Not all games are won the same way, and not all 3-0 starts are created equally.
But a win is a win, and 3-0 is still 3-0.
There's no doubt that Arizona State wasn't in top form during its 32-28 win over University of Texas San Antonio, but it could have been worse.
The Sun Devils committed momentum killing turnovers, had blown coverages and struggled to take down UTSA quarterback Dalton Sturm.
This was a poor performance from the Sun Devils, there's no other way to look at it. At one point, ASU was hanging on for dear life with a 28-12 deficit to the Roadrunners.
But in the end, ASU suffocated UTSA in the fourth quarter to cap off it's comeback win.
The game certainly was not pretty, but there's something to be said about winning a game when the team plays badly.
It's football, and sometimes it's going to be messy. Sometimes the ball doesn't bounce the right way. Sometimes a guy makes a play.
Although UTSA did make many plays to give ASU all it could handle, the Sun Devils were sleepwalking for most of the first half. In fact, they might well have lost if it wasn't for kicker Zane Gonzalez nailing two 54-yard field goals (which is impressive for NFL kickers, and absolutely bonkers for college kickers).
ASU's talent eventually won out as the Sun Devils took care of business down the stretch, and that's more than plenty of other college football teams around the country can say when playing lower tier foes.
Just look at the Northwestern Wildcats, who dropped their first two games against out-of-conference opponents Western Michigan and Illinois State. Or fellow Big Ten representative No. 13 Iowa, which fell to FCS powerhouse North Dakota State Saturday at home.
One of the toughest things to accomplish in the game of football is consistency. Even a team like Northwestern, which won ten games last year and was hoping to take its program to the next level with one of the better coaches in the country in Pat Fitzgerald, can lose to underdogs.
So even though ASU did not play well against UTSA, they squeaked by with a win and remain undefeated.
There are only twelve regular season games in college football, making every game important, no matter the opponent.
And for all we know this too-close-for-comfort victory could be a good thing for the Sun Devils.
For nearly the entire week leading up to the game, all the discussion centered around ASU's victory over Texas Tech. Moreover, an important conference game against Cal loomed on the horizon, so the Sun Devils could have been looking ahead to Pac-12 play.
Whatever it was, ASU escaped with an ugly win, but an ugly win is far better than any type of loss. Maybe this close call will sharpen the focus of Todd Graham's squad.
The Sun Devils are 3-0, and if they keep up the winning pace, people will soon forget about the discomfort of the UTSA victory.
Related Links:
ASU Football's UTSA visit presents an opportunity to expand Texas pipeline
ASU Football faces first road test at UTSA
Reach the columnist at mpharri7@asu.edu or follow @Harris_Mark7 on Twitter.
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