The song remains the same: USC dominates ASU

After two of the most impressive performances of the Todd Graham era, ASU football once again failed to show up against the University of Southern California.

The Trojans (7-2, 5-1 conference) easily bested the Sun Devils (4-4, 3-2 conference) Saturday night in Tempe, by a score of 48-17.

With a chance to control their own destiny in the Pac-12 South, ASU came out flat and showed little resistance against the Trojans. USC now heads home to face Arizona with an opportunity to wrap up the South.

Arizona residents have long been accustomed to lopsided defeats from Los Angeles sports, but the comfort of the Trojans in Tempe is the most demeaning.

Sam Darnold played like the Heisman candidate and NFL prospect he is, facing the team where his coming out party began last year completing 19-of-35 passes and throwing for 266 yards and three touchdowns.

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Ronald Jones also starred under the bright lights of late night football, tallying 216 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. Jones excelled at reaching ASU’s secondary and breaking tackles for huge gains.

A combination of Sun Devil mental errors and missed tackles allowed the Trojans to run wild in the first half resulting in 31 points and a steady flow of students leaving early to start Halloween festivities.

ASU found a little momentum to end the half including a 47-yard Hail Mary touchdown catch by Kyle Williams, and opened the second half with Manny Wilkins leaping into the end zone with a 1-yard touchdown run. Sun Devil head coach Todd Graham summed up the onslaught simply:

“Obviously it was a difficult loss, but give them (USC) the credit they did a great job coming off a tough loss last week and came in and kicked our tail,” said Graham.

Manny Wilkins continued his recent struggles as the offense couldn’t find an answer to USC’s schemes and failed to incorporate a strong rushing attack.

Wilkins finished the night throwing 17-of-29 for 259 yards and one touchdown as well as being sacked six times.

Kalen Ballage was not utilized at all in the first half due to an illness, and Demario Richard found no success attacking USC’s front seven, as ASU only managed 79 rushing yards in the contest.

The slant routes and play action passes that helped ASU defeat Utah were taken away by the Trojans forcing ASU to attempt deep, downfield passes for minimal success.

“Got to play better at quarterback, got to make some better decisions and put us in better positions to score points,” Wilkins said. “When it comes to third downs, we were 1-for-8 on third down and that’s unacceptable regardless of what’s going on in the game regardless of the situation. I got to do my job to put us in the position to score points and ultimately win football games.”

Next: ASU Football: Sun Devils vs. Trojans Rapid Reaction

Arizona State returns to action next Saturday when they face the Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado is coming off a defeat against California, for their second conference win on the season. Kickoff for the game is 6 p.m. Arizona time, the game will be televised on Pac-12 Network.

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