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Coming off consecutive losing seasons for the first time since the Truman administration, Arizona State was hoping this would be the year to get the program headed in the right direction.
Seems the turnaround took a wrong turn.
With two weeks to prepare for California, the Sun Devils were blasted by the Bears over the weekend, leaving the Bay Area embarrassed after a 50-17 loss that dropped them to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-10.
Any progress Arizona State made with its win over Washington on Oct. 9 washed away.
Any hopes of earning a bowl berth took a severe hit; the Sun Devils need to win four of their final five games, three of those against currently ranked teams.
And any chance of coach Dennis Erickson hanging onto his job after this season could hinge on what happens the rest of the way.
''It's about accountability for everyone on this team,'' Erickson said Monday. ''I'm talking special teams, offense, defense, coaches. We've all got to be accountable. Saturday we weren't. We didn't play like we're capable of playing and we've all got to look at what we've got to do because we're better than that.''
Erickson acknowledged before the season that he was probably on the hot seat, in need of a progress-making season to continue his desert rebuilding project. The 63-year-old coach shrugged it off, saying he'd been in this position many times before and couldn't spend time worrying about things that weren't in his control.
Now, Erickson has plenty of things in his control to worry about.
The season started off fine.
The Sun Devils stomped lower-tier programs Portland State and Northern Arizona and were a blocked extra point short in a gritty road loss to then-No. 11 Wisconsin. Two close losses to the two Oregon schools followed for a three-game losing streak, but Arizona State ended that with a solid road win against Washington.
Then came the Cal game.
The Bears have been maddeningly inconsistent so far this season, running over teams one week, hibernating the next.
Arizona State caught Cal on one of its good weeks and had no chance of keeping up.
Quarterback Steven Threet was ineffective even before going out with a concussion - he's expected to be back this week - and the offense was unusually stagnant, failing to score a touchdown for the first time in two years.
The defense, an Arizona State staple under Erickson, seemed befuddled by Cal's combo of Kevin Riley and Shane Vereen, allowing its most points since Oregon posted 54 in a win in 2008.
Omar Bolden, the Sun Devils' star cornerback, felt so bad after giving up several long plays and a touchdown that he posted an apology to teammates and fans on his Twitter account.
An anomaly? Perhaps. Even during their three-game losing streak, the Sun Devils were at least competitive, keeping it close until late.
The timing is the concern.
This is the point in the season when teams expect to be getting better, not taking steps back. To have so many breakdowns, missed assignments and play so uninspired in the seventh game of the season has to be disconcerting.
''If you look at the whole season, last weekend was very disappointing as far as I'm concerned,'' Erickson said. ''We didn't play well in any phases of the game. Very surprising to me.''
The Sun Devils need to figure it out quickly.
They have a home game against rapidly improving Washington State, which will likely be looking at this Saturday's game in Tempe as an opportunity for an upset after seeing what Cal did. After that, Arizona State plays at No. 24 USC, at home against No. 13 Stanford and UCLA, then closes out the season at rival and No. 15 Arizona.
It's time to get this turnaround turned back around.
''We know what it takes and we have guys in the locker room that can do that. And they will. I look for them to respond extremely well,'' Erickson said. ''If this happens five other times, then we've got some issues, but I don't see that right now. Our guys will step up.''
A lot could be riding on whether they do or not.
