Coming off a nightmare performance in week three against Fresno State, Arizona State will face off against the fifth-ranked team in the country with concerns on both sides of the ball. The No. 5 USC Trojans are coming to Tempe with three blowout victories to start their season.
Led by junior quarterback Caleb Williams, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and consensus top pick in next year’s NFL Draft, the USC offense will be the most potent to come into Tempe since Washington last season.
Williams only threw two incompletions against Stanford last week and already has 12 touchdowns, 878 passing yards and zero interceptions.
“You can’t, you have to limit him. When you’re there you make a play to limit him.” ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham said when asked how to stop Caleb Williams. “To say you can stop him is unrealistic. The goal should be to limit him.”
It’s not just Williams who has the Sun Devil’s attention this week.
“This running back they have. Number zero is one of the best I’ve seen in the last two years.” ASU Defensive Coordinator Brian Ward said
Ward was talking about USC junior running back MarShawn Lloyd who leads the Trojans with 195 yards and two touchdowns so far, averaging just under 8 yards per carry.
ASU’s defense has been solid so far. They have allowed under 90 rushing yards per game and more importantly, on a night in which their offense had eight turnovers, they only allowed two touchdowns.
“Our defense fought hard and battled,” Dillingham said. “To have eight turnovers and only give up 29 points, it’s just one of the most incredible things I’ve ever been a part of.”
Going into the game, the Sun Devils are 34-point underdogs according to the Las Vegas odds.
Since 2018, ASU has only allowed 30 or more points in 22 of its last 58 games and also held opponents under 400 yards of offense in 32 of those 58 games.
Last week nothing went right for ASU on offense. Three different quarterbacks saw the field due to injuries sustained throughout the game.
The Sun Devils only managed 42 rushing yards as well.
This week, redshirt sophomore quarterback Drew Pyne was named the starter. Pyne completed five of 13 passes for 52 yards and two interceptions against Fresno State before coming out with an injury
The injured offensive line did not protect any of the quarterbacks well last week. ASU quarterbacks were sacked five times against Fresno State, three of which were against Pyne.
One notable change for the offense will be the play calling. Dillingham was seen calling plays at practice and said he would start getting more involved on offense than he has been previously.
“Offensively we need a little bit of a boost.” Dillingham said, “Me as the head coach, whenever I’m more involved on a side of the ball they’re going to feel a sense of urgency. So I’m just trying to get more involved on that side of the ball this week to try to feel that sense of urgency to try and get something sparked.”
USC leads the all-time series between the teams, but over the last 12 games, ASU has managed a respectable 5-7 record with three of those wins in Tempe.
The last matchup in Los Angeles was a 42-25 win for the Trojans. ASU is 27-16-1 in Pac-12 home openers but lost its last one to Utah. The Sun Devils need a win this week to avoid their fourth 1-3 start since 1978 when the Pac-10 was formed.
It will be one of the biggest games of the year tonight with family weekend and a sold-out crowd packing Mountain America Stadium at 7:30 p.m. The game will also be live on Fox, Arizona Sports 98.7FM and SIRIUS XM 132.
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