Vegas oddsmakers opened the line against Arizona State this weekend at UCLA + 7.0, and for the first time this season or even in the Dorrell era that we can remember, the line has not moved at all.   In every sports book that we reviewed the line has stayed solidly at 7.  Can there be any more consensus than that?   The only changes are with the over/under which varies from 50 to 52.  So if the sports books are our guide then the final score will be in the area of 29-22 ASU over UCLA, which sounds about right. 

As for what to look for today, we would expect Dennis Erickson to stack the box with 8 players and dare Ossar to become a passer, which is the logical thing to do.  There is no way Erickson allows OR to scramble out of the pocket to beat ASU.  As much as we like Ossar, his arm needs work.  Maybe if he received more reps during Spring and Summer he would be more accurate, maybe not.  We know one thing, sitting on the sidelines in practice didn't make his arm better.  As we all know, Dorrell carries a lot of blame for the predicament he is in. 

In any case, Erickson is not going to be weeping for us.  He will make Ossar look his worst today, if he can.   On the other side of the ball, we believe our defense can have a big day today, if we can get to Carpenter early and often.  That is not a hard task, as Carpenter has been sacked an average of over 4 times a game.  But we have to make him uncomfortable, which is going to be hard to do with a Dennis Erickson coached team.  This team looks disciplined. They are doing more with less talent than any other team.

Today's game will key on our defense to keep the Sun Devils within striking distance, creating turnovers and possibly scoring as well. Bonehead penalties will hurt though, so we have to keep those down.  But we can win today folks.  Out of the remaining 3 games this game is the best chance for Dorrell to finally lock in that .500 season.  We will have our Stat of the Week up shortly.  More later … 

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