Arizona State football receives average grades for performance vs. USC

The Arizona State Sun Devils dropped their Pac-12 opener against No. 5 USC 42-28 Saturday night at a sold out Mountain America Stadium.

Unlike last week's game in which the Sun Devil were not competitive, this time ASU pushed the heavily favored Trojans from start to finish. It was a one score game until USC found the end zone for the final time midway through the fourth quarter.

A breakdown of grades for each ASU unit:

Offense (C+)

There was nowhere to go but up for the ASU offense which got an F last week. There was marked improvement even though the Sun Devils played a better foe. They were able to get the ball to their playmakers more consistently and ended up with 353 yards, a respectable tally against the Trojans and more commendable given the state of the offensive line. Cameron Skattebo ran for 111, marking the first 100-yard game on the ground for an ASU player this season. Elijhah Badger had nine catches for 88 yards and Jalin Conyers had five for 71 while Skattebo had four for 79. That would be good enough against many other teams.

Defense (C-)

The Sun Devils may have taken a step back here but this unit has really held its own in the previous three games but again, we’re talking a much tougher foe. It was a Heisman Trophy winner leading the other side. The Sun Devils gave up 535 yards on 60 plays, that’s 8.9 per play. But USC was just 3-for-10 on third down and 1-for-2 on fourth. ASU got its first takeaway, a fumble recovery by Tate Romney, who also had seven tackles, a breakup and a quarterback hurry. Chris Edmonds had a team-high nine tackles.

Special teams (C+)

We have touched on the punting. Dario Longhetto made both his tries, one from 35 yards and three other from 30. Badger was solid on the return team with three kickoff returns for 83 yards and ASU's coverage teams were stellar with USC's Zachariah Branch netting just 17 yards on three tries.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU football receives average grades for play against USC