Pac-12 football preview: Predicting Arizona State's weekly results and win total


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Welcome to the Hotline's predictions for each Pac-12 game of the 2022 season. The 12-part series will be published in six installments, with teams grouped by travel partners. Links to prior articles at bottom …

Arizona State Sun Devils

Coach: Herm Edwards (fifth season)

Offensive coordinator: Glenn Thomas (first season)

Defensive coordinator: Donnie Henderson (first season)

2021 record: 8-5/6-3

ASU's five-year win totals: 5-7-7-8-8 (2020 season excluded)

Last postseason appearance: 2021 Las Vegas Bowl (lost to Wisconsin)

Best-case 2022 scenario: 8-4

Worst-case 2022 scenario: 4-8

Projected starting quarterback: Emory Jones

Key question: Will so much coaching staff and roster turnover, much of it traced to the ongoing NCAA investigation, prompt a significant backslide in Tempe?

Here we go …

Sept. 1 (Thursday): vs. Northern Arizona

Result: win

Record: 1-0

Comment: We gave serious consideration to predicting a loss but decided the Sun Devils will make a few too many plays for NAU to match in the fourth quarter.

Sept. 10: at Oklahoma State

Result: loss

Record: 1-1

Comment: Stiff challenge against a future conference opponent (kidding!) that's coming off a 12-win season.

Sept. 17: vs. Eastern Michigan

Result: win

Record: 2-1

Comment: Trap situation for the Sun Devils (after OSU, before Utah) but not sure the Eagles will have enough gas to withstand the heat.

Sept. 24: vs. Utah

Result: loss

Record: 2-2/0-1

Comment: It will be years before ASU has a better chance to topple Utah than the one presented at halftime last October in Salt Lake City.

Oct. 1: at USC

Result: loss

Record: 2-3/0-2

Comment: We question ASU's physical condition one week after facing Utah's brutality. Also, the overhauled secondary won't quite be up to the challenge.

Oct. 8: vs Washington

Result: win

Record: 3-3/1-2

Comment: UW's first trip to Tempe since losing 13-7 as the fifth-ranked team in the country back in 2017. Less hoopla this time, and more points, but the same outcome.

Oct. 15: idle

Comment: Six games down, six to go — and the back half is easier.

Oct. 22: at Stanford

Result: loss

Record: 3-4/1-3

Comment: This sets up well for the Sun Devils, who are coming off a bye while Stanford returns home from South Bend. In fact, it sets up a bit too well.

Oct. 29: at Colorado

Result: loss

Record: 3-5/1-4

Comment: Semi-trap situation for ASU against a struggling opponent and with the Bruins lurking.

Nov. 5: vs. UCLA

Result: win

Record: 4-5/2-4

Comment: At this point, we are past the point in which the media begins describing ASU as "inconsistent" or, perhaps, "wildly inconsistent."

Nov. 12: at Washington State

Result: loss

Record: 4-6/2-5

Comment: The weather won't be a problem. The turnovers will, again.

Nov. 19: vs. Oregon State

Result: win

Record: 5-6/3-5

Comment: After visiting Corvallis the past three years — a quirk of the schedule rotation that happens once every global pandemic — the Devils finally get to host OSU.

Nov. 25 (Friday): at Arizona

Result: loss

Record: 5-7/3-6

Comment: ASU's six-game winning streak in the Territorial Cup comes to an end in a fashion that we cannot currently fathom. But it will be memorable.

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Jon Wilner
Jon Wilner's Pac-12 Hotline is brought to KSL.com through a partnership with the Bay Area News Group.

Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP Top 25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree. You can follow him on Twitter @WilnerHotline or send an email at jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Pac-12 Hotline: Subscribe to the Pac-12 Hotline Newsletter. Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.

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