Well, that's one way for an undefeated season to come to an end.
ASU football got absolutely walloped against USC at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. A 41-20 final score did not truly show the domination the Trojans exerted.
Sometimes in college football blowouts, there is a silver lining for the losing team. Maybe they hung around for a half or maybe a certain player had a good performance.
That was not the case on Saturday night.
The Sun Devils (4-1) were completely outplayed by USC (2-3) on offense, defense and special teams.
There's really no excuse for a sloppy showing like that against a 1-3 team — it doesn't matter if it is USC — you can't get blown out in that fashion.
"We didn't do anything well, coaching or playing," ASU head coach Todd Graham said after the game.
ASU didn't look like an unbeaten team in this game. They did nothing well and they deserved to lose.
This game proves a few things.
One, the Sun Devils' 4-0 record was nice, but clearly it was not a true benchmark of their actual level of play.
Two, ASU's passing defense isn't just suspect against prolific offenses like Cal and Texas Tech, it's a problem, period.
Three, the Pac-12 South is wide open. Since Utah also lost, nobody is in control, but everyone, save for Arizona, has a shot to win it.
So that's what the Sun Devils have shown us. They're a decent team that had no business being on the same field as the Trojans, at least not last night.
But the Sun Devils' problems don't end with last night's loss.
ASU's defensive backfield was exposed by USC redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold, who one of the best games of his young career, throwing for 352 yards and scoring four total touchdowns.
He made some great plays, but there were also wide open receivers running free throughout the defensive backfield. It's tough to beat USC in the Coliseum as it is, but if you make it easy for them, you have no chance.
ASU can explain away poor performances against offensive juggernauts like Texas Tech and Cal, after all, those teams have future NFL quarterbacks and run an Air Raid system that puts up yards on anyone.
But you can't explain away this one. The Trojans' receivers had plenty of cushion, and the multitude of missed tackles did not make matters easier.
And, yes USC junior wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster is amazing and expecting ASU to play well against him heading into the game would have been foolish.
That said, Smith-Schuster looked like a different beast against the Sun Devils.
USC 34, ASU 6.@TEAM_JUJU9 has seven catches for 123 yards and 3 TD. Watch on FOX!#FightOn https://t.co/OPTeXoR5oV
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) October 2, 2016
I mean, come on. They should be able to do better than that.
The performance from the Sun Devils' secondary probably wasn't a huge surprise, they haven't played a complete game yet this season.
The problem against USC was that the offense sputtered all game, and it didn't matter who played quarterback.
Before redshirt sophomore quarterback Manny Wilkins got injured, he wasn't exactly tearing it up, as ASU could only muster six points in the first half when he played.
The running game was non-existent all game and the receivers had a few drops that didn't help backup redshirt freshman quarterback Brady White in the second half.
With Wilkins' injury status still up in the air, the Sun Devils will need a better game plan if White has to play going forward.
Part of this ugly loss was because USC was desperate and ASU was cruising after racing out to an unexpected 4-0 start.
The Trojans needed this win. If USC fell to ASU at home, they would have dropped to 1-4 and USC head coach Clay Helton may have been fired.
USC can't be 1-4. I don't think it's at all possible if you consider the abundance of talent it has on the roster.
After losing to far superior opponents in Alabama, Stanford and Utah, a game against an unproven ASU team was a perfect way to right the ship.
But it doesn't matter how desperate USC was, a loss like that does have good optics for ASU, because it reveals them for who they are: A decent team that benefitted from a workable early-season schedule.
So congrats Sun Devil fans, your football team is good, but nothing more than that at least for now.
Reach the columnist at mpharri7@asu.edu or follow @Harris_Mark7 on Twitter.
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