USC travels to face Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz.


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Freshman quarterback Jaxson Dart throws a pass during USC’s 41-34 win against Arizona Saturday.
Freshman quarterback Jaxson Dart throws a pass during USC’s 41-34 win against Arizona Saturday. (Patrick Hannan | Daily Trojan)

USC will travel to play Arizona State on the road Saturday in a Pac-12 South showdown. 

The Trojans have won five of the last six matchups between the two schools. However, USC is 10-7 when playing the Sun Devils in Tempe. 

The Trojans are coming off a 41-34 victory against Arizona at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The win was USC’s first Pac-12 home victory of the season. Arizona State is in the middle of a poor stretch, having given up 56 unanswered points in two straight losses. 

The Sun Devils led 21-0 against Utah on the road Oct. 16 but lost 35-21. Last week at home, after a bye week, Arizona State turned it over on its first three drives en route to a 34-21 loss against Washington State. 

Junior quarterback Kedon Slovis and freshman quarterback Jaxson Dart split reps against Arizona. When asked about Arizona State, interim Head Coach Donte Williams didn’t reveal to media that would happen again this week.

“We’ll continue to assess that as it gets closer and closer to game time,” said Williams Monday after practice. “Arizona State provides certain issues that we got to make sure we’re able to handle.” 

Williams suggested Thursday that Slovis and Dart will both play Saturday, but much is still up in the air. 

Offensive Coordinator Graham Harrell shied away from calling the quarterback situation a competition. 

“[Slovis and Dart are] two players who played a really high level and both are doing good things,” said Harrell Monday after practice. “We’ll figure it out and put them in there and expect to score regardless of who’s in the game.”  

The Sun Devils allow the second-fewest yards per game in the Pac-12 with 331.1, including under 200 passing and rushing yards per game. However, in their past two losses, Arizona State has given up more than 400 yards each to Utah and Washington State.

USC’s offense will be without its leading junior receiver Drake London, who fractured his ankle and is out for the season. London’s absence brought questions about Trojans leaning more on senior running back Keaontay Ingram, who ran for a career-high 204 rushing yards against Arizona. 

Harrell said Ingram will be the focal point, but others will be involved heavily too.

“We got a lot of good guys and a lot of special players, and we’ll continue to try to put them in space with the football and then just let them go be them,” Harrell said. “That’s kind of the philosophy of this offense, put your playmakers in space with the ball.”

The Sun Devils will be welcoming back their top senior running back Rachaad White, who leads Arizona State with 483 yards rushing and 9 touchdowns. 

White returns to a loaded backfield with dual-threat junior quarterback Jayden Daniels and running backs sophomore DeaMonte Trayanum and freshman Daniyel Ngata.

All four can pose threats to USC’s run defense that allows the sixth-fewest rushing yards in the Pac-12 with 148.4 per game. Arizona State is fourth in the Pac-12 with 193.9 rushing yards per game but has failed to eclipse 150 yards rushing in its last two losses.

“[The running backs] have gone up another level. They all run hard,” Defensive Coordinator Todd Orlando said Wednesday after practice. “And there’s competition. When you’re competing against somebody that can take your job and you’ve got three guys that can do it. They’re all firing.”

The matchup between the Trojans and Sun Devils’ kicks off Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Tempe, Ariz.