West Virginia Mountaineers vs Arizona State Sun Devils
With two teams losing starting quarterbacks from a season ago, just making it to a bowl game is impressive in itself. However, there were much higher hopes for the Arizona State Sun Devils as they started the season No. 15 in the country, but ended the year just 6-6 heading into the Cactus Bowl on Jan. 2.
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The Mountaineers have been led by Skyler Howard this season who has been solid, but nowhere near as successful as Clint Trickett was last year. Wendell Smallwood has been one of the top running backs in the Big 12, however, averaging 6.4 yards per carry and West Virginia has one of the top rushing offenses in the land.
Arizona State was also looking for a replacement for top quarterback Taylor Kelly and wide receiver Jaelen Strong from last year while Mike Bercovici proved, at times, that he could be the No. 1 guy when his predecessor was injured.
If Arizona State is going to win on Saturday, they will have to stop the West Virginia passing attack since the Sun Devils have one of the worst passing defenses in the country. Bercovici will also need to go after West Virginia’s secondary and show he’s not afraid to fire the deep ball.
Details for Saturday’s Cactus Bowl are below:
Date: Saturday, Jan. 2
Start Time: 10:15 p.m. ET
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Stadium: Chase Field
TV Info: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: For West Virginia radio affiliates, click here. For Arizona State radio affiliates, click here.