Todd Graham’s finale: In Sun Bowl, ASU defense must shine vs. N.C. State

Outgoing head coach Todd Graham found it fitting that, in his finale as Arizona State’s head coach, he’s teaching his players about the lessons he learned growing up under a single mother in the state of Texas.

The Sun Devils (7-5) will face No. 24 N.C. State (8-4) in the 2017 Sun Bowl on Friday with Graham coaching out the bowl game season and ASU having replaced him with Herm Edwards.

His attitude after losing his job and offensive coordinator Billy Napier: It’s not hard at all.

“You reap what you sow,” Graham said in a Dec. 26 press conference. “I think you have to model. You don’t just fall apart when things go bad. That’s what I learned growing up. We’re not a program in disarray … you can’t have many more distractions than what we’ve had put on us.

“How can I preach values to these players everyday and you lose your job and you don’t finish with them? I want to finish with these guys.”

Graham and company face a challenge against a Wolfpack team that produced wins over then-No. 12 Florida State and then-No. 17 Louisville. N.C. State also played then-fourth-ranked Clemson close but fell, 38-31.

Time: Friday, 1 p.m. MST

TV: CBS

Where: El Paso, Texas

Stopping a balanced attack

For the Sun Devils to come out on top against a balanced N.C. State team, their defense will need to have a flashback to the middle of October.

The signature two-game run of ASU’s season featured a 13-7 win over then-No. 5 Washington and a 30-10 road win over Utah.

Those two performances by the defense, in particular, startled those who had watched Arizona State in the first half of the season and wondered if this was a shift that was going to continue throughout the season.

It didn’t.

The Sun Devils followed those two games by giving up 48 points to then-No. 21 USC, 30 to Colorado, 44 to UCLA, 24 to Oregon State and 30 to Arizona.

Now they take on the Wolfpack, ranked 29th in the country for passing yards per game at 271.8 and 51st in rushing yards per game at 177.4.

“I think they’re very balanced,” ASU defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said in his Sun Bowl press conference.”They’re almost a 50-50 run-pass team. They believe in running the football. They’re physical but yet they have the ability to spread you from sideline to sideline.”

They also use balance in pass catchers for junior quarterback Ryan Finley, who grew up 15 minutes away from the Tempe campus and went to Paradise Valley High School.

“I really like their quarterback. He’s not a runner, but he’s a capable guy to extend plays,” Bennett said. “Their execution is something that I really think that, through the year, has carried them on.”

Finley threw for 3,200 yards and 16 touchdowns while only being picked off six times. Three of Finley’s receivers caught over 55 balls this season, and one of them is his most unique weapon, H-Back Jaylen Samuels.

Samuels had 69 receptions for 551 yards and four touchdowns, but was the team’s go-to scoring threat on the ground, where he had 11 touchdowns to go along with 71 carries for 383 yards.

The two others are sophomores Kelvin Harmon and Jakobi Meyers. The 6-foot-3, 213-pound Harmon had 993 yards on 65 catches while Meyers caught 56 passes for 651 yards.

That’s a handful for any defense, and we are talking about one that gave up 268.1 passing yards a game, ranked 119th in the country.

— Kellan Olson

Other key players

– Wolfpack running back Nyheim Hines rushed for 1,040 yards to become one of only nine running backs in school history to surpass that mark.

– ASU linebacker Christian Sam led the team with 127 tackles, 9.5 of which were for loss.

– ASU linebacker D.J. Calhoun was second in tackles with 94 and added 11 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.

Offensive changes afoot

Like most of their wins this season, the Sun Devils will have to outscore their opponents to get Graham a victory in his final game.

Offensively, with coordinator Billy Napier off to Louisiana-Lafayette, that means promoted analyst Dave Christensen will take an in-game coaching role. From the press box, he will call in plays through Graham.

“That way we have the least amount of change as possible,” Graham said. “There’s not anything changing other than that part of it. Coach Napier went through most of the practices and the gameplan; we’d already gone through most of our stuff.”

Interestingly enough, the Sun Devils’ offense has similar numbers as N.C. State in terms of balance. Their 247.7 passing yards per game rank 50th and 179.9 rushing yards a game stand at 49th.

The challenge comes in facing a front-seven Graham likened to Pac-12 foes USC and Washington.

“Obviously, (from a) scouting report standpoint, their defensive line is special, as good as we’ve played against,” Graham said.

The leader of the Wolfpack is defensive end Bradley Chubb, whose 73 tackles were third most on the team. A whole 20 of those went for loss, and 10 were sacks. Chubb also forced three fumbles.

“I think the interesting matchup of this game, too, is the efficiency of each team’s offense,” Graham said. “One of the things we pride ourselves in is taking care of the football. It’ll come down to turnovers.”

— Kevin Zimmerman

Other key players

– ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins has thrown for 2,918 yards and 17 TDs with five interceptions.

– N.C. State linebacker Jerod Fernandez led the team with 93 tackles and seven for loss.

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