The Arizona State Sun Devils will try to start the season 2-0 for the second consecutive year when they host the Sacramento State Hornets, an FCS team, on Friday night. The Sun Devils opened the season last week with a 30-7 win against Kent State. Jayden Daniels became the first true freshman to start at quarterback for Arizona State in a season-opener and threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Meanwhile, in its season-opener, Sacramento State scored a school-record 77 points in a victory over Southern Oregon. Kickoff on Friday is at 10 p.m. ET. The Sun Devils are 36-point favorites in the latest Arizona State vs. Sacramento State odds, while the over-under for total points scored is 63.5. Before making any Arizona State vs. Sacramento State picks of your own, you need to see the college football predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.
No one knows football like Tierney. The veteran sportswriter, whose work has appeared in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, has covered college football of all levels for decades. And that expertise has been evident since he joined SportsLine in 2017. Over the last two seasons, he has gone 96-79 on his college football against the spread picks. Last season was his best at 59-46. In addition, he is a West Coast-based expert who's very familiar with these programs.
Now, he has analyzed Arizona State vs. Sacramento State from every possible angle and locked in a confident against the spread pick. It's available only at SportsLine.
Tierney knows that Daniels looked impressive in his debut. A true freshman from San Bernardino, Calif., who was one of the top-ranked dual-threat prospects in the 2019 recruiting class, Daniels became the third freshman in Sun Devils history to win his first career start. In addition to his two passing touchdowns against Kent State, he ran for a third.
Tierney also has factored in that Arizona State's defense was strong against the Flashes. The Sun Devils limited Kent State to 200 yards of total offense and just 3.0 yards per rush. They also forced two turnovers, picking up where they left off last year when they ranked 11th in the country in turnover margin.
But just because the Sun Devils were impressive in Week 1 does not guarantee they will cover the Arizona State vs. Sacramento State spread on Friday.
The Hornets had a record-breaking season-opening win. In addition to the school-record 77 points scored, the 685 yards of total offense against Southern Oregon were the second most in school history and just nine yards shy of the record of 694 set against Montana State in 2014. And the 11 touchdowns broke the school record of nine, which had been done twice before.
Tierney also knows that Sacramento State has had success against FBS foes. Last season, the Hornets lost by just 14 to San Diego State. He also knows that this will be the biggest game on Sacramento State's schedule all year. On the other hand, Arizona State faces a ranked Michigan State team eight days after playing the Hornets and could be looking ahead.
We can tell you Tierney is leaning under, but his much stronger play is on the spread. He's found a critical x-factor that makes one side of the spread hit hard on Friday. He's sharing what it is, and whom to back, only at SportsLine.
Who wins Sacramento State vs. Arizona State? And what critical x-factor makes one side of the spread a must-back? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Sacramento State vs. Arizona State spread you should be all over Friday, all from the West Coast expert who's 96-79 on college football picks.
