The Arizona State Sun Devils are coming off a heartbreaking loss to Washington in Seattle last week.
Now the Devils visit “one of the loudest stadiums in the country,” head coach Dirk Koetter said, as 11-point underdogs.
In the 31-33 loss to No. 13 Washington, the Huskies needed a last-second kick from John Anderson for the come-from-behind victory. The loss marked the ninth-straight game the Sun Devils have lost to opponents ranked in the Associated Press poll.
In the No. 8 Ducks, the Sun Devils hope to give first-year coach Koetter — a former offensive coordinator at Oregon from 1996-97 — his first win over a ranked opponent. Arizona Sate, however, is well aware of the effect Autzen Stadium can have on the outcome of the football game.
“Crowd noise will definitely be a factor,” Koetter said.
Arizona State is led by sophomore quarterback Jeff Krohn, who is leading the Pacific-10 Conference and is sixth in the nation in passing efficiency (165.3). He is coming off the third 300-yard game of his brief career with a 320-yard effort against Washington.
Krohn, a former walk-on, often looks for receiver Shaun McDonald, who is averaging 99.4 yards per game, which is second in the Pac-10. McDonald ranks first in the conference with an average of 22.5 yards per catch.
Other key players for Arizona State include senior tailback Delvon Flowers, true freshman Jason Shivers and sophomore Terrell Suggs on the defensive side, and junior Mike Barth and senior Tom Pace on special teams.
Shivers, a free safety, is the leading tackler on the squad, but much of the notoriety goes to Suggs, who has nine sacks and 16 tackles for loss this season.
Barth is 8-of-10 this season in field goals and will probably give the Oregon returners few chances to run back kickoffs. He has booted more than 55 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone this year. Returning for the Sun Devils, Pace ranks second in the Pac-10 and seventh in the country with an average of 29.8 yards per return.
Arizona State’s offense is averaging 6.6 yards per play, which is best in the conference, but the Devils have also turned the ball over 17 times this year.
The team’s turnover margin is minus-five while the Ducks are at positive 12. The turnover margin has played a key role in the outcomes of some of Arizona State’s games this season, and may be a reason why the Ducks are highly favored in this weekend’s game at Autzen.
“It’s not a secret that no one is going to give us a chance to win up there,” punter Nick Murphy said in his weekly column for Arizona State’s official Web site. “I like that because all the pressure is on the Ducks to start another winning streak at home after losing to Stanford two weeks ago.”
Koetter, in his first year at Arizona State, is looking forward to the chance of playing the Ducks despite the Sun Devils losing the previous three contests between the two schools. Tom Osborne, Oregon’s tight ends and specials teams coach from 1995-2000, also makes his first return to Autzen after becoming the ASU assistant coach.
“It’s going to be a great challenge to us and an opportunity that we are really looking forward to,” Koetter said.