Can Cougars Survive in the Desert?

The last time Arizona State hosted a top-10 team at Tempe?

That would have been the greatest night in Sun Devil history, last year’s stunning 19-0 victory over No. 1 Nebraska.

That launched Arizona State’s run to the Rose Bowl and Jake “the Snake” Plummer’s drive to cult status.

Saturday night, No. 20 Arizona State hosts No. 10 Washington State with almost as much at stake.

A victory puts the Sun Devils right back in the Rose Bowl race. The Cougars are still dreaming of an undefeated season and a Nov. 22 Apple Cup showdown against Washington.

Because of Pac-10 scheduling, Arizona State and Washington State haven’t met since 1994. For what it’s worth, the Cougars have won four in a row.

“I don’t think it really means anything,” Cougar Coach Mike Price said. “It’s been so long since we’ve played them, most of our team has never played down there. It won’t be a factor.”

Washington State (7-0, 5-0) is calling last week’s 35-34 overtime victory over Arizona a character builder.

“The alarm sounded, and we did get out of bed,” Price said.

Arizona State (5-2, 3-1) was written off after early-season losses to Washington and Brigham Young, but has clobbered USC and Stanford in consecutive conference games and is rested after a bye week.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Kealy is doing a pretty good Plummer impression for the Sun Devils, although Coach Bruce Snyder does not understand why his team is favored against the nation’s No. 10 team.

“How does that figure?” Snyder said. “I was stunned when I heard that. Here we are, we don’t score nearly as many points as they do, they’re ranked 10th, undefeated. I don’t know where that came from. But it did blow my cover as far as going to the team and saying we don’t get any respect.”

* The Line: Arizona State by 3 1/2.

ON TV

* Penn State (6-0, 3-0) at Northwestern (3-6, 1-4), ESPN, 9:30 a.m: Joe Paterno’s team had a bye week to stew about losing the No. 1 ranking after a 16-15 home win over Minnesota. A couple more close shaves like that and Penn State might get bounced out of the top 10. Watch out: Northwestern shocked Michigan State two weeks ago and is 3-2 at home.

The Line: Penn State by 16.

* Purdue (6-1, 4-0) at Iowa (5-2, 2-2), ESPN2, 9:30 a.m.: The most underrated passing combination in the country may be Purdue’s Billy Dicken to Brian Alford. The Boilermakers, not the Hawkeyes, are still in the Rose Bowl hunt.

The Line: Iowa by 11.

* Navy (3-3) at Notre Dame (3-5), Channel 4, 10:30 a.m.: Now here’s a service academy the Irish can handle. Notre Dame has won the last 33 games against Navy. The last Navy win was engineered in 1963 by Roger Staubach.

The Line: Notre Dame by 17.

* Georgia (6-1, 4-1) at Florida (6-1, 4-1), Channel 2, 12:30 p.m.: Steve Spurrier goes for his 100th collegiate win in this key SEC Eastern Division game at Jacksonville. This used to be a big rivalry when Spurrier played quarterback at Florida, but the Gators have won seven in a row in the series.

The Line: Florida by 19 1/2.

* Southern Mississippi (5-2, 3-0) at Cincinnati (6-2, 1-2) FSW, 12:30 p.m.: Southern Miss is coming off a key conference victory over Tulane, while Cincinnati eked out a double-overtime win against Miami of Ohio.

The Line: Southern Mississippi by 4 1/2.

* Louisiana State (5-2, 3-2) at Kentucky (4-4, 1-4), ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.: The Tigers are fifth nationally in rushing at 259 yards per game. Kevin Faulk and Rondell Mealey should run wild against Kentucky’s 66th-ranked rush defense.

The Line: Louisiana State by 6 1/2.

* Oklahoma State (6-1, 3-1) at Texas A&M; (5-2, 3-2), FSW, 4 p.m.: Three weeks ago, both teams were undefeated. Since, Texas A&M; has lost to Kansas State and Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State lost in double OT last week to Missouri.

The Line: Texas A&M; by 9.

* West Virginia (6-1, 3-1) at Syracuse (5-3, 2-1), ESPN, 4:30 p.m.: The Orangemen, notorious slow starters, have won four in a row. Quarterback Donovan McNabb is hot again after falling off the Heisman map in September. West Virginia beat Virginia Tech last week.

The Line: Syracuse by 10 1/2.

* Air Force (7-2, 4-2) at Hawaii (3-5, 1-5), FSW2, 10 p.m.: Falcon Coach Fisher DeBerry was quoting ancient Chinese proverbs this week to snap his team from its two-game losing streak. Hawaii isn’t very good but did beat Minnesota, which almost beat Penn State.

The Line: Air Force by 11 1/2.

5 Things to Look For

1. If Penn State keeps winning, Coach Joe Paterno will be going for career win No. 300 against Michigan State at East Lansing on Nov. 29. Penn State plays at Northwestern on Saturday, then faces Michigan, Purdue and Wisconsin in consecutive weeks, schools with a 20-3 record before the weekend.

2. Illinois (0-7) and Rutgers (0-8), two of four winless Division I-A schools, won’t get a better chance to crack the win column. Illinois is at 1-7 Indiana, and Rutgers will have to deal with those rowdy two or three hundred fans who regularly cheer for 2-6 Temple.

3. Here’s a long-running series that can use a break. Oklahoma is at Nebraska on Saturday for the 78th meeting of what used to be one of college football’s great matchups. Nebraska is a five-touchdown favorite in this one. The schools don’t play again until 2000.

