Southern Utah vs Arizona State Picks and Prediction – 9/1/2023

The Southern Utah Thunderbirds visit Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona on Thursday to play the Arizona State Sun Devils in the opening game of the college football regular season for both teams. Southern Utah is a member of the new United Athletic Conference. Last season Southern Utah was 5-6 overall 1-3 in WAC play. Keep up with College Football, with our College Football picks.

Southern Utah returns quarterback Justin Miller who in three seasons with the Thunderbirds has passed for 7,007 yards with 45 touchdowns. Miller's favorite target will be Isaiah Wooden, who last season caught 40 passes for an average of 20.8 yards per reception. Southern Utah's defense has a three-man linebacker corps led by Kohner Cullimore, who had 76 tackles to lead the team in 2022.

Last season Arizona State was 3-9 overall and 2-7 in Pac-12 play. Arizona State will start with new head coach Kenny Dillingham, who has reeled in a number of top transfers which will help on both sides of the bowl. Drew Pyne, a transfer quarterback from Notre Dame will push Trenton Bourguet as well as Jaden Rashada for the starting QB spot. Wide receiver Elijhah Badger and tight end Jalin Conyers, give Arizona State two highly talented targets for whomever is the starting quarterback.

Arizona State's defense will have Oklahoma transfer Clayton Smith and Texas transfer Prince Dorbah at defensive end joining B.J. Green II and Gharin Stansbury to give the Sun Devils a strong front four. Travion Brown, who transferred from Washington State, will be the top linebacker for an inexperienced group, while two transfers will make up the safety corps and Jordan Clark, returns as Arizona State’s shutdown cornerback.