College Football | Erickson has ASU in position to smell the roses
TEMPE, Ariz. - When coach Dennis Erickson took over at Arizona State, he told players how much fun it is to play and coach in games with national implications.
Some day, he said, he hoped to show them what it is like. Some day has arrived, in Erickson’s first season in the desert. The seventh-ranked Sun Devils host No. 11 USC on Thursday night in a Pac-10 game that could determine a Rose Bowl berth.
“I told them that I hoped that I could take them to places like this, where they would have this opportunity, and it’s here,” Erickson said at a news conference Monday. “It’s going to be fun for them, and it’s fun for me to watch them react to where they’re at right now. That’s the fun part of coaching.”
Erickson, who is 27-16 against ranked opponents, added, “Now, playing USC, I don’t know how much fun that’s going to be.”
Erickson is a former Washington State and Seahawks coach. He guided Miami to national championships in 1989 and 1991.
The meeting between the Sun Devils (9-1 overall, 6-1 Pac-10) and the Trojans (8-2, 5-2) grew in importance when Oregon was upset at Arizona on Thursday night.
If Arizona State beats USC and rival Arizona, the Sun Devils will guarantee themselves at least a trip to Pasadena, Calif., for the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl. Arizona State is sixth in the Bowl Championship Series standings and thus is a possibility for the Jan. 7 BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans.
USC is listed as a 3-½-point favorite.
A loss wouldn’t eliminate the Sun Devils from the Pac-10 race, but they would need USC and Oregon to lose again.
If USC beats Arizona State, the Trojans would need Oregon (8-2, 5-2) to drop one of its last two games, against UCLA and Oregon State, to have a chance to make the Rose Bowl. The Ducks defeated Arizona State and USC, giving them the Rose Bowl tiebreaker over each of those schools.
Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter said, “Fortunately for us, we’re going to get a chance to be the national game on TV that day and play in front of pretty much the world, really, or the United States, actually.”
Notes
• Lloyd Carr alternately choked up and chuckled for nearly 40 minutes at a news conference as he announced his 13th season as Michigan coach will be his last. Carr, 62, will try to improve his 121-40 record when he coaches the Wolverines in their bowl.
Louisiana State coach Les Miles, a former Michigan player and assistant coach, is mentioned as a leading candidate to replace Carr even though LSU is ranked No. 1 in the country. “The key is, I’m completely focused on this place and this team,” Miles said at LSU.
• DeMarco Murray, leading rusher for No. 10 Oklahoma, has a dislocated kneecap and will miss Saturday’s game against Oklahoma State.
• Florida State linebacker Geno Hayes, referring to No. 12 Florida’s quarterback, predicted “Tim Tebow’s going down” when the rivals meet Saturday in Gainesville.
• Purdue wide receiver Selwyn Lymon, 21, was arrested Sunday and charged with driving under the influence and resisting arrest.
• Alabama coach Nick Saban, whose team lost 21-14 to Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, cited Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Pearl Harbor when he said the Crimson Tide must rebound, as America did from a “catastrophic event.” Later, school spokesman Jeff Purinton emphasized that Saban “did not correlate losing a football game with tragedy.”
• The off-campus bonfire organized by Texas A&M students is on for today, after county commissioners lifted a burn ban. Texas A&M hosts No. 13 Texas on Friday.