Texas A&M versus Arizona State.

Kevin Sumlin’s Air Raid offense against Todd Graham’s spread.

Surely this season opener pitting fast-paced, pass-happy SEC and Pac-12 powers and defenses that struggled last season will be a touchdown-a-minute thrill ride, right?

Well, maybe.

While both teams are certainly capable of gaining yards and putting up points in bunches, they both had times last season when moving the ball was a struggle.

Both teams averaged more than 35 points per game last year with A&M ranking No. 26 in the nation in scoring and Arizona State finishing tied for 16th.

But while the Aggies averaged 55.3 points while winning their first four games, they put up just 20, 0 and 21 during a mid-season stretch versus Ole Miss, Alabama and Louisiana Monroe.

The Sun Devils had 50-plus point outbursts against New Mexico, Notre Dame and Washington State, but had a three-game stretch in the middle of 2014 where they didn’t score more than 26. That included a 19-16 overtime victory against Utah.

Perhaps one way to predict the matchup is to look at the Sun Devils’ game with Washington State last season. Cougars coach Mike Leach is the Godfather of the Air Raid and brought it to prominence with Kliff Kingsbury as his quarterback at Texas Tech. Kingsbury, of course was Sumlin’s offensive coordinator until becoming the head coach at his alma mater.

The 52-31 final score looks at first like the Sun Devils outgunned Leach’s Cougars in a shootout, but a more in-depth look at the box score shows that ASU quarterback Taylor Kelly threw for only 232 yards and the Devils were able to turn five Washington State turnovers into touchdowns.

Even more encouraging for the Aggies, Washington State threw for more than 600 yards against the ASU defense.

A better way to gauge what to expect Saturday might be looking at the quarterbacks who will start for each team. Neither Texas A&M’s Kyle Allen nor Arizona State’s Mike Bercovici started in the early weeks of 2014, but both got opportunities as the season went on.

Allen didn’t have a 300-yard passing game and struggled a bit against the tough defensive backfields of LSU and Missouri. But Allen sparked the offense with four touchdown passes in a 41-38 upset of Auburn and threw for 294 yards and four scores in a 45-37 Liberty Bowl win over West Virginia.

With A&M hoping to establish a power running game this fall, it might be a little much to ask for Allen to put up huge numbers in the opener, though he has four talented receivers at his disposal.

Bercovici figures to give the revamped Aggies secondary a test from the start. He averaged 414 passing yards a contest in a three games with Kelly hurt last year, a stretch that included wins against Stanford and Southern Cal.

But it was Kelly at quarterback during the Sun Devils’ biggest scoring games, including against Notre Dame when he threw for 224 yards and three touchdowns.

So while it is a meeting of programs with reputations for airing it out and racking up points, this one might be closer to 45 total points than a 45-38 shootout.