ASU will take airborne route to redemption.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

This week it's Oregon's opponent attempting to bounce back from a loss to top-ranked USC, and it might be even more difficult for Arizona State than it was for the Ducks.

`As far as the USC game, it is very disappointing,' ASU coach Dirk Koetter said in his Monday news conference. `This is as disappointing as it gets.'

The Sun Devils led the Trojans 21-3. They retook the lead 28-24 late in the fourth quarter. They had a possession down three points in the final minutes.

And then came the last of Sam Keller's five interceptions, and the Trojans put it away with a late score, 38-28, for their 26th consecutive victory.

Keller had thrown only two interceptions in ASU's first four games, but the five against the Trojans put the defeat `on me,' he said. He may be the Devil who has the most bouncing back to do.

`Sam has a lot of ball ahead of him,' Koetter said.

`I'm sure he'll be fine. Sam tried to do too much on a few occasions. There is not a quarterback out there who hasn't done that. Quarterbacks learn their most valuable lessons when they screw up.'

Keller is third in the nation in total offense, averaging 348 yards, which is 17 more than Oregon's Kellen Clemens, who ranks sixth nationally in that statistic. Keller is also 12th nationally in passing efficiency with a rating of 161.3, which is second in the Pac-10 to the 173.8 rating of USC's Matt Leinart.

That rating is especially impressive considering the way ASU designs its passing game, with some risks going deep often rather than the safer way of shorter routes.

Keller matches Leinart by averaging 15.7 yards per completion.

`He's done a great job of throwing the football down the field, and he's a very aggressive passer,' UO coach Mike Bellotti said of Keller. `He's perfect for Dirk Koetter's offense in that regard.'

Saturday's 7:15 p.m. game between the Ducks and ASU in Sun Devils Stadium has all the makings of a shootout between two of the league's top quarterbacks, except didn't last year, too?

And that game at Autzen Stadium ended up as a 28-13 win for ASU, with Oregon getting the best of the yardage battle by a 311-to-283 margin.

The more likely scenario in Saturday's game is a pointfest. ASU is second in the Pac-10 in total offense, averaging 556.4 yards. The Ducks are fourth, averaging 465.8.

Each team had its only game of scoring fewer than 30 points against USC, with Oregon held to 13.

Defensively, Oregon is sixth overall in the league and seventh against the pass while ASU is eighth overall and eighth against the pass.

Koetter said his defense actually played well against USC, but "we just had them out there too much.

`The story of the game was our lack of consistency on offense,' said Koetter, the former Oregon offensive coordinator. `We've been much more consistent than we were against USC. We can't do that in games like that and expect to win.'

It may be that, like Oregon a week earlier, the Sun Devils discovered that USC is a better defensive team than anyone had expected, because of the significant losses from last season, and some injury issues. Playing the Trojans is a reality check on their talent.

ASU's defense has already played one team that used a spread offense in Northwestern.

But Koetter said Oregon is `a better passing team. Kellen Clemens is an excellent player. Those receivers he's throwing to are very explosive players.'

The Sun Devils can match that, with Keller throwing often to the players such as Derek Hagen, who has moved up to seventh in Pac-10 career receptions with 217, and Terry Richardson, who also burned the USC special teams for 111 yards on three punt returns and 107 yards on three kickoff returns.

`The quarterback is probably playing at a higher level than the previous guy (Andrew Walter), who is in the NFL,' Bellotti said. `They're a confident group on offense right now.'

Though USC limited the ASU rushing game to a net of 68 yards, the Sun Devils are still averaging 170.4 yards on the ground.

Freshman Keegan Herring has gained 6.9 yards per rush on 70 carries.

Koetter said Monday that he expected the usual Oregon defensive philosophy, which consists of attempting to stop the ASU running game first.

`By Oregon's choice, they try to make you one-dimensional, (so) that you have to throw the ball,' Koetter said.

`And that plays to our strength. If they do that against us, it's not a big secret what we are going to do.'

The first task for the Sun Devils may be ridding themselves of the emotional hangover of that loss to the Trojans. They practiced Sunday and had Monday off, and return to work on the field tonight.

`Our team (Sunday) was hurting,' Koetter said. `We were all disappointed, frustrated, sore, tired, all the things you expect a team to be after a game like that.

`I'm very confident in the leaders and captains of our team. Our guys know what's at stake. We have a chance to still have a great season.'

OREGON FOOTBALL UPDATE

Awaiting TV decision: The kickoff for Oregon's home game Oct. 15 against Washington will be finalized today, with the Ducks still considering whether to move the start time from 12:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. to allow a local telecast on the Oregon Sports Network.

Oregon has to make the decision by today to meet league rules on informing the opponent, which would have to adjust its travel plans, including the departure time for a charter aircraft.

`We're aware of the possibility (of a time change), they informed us of that,' UW spokesman Jim Daves said. `We're just waiting to hear back from them.'

The game can be televised locally only if it doesn't conflict with other Pac-10 games on TV that day. The network selections for Pac-10 telecasts on Oct. 15 were Oregon State at California at 12:30 p.m. on ABC and UCLA at Washington State at 3:30 p.m. on FSN. Also to be televised on Oct. 15 is USC at Notre Dame on NBC at 12:30 p.m.

Honored Ducks: Oregon's players of the week for the win over Stanford were quarterback Kellen Clemens on offense, end Devan Long on defense and Haloti Ngata for special teams. The Pac-10 selections for players of the week were USC tailback LenDale White for offense, California cornerback Daymeion Hughes for defense and Arizona State kick returner Terry Richardson.

Oregon's scout team players of the week were Ed Dickson on offense, and Titus Jackson, Josh Thomas-Dotson and Walter Thurmond III for defense, with Thurmond also honored for special teams.

Next game: Saturday at Arizona State at 7:15 p.m. TV: Televised live on FSN.