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TEMPE, Ariz. - On Sept. 21, 1996, Arizona State stunned two-time defending national champion Nebraska 19-0 at Sun Devil Stadium, ending the No. 1-ranked Cornhuskers' 26-game winning streak. On Saturday, two-time defending champ USC comes to town after winning 25 in a row. Maybe a second earthshaking upset in a decade isn't too much to ask. It was in the low 90s that night nine years ago, when senior quarterback Jake Plummer engineered the upset on national television en route to an undefeated regular season and a close Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State. The temperature will be climbing toward 100 when a crowd of some 73,000 packs Sun Devil Stadium for Saturday's 12:30 p.m. MST kickoff. Another talented quarterback, Sam Keller, directs an Arizona State offense that has produced numbers that rival, and in some cases exceed, those of the powerhouse Trojans. A shootout would seem a strong possibility, though the 14th-ranked Sun Devils (3-1) are 17-point underdogs. "Their offense is phenomenal, and if they're going to score, and that means we've got to score, we can do that," Keller said. "I see it being a shootout. Heck, our defense might play lights out and stuff them and they might stuff us. It might be a 13-10 game, but I'd rather see a shootout. If you're talking to me, I think it should be a shootout just because I like shootouts." The Trojans' offensive machine, led by Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and LenDale White, is averaging 616 yards and 59 points per game to Arizona State's 592 and 47. It is the second Pac-10 road test in a row for coach Pete Carroll's team. The top-ranked Trojans (3-0) trailed at Oregon 13-10 at halftime last weekend, and won 45-13. "It wasn't a blowout until late in the third quarter, maybe the fourth quarter," Leinart said. "It was good for us. We know that every game is not easy." Carroll called the Oregon game "a reality check." "Each week we're going to face great threats from the schools in our conference. They all know us well," he said. "Last year we had a tremendously difficult time getting through the conference. There were five games that were challenging." Last year's Arizona State game was no challenge, though. The Sun Devils took a 5-0 record to Los Angeles, fell behind 42-7 at the half and lost 45-7. "It's a bitter taste because that wasn't us, that wasn't ASU football at all," said Keller, who watched that game from the sidelines as Andrew Walter's backup. "Our team, this year, is all about competing one play at a time, and we did that against LSU (a 35-31 home loss). We're not worried about how we look. We just go out there and grind it out because we have tough guys." When teams can move the ball this well, rarely a word is mentioned about their defenses. But Arizona State already has had two Pac-10 defensive players of the week - linebackers Dale Robinson and Jamar Williams. The Sun Devils had a 6-0 advantage in turnovers in last week's 42-24 victory at Oregon State. "We have some very talented players on our defense," said Arizona State safety Zach Catanese, the team's second-leading tackler. "I think a lot of times they're overlooked. Our offense is great, our defense is kind of back there in the background. But we kind of like it like that. We would rather be the underdog and come out and show people what we're really about." USC's defense had its best performance of the season at Oregon, shutting out the Ducks after the Trojans fell behind early 13-0. "We're the question of the year," linebacker Oscar Lua said of the USC defense. "We did a marvelous job of proving we shouldn't be the question." The last time the Trojans played at Sun Devil Stadium, two years ago, they were coming off a triple-overtime loss at California. Leinart was knocked out of the ASU game early with an ankle and leg injury, but returned to direct a 27-0 second-half comeback that gave USC a 37-17 victory. The Trojans have not lost since.
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