The Arizona State Sun Devils jumped into the College Football Playoff poll top six this week. They will try to stay in the playoff hunt Saturday night in Corvallis, where they will face the Oregon State Beavers. Kickoff is scheduled for 10:45 p.m. ET, with television coverage on ESPN.
How to watch Arizona State vs. Oregon State: Game guide, TV/streaming, odds
The Sun Devils are chasing their first ever national championship. Here’s how to watch them this week.
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Despite starting the season 19th in the AP poll and decisively losing an early Pac-12 contest to UCLA, Arizona State has climbed into the playoff hunt with four wins over ranked teams in the last five weeks. The Sun Devils’ 55-31 dismantling of Notre Dame last Saturday pushed Todd Graham’s squad to national prominence.
Arizona State's balanced offensive attack is averaging 476 yards and 36.7 points per game through the season's first nine games, with running back D.J. Foster leading the way. Most impressive: The Sun Devils surged while senior quarterback Taylor Kelly recovered from a foot injury, and did not miss a beat when he returned in the final week of October.
Oregon State has struggled through a difficult Pac-12 season, losing four consecutive games and five of its first six conference contests. It hardly gets easier for Mike Riley’s team: After Saturday’s game, the Beavers travel to Washington and close against rival Oregon.
Quarterback Sean Mannion, who was one of the nation's most prolific passers as a junior, has not been able to match his 2013 output, with a career-low 63.9 percent completion rate and just 10 touchdowns so far this year.
How to watch, listen, and stream
Game time: 10:45 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Online streaming: WatchESPN
Our blogs on these schools
The numbers
Rankings and records: Arizona State enters Saturday 8-1 overall, 5-1 in the Pac-12 and ranked sixth. Oregon State is 4-5 overall, 1-5 in the Pac-12, and unranked.
Vegas: Arizona State is a nine-point favorite Saturday night, with the over/under at 61 points, per OddsShark.
Weather forecast: It’s chilly in Corvallis, with gametime temperatures hovering around freezing and light winds predicted.
Two things at stake
Arizona State is three wins from a Pac-12 South title and de facto Playoff elimination game against Oregon, a huge step forward for a program that claims no national championships and never played in a BCS bowl game.
As for Oregon State, the Beavers will need an upset of either ASU or Oregon, coupled with a road win over Washington, to avoid their third losing season since 2010 and get to bowl eligibility.
One big matchup
Sean Mannion vs. the Arizona State secondary: Oregon State doesn’t pretend to be interested in running the ball -- the Beavers are 115th nationally in rushing, with less than 110 yards per game on the ground -- so if they are going to have any chance of pulling an upset, it will have to be through Mannion’s arm.
The senior signal-caller threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns against ASU last season, but also tossed four interceptions in a 30-17 loss to the Sun Devils. Scarier for Mannion: This defense is a lot better. The Sun Devils are second only to Stanford in passing yards allowed among Pac-12 teams and have forced eight interceptions so far this year.
Further reading
House of Sparky covers the Sun Devils, while Building the Dam has all things Oregon State.
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