(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Todd Graham wanted to say to goodbye on his terms.
That’s why, even after being fired last month, the outgoing head coach wanted to stick around for one last game. He was yearning to give his program a triumphant farewell.
What he got was a harsh reminder of why his time in Tempe is coming to an end.
In Graham’s Arizona State coaching finale, his Sun Devils were outplayed and outclassed by No. 24 North Carolina State, succumbing to the Wolfpack 52-31 in Friday’s Hyundai Sun Bowl.
Graham and the Devils saw an opportunity to wrap his tumultuous six-year reign with a tidy bow in the El Paso bowl game. Instead, ASU was uncharacteristically sloppy: turnovers, big plays, missed tackles and poor decisions dug the Sun Devils into an early, and insurmountable, hole against focused NC State.
It was a parting performance that epitomized the Sun Devils’ shortcomings in recent years, a lasting reminder of why ASU slipped from a Pac-12 contender to a program that will break in a new head coach next fall.
“It’s very uncomfortable,” Graham said. “It’s hard not to have emotion. There’s been a lot of it today.”
Leading up to Friday’s game, Graham insisted that the impending coaching change wasn’t distracting his veteran team. But from the game’s opening possession, there was a noticeable – and fatal – regression in ASU’s execution.
Afterward, Graham admitted that blocking out the noise was a near-impossible task.
“No excuses because we didn’t play well today, but it’s been very, very challenging preparing in this circumstance,” he said.
The biggest difference: turnovers.
The Sun Devils had the third-best turnover margin (+5) in the Pac-12 this season, but committed the first of their 4 giveaways on the second play of the game when Kyle Williams coughed up the ball after hauling in a pass.
ASU punted on its next two possessions, then needed NC State penalties and hardly-believable N’Keal Harry receptions to scratch a mere 10 points across the board by halftime.
NC State meanwhile tore open ASU’s defense. In the first half, the Wolfpack scored on 6 of 7 possessions, converted 5 of 7 third-downs (and a fourth-down conversion) and gained almost 8 yards per play to carry a 28-10 lead into the locker room.
“We just couldn’t stop them,” Graham said. “You got to play better defense than that to have a chance. We just couldn’t get off the field in the first half on third down…We just didn’t play very well.”
Added running back Demario Richard: “We came out too slow. You can’t come out slow against a team like that. They got a lot of veterans on defense and we made a lot of mistakes.”
The biggest of those mistakes came in third quarter. Trailing by 21, new life was breathed into the Sun Devils hopeful comeback bid after Langston Frederick recovered a muffed NC State punt return deep in Wolfpack territory, giving ASU a last-chance route back into the game.
However, on the first play of the ensuing drive, quarterback Manny Wilkins forced a ball into double coverage in the end zone, allowing NC State’s Jarius Morehead to haul in an easy interception.
The gift-wrapped opportunity for a late-game rally was short-lived.
“I thought that was the key play in the game,” Graham said.
Wilkins, whose personal improvements keyed ASU to a better-than-expected second-place finish in the Pac-12 South this year, had perhaps his costliest performance of the season Friday after tossing 3 interceptions; he had just 5 in the entirety of the regular season.
“Early on we didn’t execute the way we needed to and they capitalized,” he said while fighting back tears postgame. “… We shot ourselves in the foot.”
As his offense trotted back to the sideline after the back-breaking turnover, Graham was seen by TV cameras shouting on the sidelines, “What are we doing?”
The honest answer: making the same mistakes of the past three year. The familiar failures that have ultimately cost him his job cost him Friday’s contest too.
Though without a victory to celebrate, the ASU faction of the Sun Bowl’s 39,897-person crowd still serenaded Graham with a “Thank you Todd!” chant in the game’s – and his tenure’s – dying moments.
“It meant a lot to me at the end of the game for them to thank me like they did,” Graham said. “It was pretty special for me. It’s been a great honor for me to be the head football coach at Arizona State.”
For the last month, Graham has tried to wear a brave face. He didn’t want his issues to impact his final moment in his “once in a lifetime opportunity.”
After the Sun Bowl defeat though, he couldn’t hide his disappointment.
Friday’s game, this season, this job; they all meant something to him. He called walking away the toughest thing he has done in coaching.
“I poured my heart and soul into this thing,” he said. “The only regret I have is I wish we could have had a little more time.”
