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The Arizona State Sun Devils (5-4, 2-4 Pac-12) are coming off their third straight loss and are getting ready to face the Oregon State Beavers (4-5, 3-3 Pac-12) in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers have lost their last game to the Washington Huskies 19-7, but have won three of their last five.
Arizona State beat the Beavers 52-24 last year in Tempe, but Oregon State has won five of the last six meetings in Corvallis.
It will be a cold one as the Sun Devils head to the pacific northwest looking to bounce back from a rough last few weeks, while the Beavers are trying to rebound from an ugly loss.
Here’s a look at the Beavers:
Beaver offense looks to get back on track
Quarterback Jake Luton will try to forget his game against the Washington Huskies as he takes on the Sun Devil Defense.
In the loss to the Huskies, Luton only threw for 88 yards and had one interception. Luton has only thrown two interceptions on the year along with 19 touchdowns. He has over 2,000 passing yards and is averaging 224 yards per game.
Helping Luton on the offensive side of the ball is sophomore running back Jermar Jefferson. He put up 254 rushing yards last year against the Sun Devils and had 12 touchdowns total last season. Jefferson also had a rough go against Washington with nine attempts for 39 yards and no touchdowns.
The Sun Devils will need to contain the run game early to avoid another first quarter disaster like last week.
On the season, Jefferson has over 400 rushing yards and four touchdowns, averaging 73 yards per game. Oregon State has over 1600 rushing yards this season, the fourth most in the Pac-12 behind Utah, Arizona and Washington.
A defense that is improving
The Oregon State defense struggled severely last season and ranked last in almost every defensive category. Things have changed slightly for the defense this season and there are some positives that are coming out of it.
The Beavers have 25 tackles so far this season, the second-most behind Oregon who has 26. They only had 53 last year.
The Beaver defense gave up 40 points in seven of their games last year, and opponents are averaging 30 points per game so far this season.
They were the 2nd worst in the FBS last year in total defense allowing 536.8 yards per game. Opponents are averaging 244 passing yards per game and 192 rushing yards.
Arizona State running back Eno Benjamin put up 312 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the Beavers last year and will look to improve his performance as he only had 52 rushing yards last week against USC. The Beaver defense is giving up an average of 192 rushing yards per game.