Utah Utes football: Gameday

Arizona State (4-1, 2-0) at Utah (2-2, 0-2)

Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

Rice-Eccles Stadium (45,017)

FieldTurf

Salt Lake City

TV: FSN (Root)

Radio: 700 AM

Weather: Partly cloudy, 56 degrees

THE STAKES

For Arizona State . . . The Sun Devils can extend their lead over Utah to three games and the tiebreaker in the South Division, pretty much knocking the Utes out of contention for a berth in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game.

For Utah . . . It's still early in the season, but the Utes probably need to win their final seven Pac-12 games in order to make it to the conference title game. At 2-2 overall, a win would be welcome before road trips to Pitt and Cal.

THE TRENDS

For Arizona State . . . The Sun Devils have won seven consecutive games over the Utes. They've also prevailed in nine of the last 10 meetings in a series that hasn't been renewed since 1993. Arizona State is 16-6 all-time against Utah.

For Utah . . . The Utes haven't fared well against ranked teams as of late — going 1-4 since upsetting Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl. The lone victory was last season's 27-24 overtime decision over Pittsburgh at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

PLAYER TO WATCH

JAMAL MILES, Arizona State: The versatile junior is the only player in the country to have thrown a touchdown pass — in addition to scoring on a kickoff return, punt return and reception — this season.

KEY MATCHUP

UTAH'S OFFENSE VS. ASU LINEBACKER VONTAZE BURFICT: The highly touted junior is living up to expectations against opposing quarterbacks. Burfict already has 4.5 tackles-for-loss, four sacks, three pass breakups and an interception this season.

INJURY REPORT

ARIZONA STATE: C Garth Gerhart (sprained ankle) is questionable. LT Evan Finkenberg (knee), WR T.J. Simpson (ACL), RB Deantre Lewis (shooting), DE Junior Onyeali (torn meniscus), LB Brandon Magee (torn Achilles) and CS Omar Bolden (ACL) are out.

UTAH: QB Jordan Wynn is out.

NEXT UP

Arizona State plays at Oregon next Saturday, while Utah travels to Pittsburgh (10 a.m., ESPNU).

SCHEDULE

Date Opponent Time (TV)/result

Sept. 1 vs. Montana St. W, 27-10

Sept. 10 at USC L, 23-14

Sept. 17 at BYU W, 54-10

Oct. 1 vs. Washington L, 31-14

Oct. 8 vs. Arizona St. 1:30 (Root)

Oct. 15 at Pittsburgh 10 a.m. (ESPNU)

Oct. 22 at California TBA

Oct. 29 vs. Oregon St. TBA

Nov. 5 at Arizona TBA

Nov. 12 vs. UCLA TBA

Nov. 19at Washington St.TBA

Nov. 25 vs. Colorado 1:30 p.m. (Root)