One year ago, ASU quarterback Mike Bercovici was laying down face first on the turf of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He was a hero, forever immortalized by his last-second pass to Jaelen Strong to cement a 38-34 victory.
Saturday, Bercovici and the Sun Devils (2-2, 0-1 Pac-12) fell flat on their faces, walking off of the field at Sun Devil Stadium with the scoreboard reading a 42-14 loss at the hands of No. 19 USC (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12).
Bercovici had been annointed as the chosen star after throwing for 510 yards and five touchdowns against the Trojans last season.
But ASU's early-season struggles caught up to them in embarrassing fashion, leading them to trail 35-0 at the half in a game that many saw ASU as a trendy upset pick.
On Saturday, Bercovici was undone by the same program he grew up watching in Calabasas, California, the same program against which he was named the poster boy for Sun Devil football.
The redshirt senior's stat line was respectable, finishing the game 23-for-44 for 272 yards and throwing an interception. But Bercovici was not the quarterback ASU needed.
Simple passes sailed high. Wide-open receivers were missed. The offense lacked any rhyme or reason.
"As a quarterback, that's my job whether it's ball location or overthrowing receivers or whatnot," Bercovici said.
Yet Bercovici still had ASU hanging in it with 25 seconds left in the first half and "just" a 21-0 deficit. ASU's offense had churned down the field to the one-yard line, and looked to finally break into the game.
Bercovici lined up in the shotgun and backup center Stephon McCray's snap sailed high. Bercovici tried getting the ball to sophomore running back Demario Richard, but botched the handoff and watched as USC redshirt sophomore safety Corey Hawkins took the ball the remaining 94 yards for the score.
Last season, Bercovici thrived in adversity. Saturday, he shriveled under it.
"That's on me as a quarterback," Bercovici said of the miscue. "I've got to make sure in those situations, worst-case scenario just take a knee as a quarterback and move on. It's a learning experience. ...It has to be a score or a negative play. Nothing like that.
"As a quarterback, you catch the snap. You make your reads. You can't go backwards."
ASU head coach Todd Graham said what many fans were thinking — that just can not happen.
"Snap the ball up high, and we weren't able to get the ball handed off," he said. "He was just supposed to hand it off. That resulted in seven points the other way. ... We've got to get that under control."
Whereas Bercovici's big shot on that night in Los Angeles was pointed right at the Trojans' heart, Saturday night Bercovici found a new target — his own foot.
Graham said the turnovers, notably the fumble, were the difference in the game.
"You can't turn the ball over on the one-yard line, and I think that was probably the play of the game," Graham said. "We haven't done stuff like that. That is unacceptable. We as coaches cannot have that stuff happen."
From that moment, the wheels fell off.
On the very next play, redshirt junior running back Gump Hayes inexplicably took the ball out of his own end zone on a kickoff, only to fumble at his own 5-yard line to a USC recovery. USC senior quarterback Cody Kessler calmly drills the needle into ASU's hearts three plays later, finding sophomore JuJu Smith-Shuster for the score to make it 35-0.
"We talk about with all the right intentions you don't operate outside the system," Graham said. "Actually, we didn't do it in the game, and somebody just tried to make a play, and we fumbled the ball, turned the football over there. You know, that was 14 points and a very short period of time."
A 14-point swing, all in a span of 30 seconds.
"That was obviously a kick in the gut, followed by another kick in the gut," Graham said. "So we're self-destructing when you're turning the football over like that."
Bercovici contributed two of ASU's four turnovers in the game, further revealing the team's sloppiness through their first four games of the season.
"We're putting the ball in jeopardy way too much," Graham said. "We'd never done that. If you do that, you're not going to have a chance to win the game."
There are several reasons why ASU lost against USC. The defense struggled to get off the field. Junior kicker Zane Gonzalez missed two long field goals. Special teams continued to be a mess. USC's wide receivers made the Sun Devil defense look slow in a way that only Texas A&M has this season.
Despite all these factors, ASU did have a chance to win Saturday night. With a score on the board just before the half and the ball to begin the second half, who knows if the Sun Devils would have repeated history with a comeback win.
It just didn't work anymore.
The rallying spirit behind ASU's signal-caller was veiled in postgame cliches and a "next play" mentality. Reality is, however, that Mike Bercovici dragged ASU back into that fateful win last season. This Mike Bercovici just fumbled it away.
It's fitting, actually, seeing Bercovici on his stomach in disbelief. This season, however, it was just for the wrong reason.
Reach the reporter at fardaya@asu.edu or follow @fardaya15 on Twitter.
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