After mostly keeping a dynamic passing attack in Texas A&M at bay, ASU football was virtually untested by a pair of triple-option offenses in Cal Poly and New Mexico.
Enter Saturday's opponent, No. 19 USC. The high-flying No.Trojans have totaled 1,049 yards through the air.
Against Stanford last week, USC was able to break loose for a few significant gains, including JuJu Smith-Schuster's 54-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter. Otherwise, the rest of the Trojan wideouts were relatively quiet.
The Sun Devil secondary, meanwhile, remains the same outside of the departed Damarious Randall.
Sophomore Armand Perry stepped briefly and started free safety role before his injury who has been adequately replaced by freshman Kareem Orr.
In his second year at USC, Steve Sarkisian along with his second-year starter Cody Kessler have started to expand the playbook.
Senior cornerback Lloyd Carrington was successful last year limiting both Smith-Schuster and his predecessor Nelson Agholor from stretching the secondary with their legs.
Against Arkansas State and Idaho, Cody Kessler was able to hit a streaking Smith-Schuster for two touchdowns for more than 50 yards.
Carrington is a protypical cornerback in Todd Graham's scheme: aggressive, working to jam receivers at the line, and getting by the would-be blockers on a bubble screen and working toward the ball carrier.
The Trojan offense in 2014 was centered on getting the ball to Javorius 'Buck' Allen the ball as much as possible, but the focus has been shifted toward getting the numerous highly touted receivers the ball in space. There's plenty of talent in the USC backfield as well, but the battle between the skilled defensive backs and wide receivers of both sides should take center stage Saturday.
Reach the reporter at brian.w.carroll@asu.edu or follow @biggs_carroll on Twitter.
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