PLAYERS TO WATCH
–S Aashari Crosswell, a true freshman who followed assistant coach Antonio Pierce from Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High School, had a career-high five tackles with one for loss against Stanford last week. Pierce was the head coach at Poly before joining Herm Edwards’ staff at ASU.
–WR N’Keal Harry, a junior, moved to eighth in school history in career receiving yards with 2,220 after the Stanford game last week. In seventh place is Jaelen Strong with 2,373. Harry has had at least one reception in all 32 of the games he has played for ASU.
–QB Manny Wilkins recorded a 10-yard scoring run against Stanford, moving his career total to 15, which puts him in sole possession of second in school history behind Mark Malone’s 21 for rushing TDs by a quarterback. Wilkins also spread the ball around to nine different receivers against the Cardinal, a season-high total.
–S Jalen Harvey, who played at wide receiver in his first three seasons at ASU, recorded his fourth double-digit tackle game with 12 against the Cardinal. He is 12th nationally with 6.2 solo tackles a game. He had seven against Stanford.
SERIES HISTORY: ASU trails USC 21-12 in their series dating to 1978. The Trojans have won the last three games, scoring more than 40 points in each. The Sun Devils have lost eight of the last nine games played in Los Angeles.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “I despise and I hate losing so don’t think that I’m going out there on purpose trying to lose the game. I hate losing more than anything.” — ASU senior QB Manny Wilkins, on losing another game by only a touchdown as the Sun Devils were beaten 20-13 by Stanford last week