Arizona State Flattens Arizona

Arizona State didn’t need Jake Plummer’s resilience and comebacks this time.

Terry Battle made sure his quarterback had an easy night against Arizona, rushing for three first-half touchdowns as the No. 4 Sun Devils finished the regular season undefeated and retained their shot at a national championship with a 56-14 rout Saturday night in Tucson.

“I’m going to vote us No. 1,” coach Bruce Snyder said. “We can run, we can throw, and we can play defense. Nobody is playing defense better than us right now.”

The Sun Devils rolled up the second-highest offensive total in Arizona State history, outgaining the Wildcats 651-170.

Battle had 143 yards, Marlon Farlow 93, Jeff Paulk 82 and Plummer 60 as Arizona State gained 450 yards on the ground.

Plummer, who engineered come-from-behind victories over Washington, UCLA and Southern California, spent most of the night handing off to Battle and Paulk but still threw for 201 yards and three TDs.

“We might go down as one of the greatest teams ever at ASU,” said Plummer, a four-year starter who had never beaten the Wildcats. “It feels sweet to beat them in their home stadium.”

Arizona State (11-0, 8-0 Pac-10), just 2-11-1 against Arizona since 1982, clinched the conference title two weeks ago and earned a Rose Bowl berth against Ohio State, which lost to Michigan on Saturday to ruin a potential matchup of unbeaten teams in Pasadena.

“Their offensive and defensive lines, that’s what won it. You win the war out front, and you win the game,” said coach Dick Tomey, who hadn’t lost to Snyder since 1992, Snyder’s first year at Tempe.

Arizona St. 56, Arizona 14

Arizona St. 7 21 14 14 - 56 Arizona 0 7 0 7 - 14

ASU-Battle 20 run (Nycz kick)

ASU-Battle 4 run (Nycz kick)

Ari-K. Smith 1 run (Peyton kick)

ASU-Poole 27 pass from Plummer (Nycz kick)

ASU-Battle 1 run (Nycz kick)

ASU-Poole 40 pass from Plummer (Nycz kick)

ASU-Bush 10 pass from Plummer (Nycz kick)

Ari-M. Smith 98 interception return (Peyton kick)

ASU-Farlow 1 run (Nycz kick)

ASU-Farlow 8 run (Nycz kick)

A-59,920.

ASU Ari First downs 32 11 Rushes-yards 59-450 38-44 Passing 201 126 Comp-Att-Int 10-19-2 8-19-1 Return Yards 32 98 Punts-Avg. 4-30.8 9-38.4 Fumbles-Lost 2-2 3-1 Penalties-Yards 13-125 8-108 Time of Possession 32:52 27:08

Individual statistics

RUSHING-Arizona St., Battle 23-143, Farlow 9-93, Paulk 9-82, Plummer 5-60, Poole 1-27, Peavier 3-18, Tommasini 4-14, Redmond 5-13. Arizona, Callen 6-19, Taylor 10-14, Eafon 2-11, K. Smith 16-2, Sprotte 2-0, Myles 2-(minus 2).

PASSING-Arizona St., Plummer 10-19-2-201. Arizona, K. Smith 6-15-1-91, Batten 2-4-0-35.

RECEIVING-Arizona St., Poole 4-123, Bush 2-27, Mitchell 1-17, Jackson 1-12, Battle 1-11, Redmond 1-11. Arizona, McDaniel 2-54, Williams 2-34, Taylor 1-14, Brennan 1-11, Lucky 1-8, Northcutt 1-5.

UCLA 48, USC 41 (OT)

Skip Hicks ran 25 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second overtime and the Bruins (5-6, 4-4) then stopped the Trojans to win a wild game in Pasadena.

The win, witnessed by a crowd of 80,644 at the Rose Bowl, was the sixth straight for UCLA over USC the longest streak in a series the Trojans lead 34-25-7.

USC (5-6, 3-5) hasn’t beaten the Bruins since a 45-42 decision in 1990.

“They simply would not quit,” firstyear UCLA coach Bob Toledo said of his players, who fought back from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit. “They knew they were going to win it. Hicks was inspired on the last touchdown. He was very emotional on the sidelines. He said, ‘Give me the ball one more time and I’ll get it in the end zone.”’

That’s exactly what happened as Hicks found a hole up the middle, veered toward the right corner and scored standing up.

“I knew I could make something happen,” he said. “We practiced overtime all week and it paid off today.”

USC coach John Robinson is 0-4 against UCLA since becoming the Trojans’ coach for a second time before the 1993 season. He also coached USC from 1976-82, when he went 5-2 against the Bruins.

“I don’t know what to say,” a stunned Robinson muttered afterward. “We did everything we could. I thought the game was going to be played to the very end. (The USC players) are young and they gave me everything that I could ask for. I’ve done this before. I’ve been on the good side and the bad side.”

USC 10 14 7 7 3 0 - 41 UCLA0 7 14 17 3 7 - 48

USC-FG Abrams 27

USC-Soward 19 pass from Otton (Abrams kick)

USC-Knight 74 yard interception return (Abrams kick)

UCLA-McNown 3 run (Merten kick)

USC-Soward 60 pass from Otton (Abrams kick)

UCLA-Farmer 52 pass from McNown (Merten kick)

USC-C.Miller 12 pass from Otton (Abrams kick)

UCLA-McNown 10 run (Merten kick)

USC-Soward 78 pass from Koffler (Abrams kick)

UCLA-FG Merten 47

UCLA-K.Brown 1 run (Merten kick)

UCLA-S.Hicks 11 run (Merten kick)

USC-FG Abrams 25

UCLA-FG Merten 40

UCLA-S.Hicks 25 run (Merten kick)

A-80,644.

USC UCLA First downs 17 31 Rushes-yards 35-107 40-169 Passing 401 356 Comp-Att-Int 16-33-2 29-48-1 Return Yards 83 18 Punts-Avg. 3-47.3 4-38.5 Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-0 Penalties-Yards 11-85 7-50 Time of Possession 25:26 34:34

Individual statistics

RUSHING-USC, Washington 15-56, Sermons 6-28, Walters 9-24, L.Woods 2-7, Koffler 1-(minus 1), Otton 2-(minus 7). UCLA, S. Hicks 20-116, McNown 10-26, K. Brown 6-17, McElroy 1-5, Walendy 2-4, Caldwell 1-1.

PASSING-USC, Otton 12-22-1-273, Koffler 4-11-1-128. UCLA, McNown 29-47-1-356, McElroy 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-USC, Soward 6-260, C. Miller 6-97, L. Woods 2-10, Bastianelli 1-19, Sermons 1-15. UCLA, McElroy 8-149, Farmer 5-81, Grieb 4-45, S.Hicks 4-18, Clark 3-24, Ayers 2-8, Lee 1-23, K. Brown 1-10, Scott 1-(minus 2).