LOS ANGELES – It didn't come down to Manny Wilkins versus Sam Darnold, and it didn't even come down to Brady White versus Max Browne – but ASU football lost just its third game by a margin of 20+ points under head coach Todd Graham to USC Saturday night, falling 41-20.
Graham, instead of delivering his customary opening statement, verbalized what he – and likely many others had they been in his position – seemed to have been thinking.
"What do you say?"
After White entered late in the second quarter following Wilkins' exit with an apparent leg injury, Graham said the only update on the redshirt sophomore's condition was that he was not available to play in the second half.
Graham has been in this position before – when Taylor Kelly went down with an ankle injury at Colorado in 2014, it set the stage for one of the most memorable moments in ASU football history nearly two years ago: The "Jael-Mary", thanks in part to Calabasas's own and former Sun Devil Mike Bercovici.
But in order to have the "Bercovici Moment," you have to weather the storm of adversity first.
White, a redshirt freshman and Newhall, California native had an unlikely homecoming in his first Pac-12 action after seeing only one offensive play against NAU. It wasn't nearly like the one he would have wanted – not like the one Bercovici had after getting a full start under his belt.
"(USC) played really well," White said. "Unfortunately we weren't really able to click on offense... We can't put ourselves in that situation, and we need to do well on first and second down and put up more points."
Trailing 27-6 at the halftime break, the Sun Devils (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) were down big to the Trojans (2-3, 1-2 Pac-12) and it didn't get much better in the second half, as the game continued to trend further and further out of ASU's reach.
But after four straight drives ended in three-and-outs, White conducted a six-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, tossing the first touchdown pass of his collegiate career to redshirt junior tight end Raymond Epps from 13 yards out.
The following possession spanned nine plays and covered 60 yards, as White led the Sun Devils into the red zone and handed the ball off to redshirt freshman Nick Ralston, who ran it in for a 10-yard touchdown to bring the score to its final margin.
Though the severity of the Wilkins injury looked significant — he needed help walking back to the sideline and later returned to the field on crutches and sporting a boot — it is unclear what his status will be for next week versus UCLA, let alone for the rest of the season.
For that reason, it's unfair to bestow additional expectations upon White. He hasn't played a full game yet. But if an opportunity comes, there's precedent for ASU quarterbacks to rise to the occasion and become important — not only on the field, but integral to the face of the program and its locker room chemistry.
"I felt pretty well prepared, obviously it's a new environment for me," White said. "This was my first real action in college football. It was a lot of fun, you go out there and you gotta see the defense and work on the things that you did throughout the week. I felt pretty comfortable after one or two plays, and I'm just glad that we finished strong."
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.
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