USC’s defense will try to maintain turnover mind-set during off week

USC will have more than a week to savor its 42-14 victory over Arizona State.

The Trojans do not play again until Oct. 8, a Thursday night game against Washington at the Coliseum.

USC defensive players will try in the meantime to maintain the turnover mentality that helped the Trojans rebound from their loss against Stanford.

USC intercepted a pass and forced three fumbles against Arizona State for a victory that on Sunday propelled the Trojans from 19th to 17th in the Associated Press media poll and from 18th to 16th in the coaches’ poll.

The Trojans rank eighth nationally in turnover margin.

“Just because we got the win doesn’t mean we can slack,” said defensive lineman Delvon Simmons, who forced a fumble that safety Chris Hawkins returned for a touchdown. “We have to come back working three times harder than we did last week so we can keep this thing going.”

Coach Steve Sarkisian was not available for his regular Sunday night teleconference with reporters because of a miscommunication that stemmed from the Trojans’ having an upcoming open date, an athletic department spokesman said.

Sarkisian intimated after the game that the Trojans did not overreact to their 41-31 loss to Stanford.

“The natural assumption was, ‘The sky was falling — what’s wrong with us,’” Sarkisian said of talk outside the team. “There was really a cool, calm focused team that was ready to go play.”

Sarkisian and players said that creating turnovers was the emphasis of pregame preparation.

“We came out here with a vengeance to get the ball out,” Hawkins said.

USC still has much to improve — the Trojans were penalized 10 times for 91 yards, allowed the Sun Devils to average 5.2 yards per carry and scored only one second-half touchdown — but the defense showed it was capable of changing the momentum of games with big plays.

More than anything, linebacker Su’a Cravens said, USC’s defensive players simply did their jobs after failing to do so against Stanford. He made reference to Oregon’s 62-20 loss to Utah on Saturday.

“You see what happens to a lot of teams,” Cravens said. “There’s going to be those nights when things just aren’t going your way. It’s football so you have to bounce back the next week; that’s what we did.”

Cravens set the turnover tone by forcing a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Scott Felix on Arizona State’s first possession. The play set up USC’s first touchdown.

Safety John Plattenburg intercepted a pass in the second quarter, which also set up a scoring drive.

“It’s just great for momentum swings,” Plattenburg said of turnovers.

USC led, 21-0, near the end of the second quarter but Arizona State moved to the one-yard line and was threatening to make it a game.

That’s when Simmons forced a fumble. The senior said he was trying to make up for a play he had “messed up” in the same series. He credited defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox for making a good call.

“I was just focused on getting off the ball and just getting in the backfield,” Simmons said.

Hawkins scooped up the loose ball and headed toward the end zone 94 yards away.

“I was tired because of the long drive they were on,” he said. “I really wasn’t thinking at the time. I was just running, hoping nobody caught me.”

Quinton Powell forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Soma Vainuku recovered the ball and the Trojans scored again for a 35-0 halftime lead.

Action Jackson

USC coaches must find more ways to get the ball to Adoree’ Jackson.

The sophomore had 131 all-purpose yards, including 80 on a screen pass that he turned into a touchdown.

“The hardest thing about dealing with Adoree’ is when and how and how many times,” Sarkisian said.

Jackson, a starting cornerback, had caught a six-yard pass on the previous play.

“Once we get it to him once, we try to find a little rhythm because he’s in that mode of being on offense,” Sarkisian said.

Said quarterback Cody Kessler: “The coolest thing for me is when he comes out on the field, everyone on the defense is all, ‘two is in, two is in.’ Everyone is aware of it on defense and that just speaks volumes on the type of player he is.”

gary.klein@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimesklein