Carroll asks Arizona State to put Sarkisian in job mix

USC Coach Pete Carroll went on the offensive for assistant head coach Steve Sarkisian on Monday.

Carroll said he called Lisa Love, Arizona State’s athletic director, to talk about Sarkisian as a replacement for Dirk Koetter, who was fired Sunday.

Love was an athletic administrator at USC for 13 years before she was hired as Arizona’s athletic director in April 2005. Carroll said his familiarity with Love precipitated his call regarding Sarkisian.

“He’d be a fantastic candidate,” Carroll said. “He’s a great coach who’s had extraordinary success and has been on a very fast track.

“I think he’s going to be a big-time head coach very soon.”

Sarkisian, 32, was an offensive assistant on Carroll’s first USC staff in 2001 and coached quarterbacks in 2002 and 2003. He joined the Oakland Raiders’ staff as a quarterbacks coach in 2004, then returned to USC as assistant head coach when offensive coordinator Norm Chow left for a job with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.

Sarkisian said he was focused on beating UCLA on Saturday.

“It’s always flattering if you’re considered for a job like that,” he said. “Right now my goal is to win this game.”

Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said he had “not directly been contacted” about the Arizona State job.

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Quarterback John David Booty practiced and said his left ankle remained slightly sore after twisting it against Notre Dame.

“It’s not anything that’s going to keep me from playing,” Booty said.

Booty was one of eight Trojans voted to the All-Pacific 10 Conference first team.

“I set a couple goals for myself at the beginning of this year and that was one of them,” said Booty, who has passed for 25 touchdowns. “It has a lot to do with my team, the way the line has protected me, the receivers making big plays, it kind of goes for them too.”

Safety Taylor Mays was voted co-freshman of the year.

“It’s definitely cool to be recognized for the accomplishments during the season but at the same time there is so much more I can do better,” Mays said. “There’s a lot of room for improvement.”

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UCLA has not selected a starting quarterback for Saturday’ season-finale at the Rose Bowl, but Carroll said that would not affect the Trojans’ preparation.

Left-hander Ben Olson, who began the season as the starter, injured a knee in the fifth game but is ready to return. Patrick Cowan started the last six games.

“We have plenty of film on both guys,” Carroll said. “Cowan has done well.... They’re fortunate they’ve got two really good guys, so I’m sure they’ll figure it out and be all right.”

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Running back Chauncey Washington, who is still nursing a sore knee, did not practice.... Receiver Chris McFoy said he did not practice because of an academic commitment.

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USC’s 44-24 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday night on ABC got a 9.6 national overnight rating, making it the top-rated game among the network’s 5 p.m. telecasts this season. The previous high was an 8.2 national rating for Ohio State at Texas on Sept. 9. The highest college football national rating for all telecasts this season was a 13.0 for Michigan-Ohio State, a 12:30 p.m. PST game Nov. 18.

In Los Angeles, Saturday night’s game got a 14.9 rating and had an average of nearly 1.4 million viewers at any given time.

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Times staff writer Larry Stewart contributed to this report.

gary.klein@latimes.com