4. Apparently not happy that Tennessee’s expanded Neyland Stadium became the nation’s largest last season, Michigan has launched a counterattack that should return the “Big House” to its rightful throne in 1998. University officials this week passed a $6-million proposal that will expand Michigan Stadium by 5,200 seats to a record capacity of 107,701. Neyland Stadium, capacity 102,544, now has 43 more seats than Michigan Stadium. Your move, Tennessee.

Does Wake Forest, best known as a golf school, dare dream of going to a bowl for the first time since 1992? Jim Caldwell’s Demon Deacons (4-4) need two more wins to become bowl eligible. We don’t like their chances. Wake Forest would need to win two of its last three against Clemson, Rutgers and Florida State. OK, Rutgers is a lock. The other two are losses.

THE REST

Oregon St. (+4 1/2) at California, 12:30 p.m.

Clemson (-3) at Wake Forest, 9 a.m.

Pittsburgh (+4) at Boston College, 9 a.m.

Rutgers (+9 1/2) at Temple, 9 a.m.

Minnesota (+26) at Michigan, 9:15 a.m.

Ohio St. (-6) at Michigan St., 12:30 p.m.

South Carolina (+21) at Tennessee, 9:30 a.m.

Virginia (-8 1/2) at Maryland, 10 a.m.

Illinois (+4 1/2) at Indiana, 10 a.m.

Oklahoma (+37) at Nebraska, 12:30 p.m.

Missouri (+14) at Colorado, 11:30 a.m.

Texas (-8 1/2) at Baylor, 11 a.m.

Kansas St. (-6 1/2) at Texas Tech, 9:30 a.m.

Iowa St. (+9) at Kansas, 11 a.m.

Mississippi St. (+17) at Auburn, 11 a.m.

Houston (+1 1/2) at Memphis, 11 a.m.

San Diego St. (+11) at Wyoming, noon

Utah (-10 1/2) at Tulsa, noon

East Carolina (-3) at Louisville, noon

Rice (-4 1/2) at SMU, noon

New Mexico (-7 1/2) at TCU, noon

N. Carolina St. (+29 1/2) at Florida St., 12:30 p.m.

Colorado St. (-19 1/2) at UNLV, 1 p.m.

Fresno St. (-8) at San Jose St., 1:30 p.m.

BYU (-19 1/2) at Texas El Paso, 5:30 p.m.

Air Force (-11 1/2) at Hawaii, 10 p.m.

Ala. Birmingham (+24) at Va. Tech, 10 a.m.

Akron (+9 1/2) at Ball St., 10 a.m.

Marshall (-22) at C. Michigan, 10 a.m.

W. Michigan (+2) at E. Michigan, 10 a.m.

Miami, Ohio (+1 1/2) at Toledo, 10 a.m.

Louisiana Tech (+20) at Alabama, 11 a.m.

Ohio U. (-23) at N. Illinois, 11 a.m.

Boise St. (+22) at Utah St., noon

Bowling Green (-3 1/2) at Kent, 11 a.m.

Arkansas St. (+40 1/2) at Miami, 1 p.m.

Tulane (-25 1/2) at SW Louisiana, 5 p.m.

Central Florida (Off) at NE Louisiana, 5 p.m.

The Times’ Rankings / 1-25

1. North Carolina (7-0): at Georgia Tech Thursday night .

2. Nebraska (7-0): Six-week anniversary of fans booing Scott Frost vs. Central Florida.

3. Florida State (7-0): Emergence of RB Travis Minor a major step toward national title.

4. Penn State (6-0): Loss of fullback Aaron Harris worse news than drop in AP poll.

5. Michigan (7-0): Minnesota has defeated Michigan twice since ‘67; Wolverines were undefeated both times.

6. Ohio State (7-1): Only 24 shopping days until annual loss to Michigan.

7. Florida (6-1): Curfew breaker Doug Johnson returns to save season against Georgia.

8. Tennessee (5-1): “OK, we can’t beat Florida, but what if Georgia can?”

9. Washington State (7-0): Team marches toward Pac-10 title as fans stay away in droves.

10. Washington (6-1): What, only 17 1/2-point favorites against USC?

11. UCLA (6-2): Only Stanford tuba player stands in way of Bruin victory this weekend in Palo Alto.

12. Auburn (7-1): Already plotting revenge against Florida in SEC title game.

13. LSU (5-2): Pssssst, Tigers, the SEC is a passing conference now. Get with it.

14. Oklahoma State (6-1): You know it’s bad when Missouri ruins your dream season.

15. Georgia (6-1): Florida has beaten the Bulldogs seven in a row. Saturday makes it eight.

16. Toledo (7-0): I’d rather watch Toledo-Miami (Ohio) than Oklahoma-Nebraska.

17. Purdue (6-1): Was team ever this good when Jim Everett was quarterback?

18. Iowa (5-2): Banks loses national rushing lead, asks school to quickly reschedule Northern Iowa.

19. Arizona State (5-2): Ex-coach Frank Kush returns to kick tail in pregame keynote speech.

20. Kansas State (6-1): This pick suggests there are only 19 good teams in country.

21. Michigan State (5-2): Check the schedule; 6-5 is looking like a real possibility.

22. Southern Mississippi (5-2): In poll only so rankmaster could practice spelling Hattiesburg.

23. West Virginia (6-1): Bettin’ my coonskin cap the Mountaineers lose Saturday at Syracuse.

24. Colorado State (6-2): Freak storm last weekend shut down everything except Rams’ offense.

25. Syracuse (5-3): Hey, we remember you guys. National title contenders, right?