ASU hasn’t beaten USC in the 21st century.

And this was not the scenario the Sun Devil football team was looking for to break the zero-for-the-millennium streak.

The Trojans are coming off an embarrassing 47-20 loss to Oregon on

Saturday, which ended USC’s national championship aspirations.

It gets worse.

USC hasn’t lost consecutive game since 2001, a time when ASU coach Dennis Erickson said he “still had dark hair.” That year, the Trojans snapped a four-game losing streak by beating ASU 48-17.

“That means they obviously react to losses very [well],” Erickson said. “Things don’t stay that way forever, so we can see what happens.”

The Sun Devils, coming off a heartbreaking loss to Cal, will have to regroup emotionally to have a chance.

Interview with walk-on starting cornerback Pierre Singfield, State Press Television
By Andrew Boven

“If you can’t get up for the challenge of USC coming in here …” Erickson said. “We were dejected on Sunday, as they should have been. We came back here in a good spirit in practice.”

The Sun Devils had their opportunities to beat Cal. Freshman linebacker Vontaze Burfict had an interception roll off his fingers in the back of the end zone on the Golden Bears’ final drive — an interception would have ended the game.

But ASU knows it has little time to reflect on what could have been.

“The loss stung a little bit, but we came in [Sunday] and we had a positive attitude about what we are trying to do,” senior Danny Sullivan said. “I think it is pretty much behind us now. We are looking forward to this weekend. It is a big game. It is USC, and we have to get ready to go and get this win.”

While it would seem that the Trojans are not as strong as they have been in the past on either side of the football, it doesn’t mean that getting exposed on primetime television will carry over into Saturday’s matchup.

Very little about ASU’s offense resembles the Ducks’ blinding attack.

“Oregon is such a different offense,” Erickson said. “It’s hard to even look at their film and say you can do this and you can do that.”

The Sun Devils lost 28-0 last year to USC and 44-24 in 2007. Gauging the matchup from recent history is difficult, given the turnover in players.

In each of the contests, however, the ASU had difficulties doing much of anything.

In the last two games, ASU gave up a combined nine sacks. Then-USC quarterback John David Booty threw for 375 yards in 2007, and USC ran for 243 yards against the Sun Devils last season.

Sullivan threw two interceptions in difficult second-half appearance last season and knows a little about what he’s going up against.

“I figure they are going to be fired up and ready to go,” Sullivan said.
“I think they’ll have a way different mentality than they had, especially after that game against Oregon. Coach [Pete] Carroll is going to do a good job of getting those guys ready and getting them back to where they want to be.”

While Oregon racked up 47 points, ASU will likely have to rely on a more conservative, ball-control approach to steal a win.

“They are good. There is no hiding it; they are USC,” Sullivan said. “Taylor [Mays] is a great player. He’s fast and he is physical. [Junior defensive end] Everson Griffen is a beast on the end. They have the guys to do it. It is going to be a matter of us keeping focused and doing what we need to do to try and stop them.”

Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.