Washington State (6-3) beat Arizona State (4-5) 38-24 on Saturday.
Punch in the gut
The best team head coach Todd Graham said he's ever coached is now 4-5.
Arizona State, under Graham, has hit a new low.
It sort of feels like beating a dead horse, but how has a team with National Championship aspirations been this bad?
Sadly it's a question we're still grasping for answers to.
This was ASU's chance to rebound and respond to a gut-wrenching loss to Oregon just a week ago.
They didn't respond.
The Sun Devils did jump out to an early 14-0 lead in this game, but from there it was downhill.
ASU missed tackles, dropped passes and ultimately fell to a Washington State team that really was the better football team on Saturday.
The 'Fifth Down'
Perhaps the turning point in this game came on one of the most confusing moments of the college football season.
ASU was nursing a 14-3 lead and had forced the Cougars to go for it on fourth and five.
Wazzu was driving and was in the red zone, and Luke Falk's pass to Gabe Marks appeared to be short of the first down marker.
That was until an inadvertent whistle was blown and somehow someway Washington State was gifted a 'do-over' of the fourth down play.
The very next play, Falk hit Dom Williams for a touchdown.
From that point on, Washington State would outscore ASU 28-10.
Sure, there were plenty of things that contributed to this Sun Devil loss, but that play can certainly be looked at as a turning point.
Bowl bound?
ASU is going to have to fight and claw their way to a bowl game this season.
It's crazy to even think that's where we are, but it's true.
The Sun Devils still have games against Washington, Arizona and Cal left on their schedule, and they need to win two of those last three to become bowl eligible.
Can they do it?
Based on what we saw Saturday in Pullman, it doesn't look terribly promising.
Could ASU go 3-0 to finish the year?
Sure.
Would anyone be terribly surprised if they finished 0-3?
Based on what ASU has shown this year, probably not.
Time for a QB change?
A few weeks ago I said it might be time for ASU to make a change at the quarterback position.
The Sun Devils were on a downhill turn and I figured might as well see what Manny Wilkins could do.
Now, it's not a matter of asking, it's time for a quarterback change.
Allowing Mike Bercovici to finish this season only slows down the team's development for next season.
The fan base is distraught right now, and perhaps the only way to bring them back into the fold is to give them hope moving forward.
That hope can be given by allowing Wilkins to play.
