
- Conversely, opponents have scored just 52.5 percent of the time following an ASU turnover since 2012 (52 of 99) with 40 touchdowns (40.4 percent).
A HAND IN THE COOKIE JAR
- The Sun Devils have forced 133 turnovers under Todd Graham, which is tied for the 13th-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).
TURNOVER FACTORY
- ASU is ranked 10th in the nation with a .47 average turnover margin per game since Graham took over the helm and is 12th in the nation with a plus-33 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.
WINNING THE BATTLE FOR FIELD POSITION
- 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 31.4 yard line compared to ASU starting at its own 28.2 in ASU's 29 losses under Graham.
CLOSE IT OUT
- ASU has outscored other teams 717-567 in the fourth quarter and overtime under Todd Graham (10.2 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 33rd nationally in second half points per game at 16.8.
T.N.T., WE'RE DYNAMITE
- 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 8 such plays against Stanford and 46 total this season.
- The Devils are tied for third nationally with six passing plays of over 50 yards this season. It had one in all of 2016. ASU is 18th 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.
KEEP IT CLEAN
- ASU has averaged just 40.18 penalty yards per game since 2012, good for the fifth-lowest total in the country behind only Navy (25.4), Air Force (37.1) and Georgia Tech (38.9)
- Since Todd Graham arrived at Arizona State, the Sun Devils have had just 310 penalties in 70 games (4.43 penalties per game).
- ASU is 12th nationally with 37.40 penalty yards per game this season.
PROTECT THIS HOUSE
- 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.
USE THEM WISELY
- Since the start of the 2012 season, ASU has used 71 timeouts on defense in third down situations, and have not allowed a first down on the ensuing play and/or forced a turnover on 50 of those occasions (70.4 percent).
HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS
- 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.
HOLD ON TO THAT BALL, ALSO
- 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.
TAKING DOWN THE TOP
- The Sun Devils have gone 9-8 in the last 17 games against ranked teams.
- In his time at ASU, 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.
DIRTY HARRY
- Possessing deceptive speed and elusiveness, N'Keal Harry has 223 yards after the catch this season on 476 yards (46.8 percent) and is averaging 6.6 yards after catch per reception this season.
- Harry has proved himself as a valuable possession receiver as well and has 34 receptions on 49 targets this season. The 49 targets are fifth in the Pac-12 this season, as are his 31 catches.
- Harry is third in the Pac-12 and 20th nationally with a 112.3 wide receiver rating this season.
- At 476 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 accounted for a touchdown in four consecutive games (three receiving and one passing) and five of the last six games dating back to last season.
- The sophomore has started every game at Arizona State, now at 17 straight games - tied with Quinn Bailey for most among all offensive players. He has a reception in every one of those games.
LIGHT 'EM UP
- 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.
BRING THE WOOD
- Tashon Smallwood is tied for seventh among all FBS defensive tackles with 14 quarterback pressures this season with JoJo Wicker in 19th nationally with 12. A.J. Latu is tied for 16th among defensive ends in the country with 13 pressures.
- 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.
IN THE RIGHT HANDS...OR FEET
- 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 (83.87 percent) and is 8th nationally with 26 total touchbacks.
- 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 has at least one 50 yard punt in four of his five 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.
AIR IT OUT
- 35 of Jalen Harvey's 42 career catches (83.3 percent) have gone for a first down (16 of his 17 catches this season) while he has averaged 17.4 yards per catch average in career and 47 yards per catch on two career touchdown receptions.
- ASU currently has the 25th-highest graded receiving corps in the country this season, 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 five games this season, a total it had never reached in an entire season prior to this year.
- 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.
GO D.J., THAT'S MY D.J.
- D.J. Calhoun is one of just four inside linebackers in the country this season - and the only Pac-12 ILB - to not miss a single tackle, despite playing more snaps than any other inside linebacker in that group of four (344).
- In fact, of all players in the country - regardless of position - that have played at least 50 percent of the defensive snaps this season, Calhoun is one of just 86 players that have no missed a tackle and one of only two of those to have over 30 tackles on the year (38).
- Calhoun leads all Pac-12 inside linebackers with 14 combined tackles in the passing game - good for 14th nationally this season - and is sixth in the league with 24 tackles in the rushing game.
- Calhoun is second in the conference and 19th nationally with 9.6 tackles per game. He is tied for ninth nationally in averaging 6.0 solo tackles per game.
SAM, I AM
- Christian Sam is currently ranked second in the nation and first in the Pac-12 with 6.6 solo tackles per game.
- He is 23rd nationally and third in the conference in averaging 9.4 tackles per game.
- He is ranked 14th in the country among inside linebackers with a 14.1 percent run-stop percentage and second in the Pac-12. That comes despite playing the third-most snaps of any inside linebacker in the top 20 nationally (which also includes a bye week).