So, about that turnaround. The one where a porous defense turned elite while the offense found a running game to aid its dangerous passing attack.

It came to an abrupt halt on Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium as No. 21 USC defeated ASU, 48-17, in a game the Trojans dominated start to finish.

“It just wasn’t our night,” coach Todd Graham said.

It didn’t appear so. After a lackluster start to the season, the Sun Devils had seemingly flipped the script with an upset win over then-No. 5 Washington and a dominant road win at Utah.

Once lifeless, ASU (4-4, 3-2 Pac-12) had hope. Saturday’s game against USC (7-2, 5-1) was for sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 South, an opportunity for the Sun Devils to make good on their promises that conference play was a new season.

But to this point, ASU was also a heavy underdog. And with two big wins came hefty expectations. How ASU would handle them became the question.

Instead of seizing a golden opportunity, the Sun Devils regressed to the team from the first five games of the season. There was no rhythm on offense, missed tackles on defense and penalties all over the field.

“(USC) came in here ready to play tonight and kicked our tail,” Graham said. “Outcoached us, outplayed us.”

The most notable reasons for ASU’s improvement on defense the past two weeks were its tackling, limiting big plays and getting off the field.

The first two usually coincide in most cases, but certainly did on Saturday. USC’s had scores of 32, 42, 67 and 64 yards, with other explosive players littered in throughout the game. Missed tackles helped the Trojans find the end zone on a majority of those touchdowns.

USC running back Ronald Jones II carried 18 times for 216 yards, regularly gashing the Sun Devil defense and switching the field on occasion.

“A lot of the times that he broke, we had guys right there on him,” Graham said. “We just didn’t tackle him.”

ASU’s secondary had limited sizeable gains in the passing game the past two weeks. Not tonight.

USC quarterback Sam Darnold completed 19 of 35 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns. He had turnover issues coming in, but he didn’t throw an interception or put the ball on the ground.

USC wide receiver Tyler Vaughns caught six passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns, while Deontay Burnett added four receptions for 49 yards.

Graham said USC features the best set of skill players in the Pac-12. However, ASU made it easier on them. On one play, sophomore cornerback Kobe Williams missed a tackle on an out route and it went for a touchdown.

“They were very physical on the outside,” Graham said. “We tried to do some things to mix things up, but we just gave up big plays. Everything was big plays.”

In total, USC gained 607 yards of offense while running 20 more plays than ASU, which is notable because Graham preaches how snap totals are often indicative of a team’s performance on both sides of the ball. The Trojans converted 7 of 15 third downs, an area ASU had improved in over the past two weeks.

“They didn’t do anything new. They didn’t do anything special,” Graham said. “I think they showed up tonight and wanted it more than we did. We didn’t show up and play.”

Graham also emphasizes the importance of winning the turnover battle on both sides of the ball. ASU’s problem on Saturday wasn’t turnovers, it was a lack of rhythm.

The Sun Devils had just 197 yards of offense with five first downs in the first half, leading to a 31-10 deficit at the break. But much of that came in two chunks.

In the first quarter, junior quarterback Manny Wilkins threw to sophomore receiver N’Keal Harry, who after the run ended with a 70-yard gain. The other came at the end of the half when sophomore receiver Kyle Williams caught a Hail Mary pass as time expired.

The play was weird because Williams was initially ruled short of the end zone, but officials called it a touchdown after further review. Nonetheless, it seemed like the Sun Devils — on the verge of being blown out — maybe had life, especially because they would receive the ball to start the second half.

ASU went on a seven-play, 75-yard drive to start the third quarter, ending with a 1-yard Wilkins touchdown run. Suddenly it was a two-score game.

That didn’t matter.

“We never could slow them down and stop them,” Graham said.

And ASU’s offense was never consistent enough to match USC and make it a shootout.

“Got to play better at quarterback,” Wilkins said. “Got to make better decisions and got to put us in better positions to score points.”

If only it were that simple.

Wilkins was 17-for-29 for 259 yards and was sacked six times. Senior running back Kalen Ballage touched the ball just once as Graham later said he had a virus and had been throwing up all day. Fellow senior back Demario Richard carried 15 times for 70 yards, but because of the deficit, ASU couldn’t keep running the ball and seeing time run off the clock.

ASU had converted key third downs the past two weeks, but on Saturday, the Sun Devils were 1-for-12.

“You can’t win a game when you do that,” said Graham, who mentioned the third-down conversion rate reflects poor coaching.

Entering the contest, ASU led the nation in fewest penalties per game with just over three. The Sun Devils had 10 on Saturday, the most of an ASU team in Graham’s tenure in Tempe.

There was a targeting penalty called on ASU safety Das Tautalatasi’s hit on a USC receiver in the end zone, disqualifying him from the remainder of the game. There were also multiple other personal foul penalties, perhaps a sign of ASU losing its composure.

“Coach Graham told us when they came out they were going to be talking, but some of us bought into it which was poor of us,” ASU senior linebacker DJ Calhoun said. “That was lacking in our character. But we just have to put that in the past and move on.”

The Sun Devils probably won’t want to take anything from Saturday’s performance into their final four games. After an uninspiring start to the season, ASU had a chance to rewrite its story. And for two weeks, it did.

Following those two wins, there was hope. Graham and his Sun Devils always talk about their goal of winning a Pac-12 Championship, and in the past week, that conversation became more realistic than it’s been all year.

It’s still not out of the question, but on Saturday, those dreams took a hit when ASU failed to seize the moment.

“Any week in the Pac-12 (that) you don’t come out and play your best, that’s what’s going to happen to you,” Graham said. “But they’re a very, very good football team. We’ve played a lot of really, really good football teams, teams that are better than them. We played poorly tonight.”