ASU Head Coach Kenny Billingham won his coaching debut with a 24-21 home victory over Southern Utah. The game was delayed for two hours due to poor weather, and Billingham was happy ASU hung on to win their season opener.
Billingham told reporters after the game that the Sun Devils
“We got a lot of crap to fix, but we got it done,”
Big Day for Jaden Rashada
Freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada began his college career with a bang, completing 58% of his passes for 236 yards and a pair of scoring strikes. The young QB struggled mightily at times during the second half, but Billingham heaped high praise on his frosh quarterback after the game;
“I thought he did a phenomenal job,” Dillingham said. “He just couldn’t get in a rhythm. We’ve got do a better job on offense to get him back in a rhythm.”
ASU Penalty Woes
ASU was penalized nine times for 100 yards in its week one victory over Southern Utah — a holding penalty negated RB Cam Scattebo’s 60-yard TD scamper. Scattebo finished the day with 71 yards and a TD on 17 attempts.
Oklahoma State vs. Arizona State Betting Analysis
Caesars Sportsbook opened the game at ASU +2.5, but that number isn’t currently available in Arizona. The bookmakers moved the line as high as +3.5 on Wednesday, and most sportsbooks in AZ have Arizona State at +3.0 (-110).
The movement benefits those Arizonans wishing to wager on their beloved Sun Devils. Laying +2.5 is considered a bad wager as that number is too close to the key number 3.
The winning margin in most NCAAF contests is three points, and we wouldn’t want to risk ASU getting beat by three points and losing our stake by the hook.
The total opened at 52.5 points and is now 56.5 (-110) at Caesars Sportsbook.
Oklahoma State vs. Arizona State Betting Preview
Oklahoma State took a 13-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter before finally defeating Central Arkansas 27-13. Head Coach Mike Gundy was mainly concerned with the Cowboys tackling and told reporters,
“Defensively, there are things that we felt could happen in this game, and they didn’t. I told you that I was worried about tackling. So, we have to really work hard this week on improving tackling. It’s not going to fix itself in one week.”
Gundy deployed three quarterbacks against Central Arkansas. Gundy told reporters,
“It just looks a little odd being three people, but they all three played pretty well,” Mike Gundy said. “We’re going to practice all three of them. Distribute reps based on what we think it should be, the way they played.”
Alan Bowman, Garret Rangel, and Gunnar Gundy each took snaps against Central Arkansas. Gundy stopped short of naming a starter, but his son Gunnar played the final three series, and we could have all three QBs in action on Saturday.
Neither team covered the spread in their season openers, and both schools’ matchups ended Under the total. The four-point rise in the total lends itself to playing the Under 56.5 in this matchup. The respective offenses aren’t going to rout anyone. With each coach’s emphasis placed firmly on their defensive groups, I expect this contest to end Under 56.5 (-110) at Caesars Sportsbook Arizona.
