Third straight win for Devils sets up showdown with Wildcats

ARIZONA STATE: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

With Arizona State's 34-9 smackdown of the UCLA Bruins, the Devils are now winners of the last three, and find themselves in position to make it four against their in-state rivals.

The Sun Devils, now 5-6 overall, 4-4 in conference play, scored three defensive touchdowns in their rout, and have averaged 34.6 points in the last three wins.

Arizona State will take on the Arizona Wildcats Saturday in the annual "Dual in the Desert" game, televised live on ESPN and FSNAZ.

The Sun Devils began the season as an early favorite to challenge USC for the conference title, and were collectively thought to be the nation's 15th best team, returning with 16 seniors, including quarterback Rudy Carpenter who threw for 3202 yards with 25 touchdowns. Arizona Sate was billed as a veteran team poised to make a run at the BCS standings.

All that changed when ASU was embarrassed at Sun Devil Stadium to an unranked UNLV team 23-20 in overtime, a week before a titanic matchup between the Devils and the second ranked Georgia Bulldogs in Tempe.

The Sun Devils were then crushed by the Bulldogs, setting the team into a spiral, losing four straight before finding daylight against the Washington Huskies.

At more than one point during this season, the Territorial Cup, given to the winner of the ASU/UA matchup, looked to be on its way back to Tucson due to the Devils' early season demise.

In Arizona State's six game losing streak, the Devils were able to muster only 279.7 yards per game, while allowing 396.2 to their opponents. Even more astounding for Dennis Erickson's "pass first" offense was that the team was only able to put up a mediocre 14 points a game, while the defense gave up almost 31 points.

The ground game for ASU was held to an anemic average of 77.7 yards in the six losses, including a particularly rough stretch of games against Southern California, Oregon, and Oregon State.

Even with the Sun Devils' lackluster mid-season performance, Arizona State has found a very small window into a possible bowl bid.

The Devils would love nothing more than to torch the Wildcats, who are now on the verge of missing the post-season yet again, and win their fourth straight Territorial Cup.

The road to a bowl runs through Tucson.

-JMB

-The Territorial Cup. Photo courtesy of picasaweb.google.com.