2011 Arizona State Sun Devils College Football Expert Predictions, Picks, Vegas Odds and Schedule – Arizona State NCAA Football Preview: Coming off a disappointing 6-6 season, head coach Dennis Erickson finds himself on the hot seat despite his experience as both an NFL and college coach. Thanks to 17 returning starters, the Sun Devils might just have enough firepower to bounce back in 2011-12 and save their coach’s job. In fact, the talent in Tempe has many believing that a PAC-12 South title could be in the works.
The jump from a middle of the pack team to a division champ isn’t unrealistic when you consider that four of the Sun Devils’ losses last season came by a combined nine points, including a pair of one-point defeats. With a break here or there, Arizona State could have finished the 2010-11 season with a 10-2 mark, and Erickson’s bunch would have entered this season as a favorite instead of a sleeper.
Despite all the returning talent, the Sun Devils will be breaking in a new quarterback. Brock Osweiler will replace Steven Threet as the starter for a passing attack that ranked among the top 15 in the nation a year ago. The good news is that Osweiler did get limited action last season, throwing for five touchdowns and no interceptions. He also has five returning starters on the offensive line protecting him and paving the way for a pair of running backs. Five receivers that saw significant action will be back as well. As far as transitions go, it doesn’t get much easier than it will be for Osweiler.
On defense, the Sun Devils have the luxury of building around one of the top defenders in the country in linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Regarded as the hardest hitter in the college game today, Burfict can be a one-man wrecking crew when he wants to be. Stupid penalties aside, Burfict heads a unit that returns eight starters and should easily improve from its middle of the pack rankings from a year ago.
Looking at the schedule, the Sun Devils have to be happy to dodge Stanford and Washington. Out-of-conference contests against Missouri and Illinois won’t be easy, but both are winnable games. A road contest at Oregon figures to be a loss, but Arizona State gets USC and Arizona at home this year. With the Trojans being ineligible for postseason play, a road game against newcomer to the conference Utah could decide whether or not the Sun Devils make it to the PAC-12 title game.
The ceiling for this year’s Arizona State team is a South Division title and a trip to the PAC-12 Championship. At most, the Sun Devils notch 10 wins, but as Osweiler adjusts to life as the full-time starters the Sun Devils will probably drop one of the early out-of-conference games. Oregon and another conference foe will likely knock off ASU as well, leaving the Sun Devils in the mix but not a sure thing to have a shot at the automatic BCS bid.
2011 Arizona St Sun Devils College Football Predictions: 9-3 Record
Preseason 2011 Arizona St Sun Devils NCAA Football Odds:
Odds to Win 2012 BCS Championship: NA/Off the Board
Odds to Win 2011 Pac 12 Champonship: +450
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2011 Arizona St Sun Devils College Football Schedule
Thu, Sep 1 UC Davis 10:00 pm —
Fri, Sep 9 Missouri 10:30 pm —
Sat, Sep 17 at Illinois 7:00 pm —
Sat, Sep 24 USC 10:15 pm —
Sat, Oct 1 Oregon State TBA —
Sat, Oct 8 at Utah TBA —
Sat, Oct 15 at Oregon TBA —
Sat, Oct 29 Colorado TBA —
Sat, Nov 5 at UCLA TBA —
Sat, Nov 12 at Washington State TBA —
Sat, Nov 19 Arizona TBA —
Fri, Nov 25 California 10:15 pm —
Check out NSAwins.com’s official 2011 Pac 12 Football Picks, Odds and Preview article.
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