Courtesy 124 Arizona State
Arizona State quarterback Andrew Walter will be put to the test against No. 16 Iowa’s stingy defenseClayton Jones
Sports Reporter
A battle of unbeaten teams takes place at Sun Devil Stadium
when Arizona State looks for revenge against No. 16 Iowa (2-0 overall) Saturday.
The Sun Devils (2-0) traveled to Iowa City last year and took an early 2-0 lead but lost to the Hawkeyes 21-2.
“They are a top 15 team and a very well-coached team that doesn’t beat themselves,” Arizona State head coach Dirk Koetter said. “They are relatively conservative on offense compared to what we’ve played the last two weeks.”
Arizona State will be facing
its second consecutive Big Ten Conference opponent. Last week, the Sun Devils took care of business
on the road, disposing of Northwestern 31-20.
Senior quarterback Andrew Walter spearheaded the Sun Devils’ attack by completing 19 of 36 passes for 292 yards and throwing three touchdowns. Walter is on pace to own most of Arizona State’s passing records as he is four touchdown passes away from passing Jake Plummer’s record of 65 career touchdown passes. He also has a chance for the Pacific-10 Conference record of 77 touchdown passes set by NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway while at Stanford.
Walter is also just 827 yards away from passing Plummer’s Sun Devil record of 8,827 career passing yards and will surely move up from his 19th place on the Pac-10 all-time list.
Not only has Walter been throwing for a lot of yards, but he has also been accurate. The Sun Devil signal caller hasn’t thrown an interception in his first two games. His streak goes back to last year of 118
attempts without an interception (his last interception was Nov. 15, 2003 against Washington State).
Walter’s favorite target is off to a hot start as well. Receiver Derek
Hagan has caught 16 passes for
273 yards and three touchdowns in his first two games this season. The junior wide receiver caught eight passes for 154 yards and two
touchdowns against Northwestern last week.
Arizona State’s high-powered passing offense — ranked seventh in the nation averaging 324 yards per game — will be put to the test as Iowa boasts one of the best defenses in the country. The Hawkeyes are coming off a 17-10 victory over in-state rival Iowa State, holding the Cyclones to 236 total yards on offense.
Iowa’s pass defense should
give the Sun Devils fits as they are 19th in the nation giving up 146.5 yards per contest. The Hawkeyes’ rushing defense isn’t too shabby
either: They rank third in the nation, giving up only 26.5 yards per game. With the rush defense being so dominant, Iowa is able to
drop more players back into
coverage to defend the pass.
The key for Arizona State will
be to get sophomore running back Loren Wade going in order to give Walter, Hagan and the rest of
the Sun Devil offense more
openings to throw the ball.
Sophomore quarterback Drew Tate leads Iowa’s offense. Tate was accurate against Iowa State as he completed 16 of 22 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown. The performance improved his passing efficiency to 147.3, ranking him 25th in the nation.
On the ground, the Hawkeyes feature senior running back Jermelle Lewis. Lewis was a workhorse against Iowa State, running the ball 30 times for 102 yards.
The Arizona State defense will be led by last week’s Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week Dale Robinson. The junior linebacker recorded
14 tackles last week and leads the Pac-10 with 5.5 tackles for losses this season.
Even though this will be one of the Sun Devils’ toughest opponents this season, Koetter said he doesn’t believe this game will define the team’s season.
“My philosophies are big and every week is the Super Bowl,” Koetter said. “I’m not trying to down grade this game. This is the biggest game we have this week.”
