North Carolina State Football: Wolfpack run all over Arizona State at Sun Bowl

3. Lame duck coaches are a bad idea

Todd Graham was fired following the Sun Devil’s final game of the regular season, a win over rival Arizona. For one reason or another the administration made the decision to allow Graham to coach the Sun Devil’s bowl game rather than appoint an interim coach.

They then hired former NFL coach Herm Edwards as their new head coach. The intention was for Edwards to keep the coaching staff intact, but that didn’t last long. Both coordinators left on their own accord within a week of Edwards’ being hired. That left Arizona State with one fired coach, zero coordinators and a colossal mess on their hands.

Unsurprisingly the results were as expected. Not only did the Sun Devils lose, they were entirely uncompetitive. This game serves as one more cautionary tale to all schools making coaching changes at the end of the year.

Next: Predicting all 41 bowl games and CFB Playoff

SMU proved that the opposite situation is also true. They allowed newly name coach Sonny Dykes to coach the Mustangs in the Frisco Bowl. They lost to Louisiana Tech 51-10. Now the Todd Graham era is over at Arizona State, and it didn’t end peacefully.