2008 Arizona State Sun Devils Football Preview

2008 Arizona State Sun Devils season preview from Maddux Sports. Below you can find our official Arizona State Sun Devils football preview as well as the 2008 Arizona State Sun Devils Football Schedule. Haven't had much luck beating your bookie? This season up your chances and order Maddux's winning college football picks.

Coach: Dennis Erickson (2nd year at Arizona State)
Team Name: Sun Devils
2007 Overall Record: 10-3
Returning Starters: 13

For four straight seasons, the Arizona State Sun Devils (10-3 overall, 7-2 Pac-10) have been bowl bound. Last season was a watershed year as they tied USC for first-place. The club then went to the Holiday Bowl where they lost to the Texas Longhorns 34-52.

Senior QB Rudy Carpenter (398 ATT, 246 COMP, 25 TDs, 10 INT) can toss the ball, and he’s got a lot of fine targets to which to throw, including the talented Chris McGaha (61 REC, 830 YDS, 1 TD). The running game showcases senior Keegan Herring (154 CAR, 815 YDS, 5 TDs). This team is stacked when it comes to skilled guys and can be explosive, but the frontline is troublesome. ASU QBs were sacked 55 times in 2007! That number has to go down for this team to challenge USC again.

The defense, which held teams to 22.5 PPG, has two fine ends. Senior Luis Vasquez and junior Dexter Davis combined for 25 tackles and 15 sacks. They’ll be putting pressure on QBs all season. In the secondary, sophomore CB Omar Bolden, who started in his freshman season, showed a lot of potential, while senior safety Troy Nolan, who grabbed six picks, plays his final season before going pro. OLB Travis Goethel (71 tackles, 43 solo) heads a fine linebacking unit. The big question mark on the “D” is a tackle. The starters in the middle of the line must step up.

The Sun Devils face four tossup games. Georgia visits on September 20 for the first swing contest of the season. Two straight games in October, versus USC on the 11th and against Oregon on the 25th, are major contests that can go either way. The Sun Devils final game on December 6 with Arizona is also a tossup.

Coach Dennis Erickson (10-3 in one year) had a great initial season at ASU. This year will be tougher as the Sun Devils face a more difficult schedule than they did in 2007. In one year, Erickson has put excitement back into the program. This team won’t disappear but they probably won’t win nine regular season games either.

Arizona State Sun Devils Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Home/Away
Aug 30	Northern Arizona	Home
Sep 6	Stanford	Home
Sep 13	UNLV	Home
Sep 20	Georgia	Home
Oct 4	California	Away
Oct 11	USC	Away
Oct 25	Oregon	Home
Nov 1	Oregon State	Away
Nov 8	Washington	Away
Nov 15	Washington State	Home
Nov 28	UCLA	Home
Dec 6	Arizona	Away

 

For more info on the 2008 Arizona State Sun Devils football program, view the Sun Devils football site or you can read about other Pac-10 teams below.