Asu Keeps Repeat Hopes Alive

Pac-10

Michael Martin rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns, including an 83-yard run in the third quarter, as No. 15 Arizona State kept alive hopes for a return trip to the Rose Bowl by beating Oregon 52-31 Saturday night at Tempe, Ariz.

The defending Pac-10 champion Sun Devils are tied atop the league standings with UCLA and Washington State heading into the regular-season finales.

Arizona State is idle until playing host to Arizona on Nov. 28. The Wildcats knocked their archrivals out of Rose Bowl contention twice before - in 1982 and 1985.

Oregon had been 14-0 in November games since 1994 and was coming off an upset at Washington. But the Ducks trailed 24-3 by halftime and didn’t really threaten despite scoring two touchdowns in the final 1:57 behind freshman quarterback A.J. Feeley.

Arizona State held tailback Saladin McCullough to 69 yards on 23 carries, ending his streak of consecutive 100-yard rushing games at four.

Martin had his yardage on 16 carries while J.R. Redmond finished with 127 yards on 11 attempts, including a 54-yard touchdown run.

Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Ryan Kealy showed no signs of the strained throwing shoulder suffered in last week’s victory at California. He was 17 of 30 for 218 yards and two touchdowns - a 14-yarder to Ricky Boyer in the second quarter and a 20-yarder to Lenzie Jackson in the fourth.

Redmond made it 10-0 with 5:32 remaining in the first quarter. On third-and-5 at the Oregon 46, Redmond went over right tackle and then zig-zagged across the field to the end zone.

Kealy found Boyer for a 17-0 lead 9:43 before halftime, capping a 12-play, 80-yard drive.

Josh Frankel’s 32-yard field goal with 5:18 left in the half got Oregon on the scoreboard and safety Michael Fletcher then stopped an ASU threat with an interception and 15-yard return to the Ducks 18.

Arizona State 52, Oregon 31

Oregon 0 3 14 14 - 31

Arizona St. 10 14 7 21 - 52

ASU-FG Nycz 24, 9:38.

ASU-Redmond 54 run (Nycz kick), 5:32. ASU-Boyer 14 pass from Kealy (Nycz kick), 9:43.

Ore-FG Frankel 32, 5:18.

ASU-Martin 1 run (Nycz kick), :39. Ore-McCullough 6 run (Frankel kick), 10:08.

ASU-Martin 83 run (Nycz kick), 7:49.

Ore-Collins 11 pass from Smith (Frankel kick), 3:00. ASU-L. Jackson 20 pass from Kealy (Nycz kick), 14:19.

ASU-Paulk 2 run (Nycz kick), 10:00.

ASU-Farlow 1 run (Nycz kick), 4:45.

Ore-Hartley 5 pass from Feeley (Frankel kick), 1:57.

Ore-Feeley 2 run (Frankel kick), :49.

A-64,779.

Ore ASU First downs 21 26 Rushes-yards 38-179 44-405 Passing 229 218 Comp-Att-Int 17-37-2 17-31-1 Return Yards 178 82 Punts-Avg. 4-45.3 2-45.5 Fumbles-Lost 3-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 8-65 16-152 Time of Possession 36:04 23:56 RUSHING-Oregon, A. Smith 10-99, McCullough 23-69, Cooper 2-8, Feeley 1-2, Winn 1-1, Latimer 1-0. Arizona St., Martin 16-158, Redmond 11-127, Farlow 6-85, Paulk 6-23, Boyer 2-9, Kealy 2-4, Campbell 1-(minus 1).

PASSING-Oregon, A. Smith 14-34-2-147, Feeley 3-3-0-82. Arizona St., Kealy 17-30-1-218, Redmond 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-Oregon, Brust 6-91, Hartley 2-41, Johnson 2-28, Collins 2-16, Weaver 1-28, Jelks 1-16, Spence 1-6, Haynes 1-6, Winn 1-(minus 3). Arizona St., L. Jackson 5-79, Bates 3-43, Boyer 3-40, Spann 3-32, Cercone 1-12, Martin 1-7, Mitchell 1-5.

USC 23, Oregon St. 0

At Corvallis, Ore., John Fox threw two first-half touchdown passes and USC’s defense recorded its first shutout in two years as the Trojans defeated Oregon State for the 24th consecutive time.

Fox, back at starting quarterback after Mike Van Raaphorst’s injury a week earlier, took the Trojans 80 yards in 10 plays on the opening drive, hitting R. Jay Soward on a 31-yard touchdown play for the only score USC would need.

The Trojans have won four out of five since coach John Robinson promised to resign if his team didn’t improve.

USC 10 7 0 6 - 23

Oregon St. 0 0 0 0 - 0

USC-Soward 31 pass from Fox (Abrams kick), 11:00.

USC-FG Abrams 46, 5:04. USC-Miller 45 pass from Fox (Abrams kick), 4:55. USC-FG Abrams 23, 12:21.

USC-FG Abrams 32, 3:21.

A-20,938 USC OSU First downs 19 11 Rushes-yards 44-134 25-29 Passing 230 123 Comp-Att-Int 19-31-1 15-40-4 Return Yards 81 26 Punts-Avg. 6-39.3 9-42.4 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-0 Penalties-Yards 10-91 4-45 Time of Possession 37:46 22:14 RUSHING-USC, Morton 13-41, MacKenzie 12-40, Washington 4-20, Papadakis 7-18, Johnson 2-8, Fox 2-4, Sermons 2-3, Soward 1-1, McCutcheon 1-minus 1. Oregon St., Dandridge 11-30, Alexander 7-14, Lazetich 1-2, Williams 4-minus 1, Ainsworth 1-minus 6, Tomich 1-minus 10. 1-13. Kansas, Henley 13-107, Vann 5-78, Williams 11-48, Levin 11-22.

PASSING-USC, Fox 18-28-1 228, Woods 1-3-0 2. Oregon St., Alexander 14-37-4 117, Tomich 1-3-0 6.

RECEIVING-USC, Bastianelli 7-58, Miller 5-80, Soward 4-69, Morton 1-17, McCutcheon 1-11, Sermons 1-minus 5. Oregon St., Ainsworth 8-69, Lezetich 4-28, Prescott 2-19, Maurer 1-7.