The Pac-12 is a tough conference. Almost every school is competitive and outside of USC recruiting is pretty much even among the next tier of teams. ASU just fired Todd Graham after a 7-5 season and beating U of A in the rivalry game. As an ASU alum I do expect the football program to be in the Top 25 consistently and no less than 2nd or 3rd in the Pac-12 South every season with a 1st place finish mixed in every 4 or 5 years.
This is what every school that is not USC is also thinking, so it is highly competitive. UCLA and ASU by firing a couple of pretty decent coaches just signaled they are not willing to tread water behind USC. We'll see if it works, but I expect ASU will be more willing to accept recruits, which shall we say are not as strong academically, which could lead to other problems down the road.
One thing very positive about Graham was he came in a instilled discipline in a program which used to lead the Pac-12 in personal foul penalties under Dennis Erickson, to being one of the least penalized teams in the country.