ARIZONA STATE FOOTBALL

ASU Sun Devils 19th in SI preseason rankings

Aug 13, 2014, 5:52 PM | Updated: Aug 14, 2014, 8:28 pm

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The college football season needs to get here.

Like, now please.

We’re still a few weeks away from games being played, and until the season starts there will continue to be a flood of rankings and predictions.

And while they don’t really mean much, it’s certainly better to have people thinking highly of you than not. Case in point, the ASU Sun Devils.

Sports Illustrated released its preseason top 25 list, and the Devils come in at a solid 19th.

Arizona State will score a lot. Coach Todd Graham’s high-octane offense is led by school-record-breaking quarterback Taylor Kelly, who enters his third season as a starter. Kelly has a slew of weapons, including NFL-ready redshirt junior wide receiver Jaelen Strong and do-everything junior running back D.J. Foster. “This,” Graham says, “is going to be the best football team we’ve had.”

Though there are questions surrounding the 2014 Sun Devils, none of them involve the offensive side of the ball. Led by the aforementioned players, the team is expected to score more than its share of points.

However, it’s the team’s defense — which lost nine of 11 starters from last season — that has people questioning how good this team will be. If ASU is better there than people expect, there’s a good chance the Devils will be better than their preseason ranking indicates.

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