Devils keep Huskies winless

Rudy Carpenter rallied Arizona State with a pair of second-half touchdown passes to Michael Jones, and the Sun Devils kept their slim bowl hopes alive pulling away for a 39-19 win over winless Washington on Saturday night in Seattle.

Despite lame-duck coach Tyrone Willingham pulling out all the stops, the Huskies remained the only FBS team in the country without a victory and saw their losing streak extended to a school-record 11 games. The previous worst was a 10-game skid during the 1968-69 seasons.

Washington pulled out every gimmick in its playbook to try and ignite some excitement in a miserable season. The Huskies used reverses, direct snaps, even a double pass that ended with quarterback Ronnie Fouch catching a 6-yard throwback from receiver Cody Bruns for a second-quarter touchdown to pull Washington even at 10-all.

The Sun Devils simply rode the steady hand of Carpenter to snap a school-record-tying six-game skid and stay in contention for a postseason berth.

Those hopes appeared shaky early in the third quarter after Washington’s Chris Stevens blocked a punt and the Huskies took over at the Arizona State 14. But the Sun Devils’ defense held the Huskies to a second consecutive field goal inside the 10 – giving Washington a 19-16 lead – before Carpenter went to work.

Taking advantage of a short field, Carpenter quickly led the Sun Devils 41 yards, capped by his 6-yard toss to Jones to give Arizona State a 23-19 lead. On their next possession, Carpenter hit Jones on a 2-yard fade to push the advantage to 30-19.

Carpenter finished 22 of 31 for 218 yards – including a batted pass he caught for a 1-yard loss – as the Sun Devils won for the first time since beating Stanford on Sept. 6.

Fouch was wildly inconsistent, missing on nine straight throws at one point in the second half as the Huskies’ offense managed just 8 yards before a late 39-yard run. The Huskies also failed to find the end zone three times inside the Sun Devils’ 5.

(7) USC 17, (21) California 3: Mark Sanchez threw two touchdown passes and the Trojans kept their national championship hopes alive by battering the Golden Bears in Los Angeles.

The win was the sixth straight for the Trojans, who have outscored opponents 231-23 since losing 27-21 as 25-point favorites at Oregon State.

Oregon State 34, UCLA 6: Jacquizz Rodgers set a Pac-10 rushing record for freshmen to help the Beavers beat the Bruins in Pasadena, Calif.

Rodgers ran for 144 yards to increase his season total to 1,089 – the most by a freshman in conference history. He’s only the third Pac-10 first-year back to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark in a season. Ken Simonton, the Beavers’ career rushing leader, had 1,028 in 1998 and Darrin Nelson had 1,069 for Stanford in 1977.

Oregon 35, Stanford 28: LeGarrette Blount’s 3-yard touchdown run with 6 seconds left gave the Ducks a victory over the Cardinal in Eugene, Ore.

Down 28-27 when Stanford scored with 2:18 left, Oregon efficiently drove the field – a series highlighted by quarterback Jeremiah Masoli’s 25-yard carry – and left no time for Stanford to answer after making the two-point conversion.