Third-down efficiency (or lack thereof) dooms ASU in Homecoming loss

There were plenty of reasons that the Arizona State Sun Devils got thumped 48-17 by 21st-ranked USC Saturday night in Tempe.

Defensively, ASU had a lot of issues — tackling was chief among them.

On offense, the Sun Devils just couldn’t muster any consistent movement, especially on third down. ASU went 1-for-12 on third down opportunities in the ball game. Their only conversion — a 13-yard run by quarterback Manny Wilkins on a 3rd-and-1 from midfield — was affected by a holding penalty on receiver N’Keal Harry, which put ASU at the USC 47-yard line.

Wilkins would hit Kyle Williams on a Hail Mary touchdown pass on the final play of the first half on the next play.

Wilkins, who has settled into a role as a vocal and emotional leader for this year’s team, took the blame for the inefficiency.

“Got to play better at quarterback,” he said. “Comes down to third downs — I think going into half time we were 1-for-8 on third downs. It’s unacceptable, regardless of what’s going on in the game, regardless of the situation, I think I’ve got to do my job to put us in the position to score points and ultimately win football games.”

Wilkins went 1-for-6 for only 15 yards on third-down passing plays. Three of USC’s six sacks came on third downs.

“We had one third down conversion the entire game,” head coach Todd Graham said. “You can’t win a game when you do that.

“That was it. We weren’t in third-and-10 or third-and-15, it was third-and-4 or third-and-5, third-and 3. We just absolutely could not execute.”

ASU’s average distance needed on third downs was 6.8 yards. They averaged only 2.6 yards per third-down play.

“When you’re 1-for-12 on third down, that’s probably not a very good job of coaching,” Graham added.

Follow @Vincemarotta