Game Info
#14 Arizona State Sun Devils vs Texas Tech Red Raiders
Monday – December 30 – 9:15 PM
TV: ESPN
Qualcomm Stadium – San Diego
The Big-12 and Pac-12 will square off for the final time in San Diego at the annual Holiday Bowl. The Arizona State Sun Devils (10-3) will face the Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-5) in what has become one of the higher scoring bowl games in recent history. ASU is coming off a conference championship loss, while Texas Tech’s back loaded schedule crashed a 7-0 start.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
The return of Kliff Kingsbury plus a 7-0 start put the Red Raiders as the Cinderella favorites to cause mayhem in the Big 12. Once they started to face their big brothers in the conference things took a big turn in the other direction. For today’s game they will be without regular season quarterback, walk-on freshman Baker Mayfield, since he has asked for a transfer. Instead they will have Michael Brewer, who has not played a down this season. He will have offensive weapons Jace Amaro and Eric Ward to throw to.
Arizona State Sun Devils
Sun Devils coach Todd Graham was named Coach of the Year in the Pac-12 for a reason. His offense scored 50 points or more in six games this season. Their defense is anchored by defensive tackle Will Sutton. ASU’s three losses were to only two teams, Notre Dame and Stanford twice.
Keys to Victory
Michael Brewer will be rusty in his first start for the Red Raiders and blocking an All-American like Sutton will be a tough task for Tech. The Sun Devils in their three losses have been physically dominated by the other team. If Tech can catch ASU by surprise a few times, they could make a game out of it.
Prediction: ASU 31 Texas Tech 24
