If ASU wins Thursday night, it will need only a victory over archrival Arizona to clinch a Rose Bowl berth, at worst.

A USC victory would give the Trojans a chance to extend their unprecedented streak of five straight Pac-10 titles. They would need a victory over UCLA coupled with an Oregon loss in one of its final two games.

The Trojans seem to be returning to form after a slew of injuries.

“I don’t think we’ve really been knocked off our mentality through all of the stuff,” Carroll said. “We’ve hung in there tough. Hopefully we can make something of this year.”

It won’t be easy. Although the Trojans have won seven straight against ASU, they have trailed at halftime in their last two trips to Tempe.

In 2005, with the temperature hovering near 100 degrees, ASU led the top-ranked Trojans 21-3 at intermission. The defending national champions rallied behind Reggie Bush and Lendale White for a 38-28 victory.

“I thought our guys were done,” Carroll said this week. “I thought we were cooked and we would not be able to respond. We came back and scored 35 points in the second half.”

On that day, ASU started fast but couldn’t finish. This year’s Sun Devils have done just the opposite.

College football Two-man race with Tebow, McFadden

They have trailed by double digits five times in the first quarter but have rallied for easy victories four times. The only time ASU came up short was on Nov. 3 in Eugene, when they fell behind 21-3 early in the second quarter on their way to a 35-23 loss to Oregon.

Erickson was asked what he would do if the Sun Devils took a lead in the opening quarter on Thanksgiving night.

“I know my stomach would be better,” he said. “We’ve got to come out and play better. I’ve been telling them that for eight weeks. Obviously, they haven’t listened.”

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