A season ago, the Arizona State Sun Devils were hard-pressed to stop any offense.
Early in the season; however, that didn’t seem to matter. At 4-0, the Sun Devils traveled to Los Angeles to face the struggling USC Trojans, reeling at 1-3 and fresh off a quarterback change.
USC coach Clay Helton made the decision a week prior to replace opening day starter Max Browne with then-redshirt freshman Sam Darnold. The heralded four-star recruit waited his turn behind Cody Kessler, waiting for his opportunity, but Helton had seen enough following inept offensive performances against Alabama and Stanford in the first few weeks.