A weekly assessment of Pac-12 news, quasi-news and (occasional) non-news …

Except today, only one topic.

Falling: Arizona State.

The thought occurred to me as I watched Herm Edwards recount his Saturday night:

The Sun Devils returned to campus at 3:30 a.m. from the trip to San Diego State. Frustrated by the loss, Edwards couldn’t sleep, so he went straight to the office, and stayed.

His family caught up with him later in the day, but he didn’t head home until the Sunday review-and-preparation was complete.

No doubt, members of his staff and all the players went home and got varying amounts of sleep before their Sundays began — before the coaches showed up at the football complex for film study and the players arrived for treatment.

It was a physical game, especially for a defense that couldn’t get off the field in the second half as SDSU ran the ball relentlessly.

This week, the Sun Devils are back on the road with a short trip to play a creampuff … Sorry, I meant they’re flying 1,100-miles to face the No. 10 team in the land, with a night game in Husky Stadium.

And that got me thinking: How successful are Pac-12 teams in the second game of back-to-back roadtrips? The sample size this season is tiny. Only one team has played road back-to-backs.

That second half in Austin didn’t go so well for USC.

But if we just expand our timeframe by three months and include the fall of 2017, clarity emerges on the challenge facing ASU this week.

The Hotline’s crack research team found 17 instances since the start of last season in which teams played road back-to-backs and at least one of the games featured a conference opponent.

Of those 17 instances, the road team has won the back-end game three times.

Three out of 17.

That helps frame ASU’s challenge this week. Except dig down one layer, and the situation seems far more ominous.

Of the three wins on the back end, two came last year against Oregon State, which, you might recall, didn’t beat anyone, anywhere. (The Beavers lost their coach early in the season and lost every game they played against FBS opponents.)

Remove games against Oregon State from the calculation, and the visiting team’s record in the second half of back-to-back roadies is 1-14 since the start of last season.

That lone victory … anybody recall? … anybody? … was USC’s pummeling of the Sun Devils in Tempe a week after playing in South Bend.

A cross-country humiliation, then back on the road to face sizzling ASU (fresh off wins over Washington and Utah): It was one of the most impressive wins in the conference last season and arguably one of the best performances of Clay Helton’s tenure.

Of course, it helped that the Trojans had the best quarterback in the conference and the best roster and were highly motivated from their face plant against the Irish.

And it was the only instance of a team winning the second half of back-to-back road games against a team not named Oregon State.

Please note: There was no filter placed on the research.

I did not consider whether the second game of the back-to-back was day or night … whether it was a Friday or Saturday … whether the visitor’s quarterback was healthy or hurt … whether the road team was a favorite or underdog.

It’s a raw look at results, with a single parameter placed on the calculation:

The road team could not have a bye separating the trips, because that, of course, would eliminate the grind factor.

(There were several instances in which the road team was favored, including Oregon, as a 14-point heavy, losing at ASU.)

As noted above, the Sun Devils aren’t the first team to face back-to-back roadies this season and certainly aren’t the last:

There are 12 more instances to come, involving every team in the conference but Washington State.

Utah does it twice. So does Stanford. And ASU.

How does that slice of the schedule grid compare to the other Power Fives?

Thanks for asking. Here’s the count of road back-to-backs:

(At least one of the road games must involve a conference opponent; instances involving a neutral site game were not included.)

ACC: 18

Pac-12: 14

Big Ten: 9

SEC: 8

Big 12: 5

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Calculate the number of road back-to-backs on a per-team basis, and we have this:

ACC: 1.3 per team

Pac-12: 1.2 per team

Big Ten: 0.64 per team

SEC: 0.57 per team

Big 12: 0.5 per team

The other factor to consider, of course, is distance traveled.

Admittedly, I haven’t compared the ACC and Pac-12 roadtrip data on that level. Although Syracuse and Boston College are involved in five of the ACC’s 18 cases, we can assume the average distance is considerably greater for Pac-12 teams.

By no means do consecutive roadies guarantee a loss on the back end. USC showed it’s navigable (especially if you have Sam Darnold and Ronald Jones).

But the anecdotal evidence suggests the grind is a factor, especially when the first half of the back-to-back is a night game.

Herm Edwards has unlimited energy and doesn’t require much sleep to recharge. He’d better hope his players operate that way, too.