Sun Devils’ Carpenter hangs tough

Rudy Carpenter stood by himself on the Arizona State sideline, tightly holding his right wrist as the final seconds of the Sun Devils’ victory over UCLA ticked away at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

Carpenter was hurting -- he had been for more than half the game -- but he was intent not to show it even afterward.

After he did a television interview, a teammate came running by and tried to give him a low-five, but just before the two slapped hands Carpenter retracted his injured hand and stuck out his elbow instead.

The quick-thinking adjustment was emblematic of what Carpenter did all afternoon in blocking out the throbbing in his right thumb long enough to lead the Sun Devils to a 24-20 Pacific 10 Conference victory.

The junior quarterback, whose play this season has Arizona State thinking Rose Bowl for the first time in a decade, probably re-sprained his right thumb in the second quarter on a play in which he threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Williams.

That was a minor hit. He took several major ones from a Bruins defense that relentlessly pressured him, sacking him five times and eventually forcing him out for a series in the fourth quarter.

But, after backup Danny Sullivan was sacked and fumbled the ball with about five minutes left, Carpenter went back in and scrambled for a crucial first down that allowed the Sun Devils to leave L.A. as a winner for the first time since 1999, when they beat USC.

“Gutsy, that’s the No. 1 thing I can say about his performance,” Williams said after the game. “He came in here, he had a messed up thumb, he hurt it again, and he came back anyway. That’s the most heart I’ve seen out of him.”

Williams’ touchdown reception in the second quarter brought Arizona State to within three points, 10-7. It was Carpenter’s 20th touchdown pass of the season, but he was hurting too much to immediately celebrate.

“You could tell by his facial expression, you could see that he was in pain, but that didn’t matter,” Williams said. “We had a game to win. He’s our leader and he led us to victory.”

Carpenter, who completed 16 of 31 passes for 200 yards, wanted to talk more about the future than his injury. The Sun Devils will be off Saturday before their Thanksgiving date with USC in a game that could decide which Pac-10 runner-up might play in the Rose Bowl game.

“It felt good to get a win, especially in Los Angeles, and hopefully we can get back here later in the year,” Carpenter said.

Arizona State Coach Dennis Erickson lauded Carpenter’s toughness saying, “He’s all the accolades that you want.”

If there was one play that demonstrated that toughness, it was his seven-yard scramble in the fourth quarter that forced UCLA to use its final two timeouts.

“To me that defines Rudy Carpenter,” Erickson said. “It was third and whatever and he finds a way to scramble and get the first down, which eventually eats up another minute and a half and then we punt and they don’t have a chance. He just finds a way to get things done.”

Carpenter has 2,529 yards passing this season. He has also been sacked 42 times and said he was not on the field on the series before that because he couldn’t grip the ball.

Once he regained feeling on his hand, though, and after seeing Sullivan lose the ball on the previous drive, he went back in.

“He did a great job for them,” said safety Chris Horton, who sacked Carpenter three times. “His thumb had nothing to do with his legs. The guy is a good scrambler and he made plays for his team.”

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jaime.cardenas@latimes.com