UTAH @ ARIZONA STATE (UT -5.5, 46.5)
CFB ODDS, CFB PREDICTIONS, CFB PREVIEWS
UTES @ SUN DEVILS 10/11/24
QB Cameron Rising has been missing from Utah's offense, but he will be back for the 16th-ranked Utes when they play Arizona State in a Big 12 game on Friday night in Tempe, Arizona. On Thursday, it was announced that Rising, who missed three and a half games due to an injury to his throwing hand, will start for Utah (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) against the Sun Devils.
On September 7, Rising sustained an injury during the second quarter of the Utes' 23-12 victory over Baylor at home. After being shoved out of bounds during a play and running into a water cooler, he reportedly sustained a cut to his right hand and a dislocated finger.
In one and a half games, the seventh-year senior quarterback threw for 346 yards and seven touchdowns on 62.1 percent passing with no interceptions. With freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson filling in, Utah's offense has struggled to complete drives. Rising's return could give the offense new life.
When playing Big 12 opponents, the Utes are averaging 16 points and 410 yards per game. They have only scored two touchdowns in their last eight trips to the red zone. Utah has scored 11 touchdowns in the 22 drives that they entered the red zone through five games.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham has said that his team is about 20 percent off where it needs to be. He would like to see his team get closer to 70 percent. It’s been hard with an inexperienced quarterback.
In his three starts so far this season, Wilson is averaging 242 yards passing per game. In five games, he has thrown seven interceptions and completed just 55.7% of his passes. On September 28, the Utes lost 23-10 to Arizona because of his errors, which caused the offense to stagnate at key moments.
With a strong rushing attack, Arizona State (4-1, 1-1) has been moving in a much better direction. With 615 yards rushing, Cam Skattebo is averaging 5.5 yards per carry and is ranked second in the Big 12. Sam Leavitt is a redshirt freshman quarterback for ASU who has three games of 200 yards or more this season. He has struggled with consistency though. He has also only completed 59 percent of his passes. He did, however, account for four touchdowns last week as the Sun Devils beat Kansas 35-31.
Arizona State leads Utah 22–12 in the all-time series, but the Utes have won four of the previous five meetings and crushed the Sun Devils 55–3 in Salt Lake City last year thanks to a season-high 352 rushing yards and four touchdown passes from Bryson Barnes.
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COACH RICK FREE PICK:
FREE PICK: UTAH TEAM TOTAL OVER 23.5 POINTS
With Cam Rising back at QB, expect the Utes offense to be much different. The different part would simply be scoring points. The Utes couldn’t do much last week in a loss to Arizona, but with Rising back, expect more output. Arizona State gives up 23.8 points per game and they have allowed more than 23.5 in their last three straight games. ASU ranks 118th in opponent red zone scoring percentage. In fact, every time a Sun Devil opponent has entered the red zone, they have come away with points. Expect Rising to lead the Utes to enough to clear this prop.