Arizona State football enters 2017 with a coach on the hot seat. Can the Sun Devils rebound from two straight losing seasons to compete in the Pac-12 South?
Arizona State seemed on course for bowl eligibility in 2016 despite a slew of injuries at key positions. Quarterbacks had been dropping like flies, but Todd Graham’s team continued to remain in the hunt. Then the Sun Devils collapsed on Black Friday after Thanksgiving. In the Territorial Cup game against rival Arizona, the Sun Devils gave up 56 points and fell to 5-7 on the season.
It was a painful end to a tough season. For the first time in Graham’s five seasons in Tempe, Arizona State missed out on a bowl game. A team just a few years removed from back-to-back 10-win seasons collapsed at the final hurdle. Now Graham finds himself on the hot seat, having boosted expectations among the Sun Devils faithful.
2017 offers new hope for a team that found itself in far too many shootouts last season. If the Sun Devils are going to return to bowl eligibility in the upcoming season, they will need better luck with players’ health on offense and a more consistent presence on defense.
The situation isn’t quite as dire for Todd Graham as it is for his counterpart Rich Rodriguez at rival Arizona. ASU has plenty of talent returning and, with the right mix of good bounces and good performances, should easily be back in the postseason in 2017. What would the Sun Devils have to do to actually challenge for the Pac-12 South this season?
Offense
The Sun Devils just might have the best one-two punch at running back in the Pac-12. Kalen Ballage and Demario Richard both return to Tempe for their senior seasons. Ballage broke out against Texas Tech last season with an eight-touchdown game. Richard ended up leading the team in rushing yards for the season. Both could approach 1000 yards this season. They will also be spelled by redshirt sophomore Nick Ralston.
They’ll be running behind an offensive line that might start as many as three freshman or sophomores. Redshirt senior A.J. McCollum will anchor the line at center, having taken over immediately after transferring from City College of San Francisco. He alone is responsible for more than one-quarter of the unit’s 41 career starts along the offensive line.
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The receiving corps also lost its biggest threat, as last year’s leading receiver Tim White is now a Baltimore Raven. Spring practices revealed a group that is low on experience but high on talent and potential. N’Keal Harry has the most experience as last year’s second-leading receiver, but the unit could feature as many as eight different receivers throughout the season.
Who will play at quarterback?
Who will throw to those receivers is a question that remains on the table after spring. Manny Wilkins started the majority of games last year after three other quarterbacks went down to injury. He looks like the favorite to remain in the starting role before the start of preseason practices. But there are plenty of other people on the depth chart who could ostensibly supplant Wilkins before Week 1.
That includes Alabama transfer Blake Barnett, who looked solid during spring practices. So too could sophomore Dillon Sterling-Cole, who was forced to burn his redshirt last season due to all the injuries to other quarterbacks. Bryce Perkins and Brady White, both injured during the spring, might also find themselves in the running in the fall. Graham will need one of these quarterbacks to assert himself as the clear starter if Arizona State’s offense is going to take off in 2017.
Defense
After starting the season 5-1, the wheels came completely off last season in mid-October with a 40-16 demolition at Colorado. But before that, ASU’s defense had shown signs of vulnerability. The Sun Devils won September games against Texas Tech and California despite allowing 55 and 41 points respectively. After the collapse to the Buffaloes, though, the defense gave up at least 37 points in every game of the losing streak.
Against the run, the Sun Devils were at least mediocre. They held opponents to 163 rushing yards per game to rank in the top half of the FBS. It was when opponents took to the air that Arizona State fell down on the job. The secondary gave up more than 350 passing yards per game, ranking dead last in the FBS. Teams went scoreless on just eight percent of their trips to the red zone against the Sun Devils.
ASU fans are hoping that a more experienced defense will be able to turn around some of these numbers in 2017. If the Sun Devils are going to return to a bowl game, they will need the defense to come through and make key stops more often than they managed to do last year.
A new face at defensive coordinator
Perhaps the biggest transition for the Sun Devils defense occurred not on the field but on the sidelines. Out goes Keith Patterson after three progressively worse seasons. In comes Phil Bennett, who most recently spent six seasons as Baylor’s defensive coordinator, was the SMU head coach between 2002 and 2007.
Bennett’s main goal is to shore up a secondary that was prone to giving up back-breaking plays. The Sun Devils will likely continue to play a high-energy game in the front seven, but Bennett is likely to emphasize a bend-but-don’t-break philosophy in the defensive backfield. Arizona State hopes to cut back on conceding big plays after giving up an average of nearly two and a half touchdowns of 25 or more yards in 2016. If they can do so, the defensive numbers will inevitably improve.
2017 Schedule
| WEEK | DATE | OPPONENT | LOCATION |
| 1 | Aug. 31 | vs. New Mexico State | Tempe, AZ |
| 2 | Sept. 9 | vs. San Diego State | Tempe, AZ |
| 3 | Sept. 16 | at Texas Tech | Lubbock, TX |
| 4 | Sept. 23 | vs. Oregon | Tempe, AZ |
| 5 | Sept. 30 | at Stanford | Stanford, CA |
| 6 | BYE WEEK | ||
| 7 | Oct. 14 | vs. Washington | Tempe, AZ |
| 8 | Oct. 21 | at Utah | Salt Lake City, UT |
| 9 | Oct. 28 | vs. USC | Tempe, AZ |
| 10 | Nov. 4 | vs. Colorado | Tempe, AZ |
| 11 | Nov. 11 | at UCLA | Pasadena, CA |
| 12 | Nov. 18 | at Oregon State | Corvallis, OR |
| 13 | Nov. 25 | vs. Arizona | Tempe, AZ |
The non-conference schedule was not the problem for Arizona State last year. It offers a mixed bag this year for the Sun Devils. They open the year at home against a New Mexico State team that is about to be cast adrift into independence after this season by the Sun Belt. Two-time defending Mountain West champion San Diego State comes to Tempe the following week, which could be a stiff test. They close out with a trip to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech in a rematch of last year’s 68-55 shootout.
Unlike their rivals, Arizona State faces both Washington and Stanford from the Pac-12 North. Instead they avoid Washington State and California from the other division. Oregon and Washington come to Tempe, while the Sun Devils travel to Stanford in late September and Corvallis in November.
In divisional play, ASU faces Utah in Salt Lake City and UCLA in the Rose Bowl. They host USC and Colorado as well as the Territorial Cup showdown with rival Arizona on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Both teams could be playing for a bowl appearance, just as the Sun Devils were last season.
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Projection: 7-5 (4-5 Pac-12)
This time around, though, the Sun Devils should have bowl eligibility locked up before Thanksgiving. New Mexico State is a likely win, and San Diego State must face life after Donnel Pumphrey. Texas Tech will be looking for revenge, but will be beatable once again. Stanford, Washington and USC are the toughest conference tests, but they should be well matched in most other games. They should get to seven or even eight wins this year and return to the postseason with ease.