Arizona’s Victory Doesn’t Hurt Focus

After two days off, second-ranked USC returned to practice on Sunday night in the same position amid a somewhat different bowl championship series landscape.

USC will still be second behind Oklahoma in the BCS standings today, but several teams pursuing the Trojans, including Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech, probably fell by the wayside with losses.

USC, which plays at Arizona on Saturday, remains on track for a berth in the Sugar Bowl if the Trojans defeat the Wildcats, UCLA and Oregon State.

“It’s kind of funny how things are falling into place,” quarterback Matt Leinart said after the Trojans practiced in full pads for the first time in weeks. “We can’t control what anyone else does.... I don’t think we’re going to get complacent. We’re too good of a team and know we can’t do that.”

Arizona ended a school-record eight-game losing streak with a victory over Washington on Saturday. The Wildcats are 2-8 overall and 1-5 in the Pacific 10. USC Coach Pete Carroll said Arizona’s victory under interim coach Mike Hankwitz, who replaced the fired John Mackovic in late September, would help the Trojans remain focused.

“If anybody thought they weren’t able to win a football game, that’s obviously not right,” Carroll said. “Watching the film, you see a lot of good plays and a lot of good stuff going on.

“It looks like they’re rebounding from the changeover ....They’ll be all pumped about [playing USC] I would think.”

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Carroll said middle linebacker Daniel Urquhart, who has not practiced since suffering a nerve injury in his left shoulder against Stanford on Oct. 11, will not play again this season.

Urquhart, a redshirt junior, started in place of Lofa Tatupu against Arizona State on Oct. 4 and made a team-best 10 tackles. He was scheduled to start against Stanford but was injured on an early kickoff against the Cardinal.

“He’s got a pretty serious situation -- he still can’t lift his arm,” Carroll said. “We’re just going to wait and see how it comes around over a long period.”

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Linebackers Matt Grootegoed (ankle) and Melvin Simmons (leg) were held out of most drills. Carroll said Simmons would practice Tuesday, but Grootegoed’s status for Saturday’s game is uncertain.

“I’m still concerned about Matt making it,” Carroll said.

Starting free safety Jason Leach spent much of practice on the sidelines with an ice pack on his left knee. Leach said the treatment was a precaution because of tightness in his knee.