SportsCast in Black & White & Shades of Grey

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http://d1dt8p0rq76s70.cloudfront.net/scp24.mp3
SUN DEVILS ADVOCATE!
With the podcast being moved to this Monday I decided to talk about the college team that’s near and dear to my heart through this forum. So last Saturday the ASU Sun Devils beat the USC Trojans 62-41 at Sun Devils Stadium. With that win ASU is now 3-1(1-1 in the Pac-12 Conference) for the season while also jumping back into the top 25 being ranked at #22, and that game also lead to the firing of USC coach Lane Kiffin. I want to talk about two things that I took from this game before I get into today’s matchup. First up is the offensive display that ASU showed. The Sun Devils put up 62 points on the Trojans while also compiling 612 yards of total offense. This offense is clicking with junior quarterback Taylor Kelly being the trigger man, make no mistake about it, this is an elite offense that can put up points with just about any team in college football. Now the second thing I want to talk about is the awful defensive showing. USC scored 41 points on the Sun Devils while also compiling 542 yards of total offense, that’s just bad. Since shutting out CSUS in the opening game the Sun Devils defense has allowed 30, 42, and 41 points in the three games after, that’s not good, if the Sun Devils want to contend for the Pac-12 South with UCLA they need to have a better showing on defense. The offense is clicking right now all the defense needs to be is at least average and I think the Sun Devils should be good. Now with that said, on to today’s game! No. 22 ASU is playing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-2) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Notre Dame is coming off a loss, 35-21 to be exact against Oklahoma last week which dropped them out of the top 25. Notre Dame starting quarterback Tommy Rees has come back down to earth it seems these last two games, since throwing for more than 300 yards in the first three games, the senior has only thrown 246 yards combined the last two games while only completing 39 percent of his throws. I see Notre Dame relying heavily on the running game in this game, not cause of Tommy Rees’s struggles, but because the ASU defense can’t stop the run. The ASU defense has allowed 718 yards on the ground over the last three weeks which is sixth most in the country. Now the Notre Dame defense hasn’t been the same since last season’s BCS title run. Notre Dame is among the worst in the nation with allowing 110 first downs while only having four sacks in the season. I see Tommy Rees continuing to struggle as Taylor Kelly carves up the Notre Dame defense, I usually don’t give scores cause I just don’t like to (sorry Nick) but I predict an ASU win. GO ASU!