The stat sheet favored ASU. So did a series of fortuitous bounces.

But despite a defensive performance that thwarted mighty USC all night, the scoreboard slighted the Sun Devils, who fell to the now-No. 11 Trojans 14-9 at Sun Devil Stadium on Saturday night.

It was the third straight loss for ASU (4-5, 2-4 Pac-10), and the team now must win two of its next three games (at No. 14 Oregon, at UCLA, against No. 18 UA) to avoid consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1946-47.

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“Close doesn’t count anymore,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “I feel bad for our seniors. They’ve fought their rear ends off since I’ve been here. Our productivity on offense isn’t there right now.”

After ASU junior kicker Thomas Weber connected on a 21-yard field goal at the 4:46 mark of the second quarter, senior quarterback Danny Sullivan threw an interception that was returned by USC senior defensive back Will Harris 55 yards for a touchdown with 1:17 remaining in the first half, giving USC a 7-3 lead.

Sullivan finished the half under center, but with the two interceptions the senior threw in the frame, Erickson decided to make the change Sun Devil fans have been clamoring for much of the season.

After USC wide receiver Damian Williams took a screen pass from freshman quarterback Matt Barkley and used several key blocks to traverse the field 75 yards for a touchdown to put the Trojans ahead 14-3 on the second play of the second half, ASU freshman quarterback Brock Osweiler took the field to an ovation from maroon-and-gold faithful.

“It was based on performance. We felt we needed a change,” Erickson said. “When you turn it over three times in the first half, you’ve got to look at what you’re doing.”

In addition to Sullivan’s two first-half interceptions, freshman running back Cameron Marshall, making his first career start, fumbled on ASU’s first possession of the game after the Sun Devils drove to the USC 12-yard line.

On his third drive of the second half, Osweiler took ASU on an 80-yard march that was capped off by a 23-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Chris McGaha, cutting the score to 14-9 with 36 seconds left in the third quarter.

Osweiler looked off the safeties on the play before coming back to McGaha in the corner of the end zone.

“That is a play we don’t call very often,” Osweiler said. “We try to set teams up and use it to our advantage and call it once or twice a game.
Chris ran a great route and set up his defender perfectly, and the line gave me time to make the throw. They made my job easy on that play.”

The ASU defense certainly did its part in giving the offense chances to take the lead in the second half.

Outside of the 75-yard touchdown play to begin the half, USC managed just 107 yards the rest of the way.

The defensive line pressured Barkley throughout the contest, as the freshman completed just seven of his 22 passes for 112 yards, most of which came on the long touchdown play.

“Other than the big play they made at the beginning of the first half, they don’t do anything,” Erickson said. “On defense, how much better can you play?”

The biggest chance for the offense to capitalize came following the wildest play of the season.

Sophomore safety Clint Floyd intercepted a pass that deflected off of senior linebacker Mike Nixon and USC wide receiver Brice Butler before bouncing off of the foot of senior cornerback Terell Carr.

After Floyd then fumbled and Carr recovered, ASU had a first down at the USC 36 with about 8:30 remaining in the game.

But after a holding call and three straight Osweiler incompletions, the Sun Devils were forced to punt.

“We’ve got to capitalize when we get good field position,” said McGaha, who had a game-high nine receptions for 118 yards. “We got good field position at the end of the game on that wild, wacky play … we’ve just got to score on that.”

After the ASU defense held the USC defense twice more, Osweiler and Co. got the ball back at the ASU 22 with 1:56 left in the game and no timeouts.

But with the USC defensive line harassing Osweiler, the Sun Devils were unable to take any big shots down field and could only muster a last-ditch Hail Mary attempt that was intercepted by Harris as time expired.

Osweiler finished 11-of-27 passing for 153 yards and had mixed feelings on his performance in the first extended action for the freshman this season.

“Tonight was a huge learning experience,” Osweiler said. “There are times in the game when I needed to get the ball into the hands of playmakers, and I did not do that. I think this is an area of my game that I can clean up pretty quick.”

Erickson did not say after the game whether Osweiler would start against Oregon in Eugene on Saturday.

“We’ll sit down and see what we’re going to do,” Erickson said.

Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu.