ASU Football: Was Todd Graham delusional about these Devils?

Prior to the 2015 season getting underway, head coach Todd Graham made some waves when he said that these Arizona State Sun Devils might just be the best team that he’s had during his tenure. The comments ignited a buzz and had many thinking optimistically about the Devils’ chances this season, perhaps to the point of clinching a spot in the College Football Playoff when it was all said and done. Fast forward from those comments to this week, which will culminate in the Devils visiting UCLA, and one has to wonder just what he might have been thinking when declaring that.

Through their first four games of the year, the Devils are a disappointing 2-2, with their two wins coming against inferior competition in Cal Poly and the University of New Mexico. Meanwhile, their two contests against ranked competition, in Texas A&M to open the season and, most recently, USC, have ended in complete disaster, as the Devils have lost those two games by a combined 80-31.

The two losses, especially the shellacking they endured at the hands of the Trojans over the weekend, have really called into question Graham’s optimism about this team, with the 2015 season already having been labeled a tremendous disappointment for ASU football. While there’s still plenty of season to go, and we saw the University of Arizona clinch a spot in the Pac-12 title game despite having two losses last year, it’s certainly worth pondering if Todd Graham was completely delusional when declaring this his best team yet, or if we simply haven’t seen the best from them to this point.

And if we’re going to maintain the sense of optimism that has surrounded this team going back to camp, then one has to imagine that it’s more of the latter. While Graham might have been exaggerating in declaring this his best team yet, they aren’t nearly as bad as the product that we’ve seen on the field to this point. While ASU may not be exactly on par with the likes of Texas A&M or USC, in terms of pure level of talent, it’s hard to imagine such a disparity between the Devils and the teams that have accounted for each of their losses. It has almost as much to do with self-destructive play and overwhelming mistakes as it does with the talent level of the opposition.

The Sun Devils rank 98th in the country in turnover margin, currently sitting at minus-3. While Mike Bercovici has thrown only a pair of interceptions, the Devils have already lost seven fumbles. By comparison, the Devils only lost four fumbles all of last season. The defense has intercepted four passes and recovered just a pair of fumbles, neither of which really approaches the top of the college football leaderboard. Their inability to hold onto the football was on display against USC, where they turned the ball over four times total, including on their opening possession and with the ball on the opposing one.

What ASU has continued to do well under Graham is limit penalties. While one of their two penalties against the Trojans was ill-timed and allowed USC to keep a drive alive in which they’d later score a touchdown, they’ve committed the fourth-least amount of penalties this season. A lot of what plagues them goes back to mistakes in protecting the football, as well as their continued inability to find a rhythm on offense.

So just what does all of this mean for Todd Graham’s preseason comments, then? Was he truly delusional in declaring this his best team, or have mistakes simply held the Devils back from demonstrating what they’re actually capable of? One hopes that it’s the latter. They put in an early fight against USC and looked like they might have something as the game transpired. But turnovers killed them and things got out of hand. Same goes for the A&M game, where they let it get away from them late. They aren’t nearly as inferior to this teams as the scoreboard might have indicated at the end of 60 minutes.

Todd Graham may very well be right about this being his most talented team. But right now, they’re being held back from actually illustrating that on the field. A consistent offense, which we’ll continue to touch on as UCLA approaches, would go a long way toward backing up Graham’s big words. And in order to generate offensive consistency, you have to hold onto the football. What Todd Graham said seems far-fetched now, but a lot can happen between now and the remainder of the season. We’ll take the optimistic approach and say that the talent is there, it just has to be realized.

Randy Holt is the managing editor for Devils in Detail. You can follow him on Twitter @RandallPnkFloyd.