TEMPE, Ariz. -- Following Arizona State's 62-27 loss to UCLA on Thursday, coach Todd Graham admitted to an "embarrassing" defeat. It was a humbling experience for a team that had billed the game as the biggest of the season.
The college football world took notice of ASU's letdown -- it was aired nationally on a Thursday night, after all -- and come Monday morning the Sun Devils had fallen from No. 15 in the Associated Press top 25 to unranked altogether. Many believed ASU had been exposed.
But in Tempe, at Graham's weekly press conference, there were no signs of panic, no indication the Sun Devils are reeling or scrambling to save their season.
"Our program, we don't just wholesale scrap everything, change everything overnight," Graham said. "The sky's not falling. We're just continuing to get better. I'm proud of the young men we're working with, the attitude, the character they have.
"This is the Pac-12 Conference. You're going to play some of the best teams, most explosive teams in the country, and it gives you an opportunity to do something spectacular and great every weekend."
UP NEXT: Arizona State at USC
When: Saturday, 4:30 PT
Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
TV: FOX (Joe Davis, Joey Harrington)
Replay: FOX Sports Arizona, Monday, Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 8, noon
Against No. 16 USC in Los Angeles this weekend, ASU has the chance to redeem itself and prove it's not as bad as it looked against the Bruins. A win would have the Sun Devils back in the hunt for the Pac-12 South title.
Still, Graham admits the Sun Devils (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12) have issues. If they didn't, Thursday's debacle wouldn't have gone down like it did.
But Graham is emphasizing ASU's response to the embarrassing loss rather than dwelling on it. Part of that response: Fixing the problems. In his press conference Monday, Graham addressed some of the issues that plagued his team against UCLA:
-- Poor tackling: "A lot of it had to do with our guys maybe trying to knock people down, trying to get a little too hyped up and all that. You've just got to be under control making the tackle, not trying to knock the ball loose and stuff like that. And we had not tackled like that. ... I think we had guys that hadn't played in that type of game, and they were just so amped up that they were a little out of control. That hurt us."
-- The inexperienced defensive line's minimal impact so far: "It is a challenge when they get in because that's the hardest position. That's where it's really difficult, and that's where there's less margin for error. It's just hard to make huge leaps. ... We've got to adapt to the guys we have. We had adapted very well to the ones we had before, but we recruited these guys to fit our system, and they do fit our system. We've got to coach 'em and get 'em developed, and we've got to adapt to what they do well right now."
-- Defensive substitution issues that have led to penalties and burned timeouts: "The No. 1 thing that caused that was tempo. ... It happens because teams are moving fast and going fast. One of things is getting guys on (and) getting guys off the field. When you're going against these fast-tempo teams, it's hard to simulate that in practice. ... We also are playing a lot more people this year. We didn't sub much last year. Will (Sutton) and Carl (Bradford) played every play pretty much. We're subbing at corner, we're subbing some at safety, we're subbing at linebacker, so there's a lot more moving parts."
-- On the kickoff cover unit, which ranks 10th in the Pac-12: "It's just missed tackles. ... In this league you have to kick the ball off, and you have to cover. Really we've been much improved this year on that. When Alex (Garoutte) locates the ball where he's supposed to, then we don't have any issues. But mostly tackling. There's some technique things we can try to get better at, but it just boils down to making tackles."
Those are not ASU's only issues, of course, as it shouldn't be forgotten ASU's offense committed four turnovers against UCLA. It also couldn't establish the run against its best opponent yet.
It should not be surprising, though, that ASU's defense is going through some growing pains after losing nine starters, four of whom are playing in the NFL. It's part of the process, and so is the criticism and doubt that comes with it.
"What happens when you have a setback is everybody questions, everybody looks at all that, and that's the nature of the deal," Graham said. "But we've got a belief in what we're doing, we've got a belief in each other."
When ASU met USC last season it was coming off a demoralizing road loss to Stanford. The Sun Devils responded by clobbering USC so badly that then-Trojans coach Lane Kiffin didn't last the weekend. ASU is hoping for a similar response this weekend.
"We're probably playing the best team we've faced to this point this week, so we've got to play our best game," Graham said. "We were able to do that last year, and we've got to do it this year."
ASU is 19-0 under Graham when leading at halftime, but 2-10 when trailing or tied -- with both wins coming last season (Wisconsin and Utah). They trailed 27-17 at the half against UCLA.
"When we're winning, it's like astronomically in our favor," Graham said. "In this league offenses are so explosive. The key is the first and second quarter, surviving that. And people have to survive our offense, too.
"It's how far are you behind. If it's close, then obviously you've got an opportunity to win those games. You just can't get behind like that."
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