In wacky Pac-12 South, ASU’s chances as good as anybody’s
Sep 25, 2016, 12:33 AM | Updated: 1:03 am
(AP Photo/Matt York)
TEMPE, Ariz. — Forget everything you thought you knew about Pac-12 football. Up is down. Black is white. Colorado is good. Oregon is not.
If you like parity, ignore Stanford and enjoy the rest of this conference. It’s going to be a wild, week-to-week ride and there is no telling how it will turn out, especially in the South Division.
Few imagined that Arizona State could contend for a division title with a new quarterback, four new starters on the offensive line and a rebuilt secondary coming off the worst statistical season in school history. After four games into the season, however, the Sun Devils are one of four unbeaten teams in the conference and one of just two in the South after a 51-41 win over Cal on Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium that featured a 45-point fourth quarter.
This week alone, Utah handed USC its third loss of the season, Stanford handed UCLA its second and Colorado won at what had been the conference’s toughest venue, Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, posting their first win over the Ducks since joining the conference in 2011 and sending a strong signal that the times are a changin’.
To summarize: the two, preseason favorites are in trouble while the perennial doormat is walking tall. With all of that insanity as backdrop, why not the Sun Devils? Why not a Pac-12 South title? Why not this year?
“If they can figure out how to get stops and shore it up on the back end, they’re absolutely a dangerous team because of all the playmakers they have on offense,” Pac-12 Networks analyst Evan Moore said earlier this week.
Well, the Sun Devils finally figured out how to get stops when it mattered most. After a disastrous first half that saw them lose running back Kalen Ballage to what some feared was a serious knee injury, and after Cal took a 24-10 lead by going 82 yards in 1:04 just before halftime, the Devils woke up in the second half.
The offense that had struggled against some new Bears defensive looks got Ballage back and churned out 316 yards of offense and 41 points, while the defense produced three turnovers — more than it had in the previous three games — and salted the game away on Laiu Moeakiola’s pick-6 with 2:52 remaining for a 44-34 lead.
“I’m not going to stand up here and say it was halftime adjustments because it’s not,” coach Todd Graham said. “It’s the heart of our players. I don’t just say that lightly. I think these kids have shown it.”
To look several games down the road is crazy talk in this conference, but here’s the situation with ASU. If they can find a way to split with those reeling L.A. schools over the next two weeks (Graham is 4-4 against the Trojans and Bruins in his Tempe tenure), ASU will be 5-1 at the midpoint of the season.
The second half of the schedule is tougher, but with a rolling start of confidence, who knows what this team can accomplish as it gains experience — especially if offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey keeps putting up 50-plus points on Power 5 opponents and the defense can keep improving.
“We’re not going to face any tougher (passing) offenses,” Graham noted. “We just faced the No. 1 (Texas Tech) and No. 2 (Cal) in the country. That’s got to prepare us and help us.”