Last week, ASU football overcame a 16-point deficit in its road opener against UTSA, the program’s largest road comeback win since a 22-point comeback at San Diego State in 2002. The Sun Devils found themselves in a similar spot in Saturday’s conference opener against Cal as they trailed by 14 points at halftime after yet another sluggish first half.

The two results were the same.

Trailing 27-20, ASU (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) scored 31 fourth-quarter points, becoming one of just two teams to do so in the past five years, and the only this season. In addition to the offense gaining 316 more total yards in the second half than the first, the defense forced three turnovers in the fourth quarter to slow a Cal offense that had been moving the ball well all game.

The Sun Devils outscored Cal (2-2, 0-1) 41-17 in the second half, but head coach Todd Graham deflected the credit in his team’s 51-41 win.

“I’m not going to stand up here and say halftime adjustments (were the reason we won), because it’s not,” Graham said. “It’s the heart of our players. I don’t just say that lightly, I think these kids have shown it… We bring out the best in each other and when you face adversity, that’s what you see.”

ASU’s fourth-quarter explosion started when redshirt sophomore quarterback Manny Wilkins tied the game with a three-yard keeper, his third rushing touchdown of the night. But just as the momentum swung in the Sun Devils’ direction, Tre Watson took a third-down screen pass 74 yards to put Cal ahead and seemingly suck the life out of a stadium crowd that sounded the loudest it had to that point.

However, Wilkins and the offense responded with an eight-play, 77-yard drive capped off by a 30-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jay Jay Wilson, which was Wilson’s first-career reception. On the ensuing possession, redshirt senior Salamo Fiso — playing in his first game of the season after being suspended for violating team standards — intercepted Cal quarterback Davis Webb in Golden Bears territory, perfectly setting ASU up to take its first lead of the game.

Graham implied that Fiso perhaps goes a bit unnoticed when he isn’t making the plays that show up in a box score.

“You can’t really see the value he has because of all the communication he does,” he said. “We’re communicating a little bit different this year, so we missed him a great deal because of the kind of communicator he is…We didn’t blow as many assignments or coverages or calls because of communication tonight, and I think a lot of it has to do with him being in there.”

Wilkins completed 21-of-30 passes with a touchdown to go along with 23 carries for 72 yards and the aforementioned three touchdowns. During the postgame presser, the signal caller blamed himself for the slow starts, but Graham did not place the blame there.

”I think (Cal) had a great plan and did some good things and did some different things to get us off-balance,” Graham said. “We were struggling to move the football…They had almost twice as many snaps as we did…It wasn’t going the way we wanted it to, but I wouldn’t say he was playing bad, I think you have to give Cal a bit of credit.”

Senior kicker Zane Gonzalez’s 23-yard field goal bounced off the upright but went in to give the Sun Devils a lead they’d never relinquish.

On the next drive, redshirt senior Laiu Moeakiola intercepted Webb and returned it for a touchdown, adding to a host of other notable pick-sixes in wild fourth quarters at Sun Devil Stadium (Kareem Orr and Lloyd Carrington vs. UA last year, Lloyd Carrington vs. Notre Dame in 2014).

In a game with so many memorable plays, the last score was perhaps the strangest. Following a Cal touchdown to cut ASU’s lead to a field goal, linebacker DJ Calhoun caught the onside kick and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown.

It was the dagger. The end to a rollercoaster.

“That was a heck of a game tonight, that was about as stressful as you can get,” Graham said.

Cal outgained ASU in total yards 637 to 454. But the Sun Devils won in an area Graham pointed out as the team’s top priority on Monday during his weekly press conference — turnover ratio, by a +2 margin.

‘We hadn’t pressured or blitzed,” Graham said. “We blitzed a little bit more tonight. I challenged the defensive line tonight at halftime, saying, ‘Man, we need to get a four-man pass rush.’ And we did. We got some pressure on the quarterback.”

In the first half, junior running back Demario Richard had eight carries for just 19 yards while fellow junior back Kalen Ballage was out with a left knee injury. ASU used a more up-tempo offensive attack out of the break and ran the ball well as Richard finished with 67 yards, and Ballage returning sparked the group, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said.

“When times are tough, you lean on your best players and you learn on the strength of your team,” Lindsey said. “I felt like we needed to get the tempo going and hand the ball to our backs. We challenged our offensive line and I thought they responded really well.”

Graham admitted a few times during his postgame press conference that there are a number of things ASU needs to improve.

But the team is 4-0 heading into a road test at USC, and surely it feels lucky that there are two halves in a game.

“The great thing about football is that you get to play 60 minutes,” Graham said.