Notebook: Sports psychologist works with Carpenter, others

Considering the drop in his production since last year, it’s no surprise Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter has been under a microscope. He’s conducted some of the analysis himself, but he’s ready to move on and he’s ready for the rest of his observers to move on as well.

“I’m sick of everyone else analyzing my play too,” Carpenter said. “I’m ready to play live. I went home this weekend and kind of realized that football is supposed to be fun. Obviously, losing is not fun, and I wasn’t having fun when we were winning.

“When we win a game I would read the paper and it would say, ‘He (Carpenter) had a terrible game.’ I need to stop reading the paper.”

Among those to take their stab at figuring out Carpenter in the last two weeks was a sports psychologist. The man, who went unidentified, worked with several Sun Devils over the bye week.

Though coach Dirk Koetter declined to comment on the man’s presence last week, he shed some light on his purpose this week.

“You’re always looking for the right thing,” he said. “It’s different for every guy, because every guy is motivated differently. We’ve done several things with Rudy. . . .

“Rudy has gone through a rough stretch, but the things are all fixable. Some of it is mental, and I’m not an expert on that. We’ve brought in someone who is an expert on that, and hopefully, he can help Rudy and some other people on our team.”

OL’ DIRTY HIT?

The last meeting between ASU and Southern California did not pass without controversy.

In the first quarter of the Trojans’ win last season, Sun Devils linebacker Robert James was flagged for a late hit when he crashed into quarterback Matt Leinart on a rollout.

Leinart missed a few plays and later asserted that it was a “cheap shot.”

Koetter found himself defending the play again this week.

“It was a bang-bang play. It was not a dirty play,” Koetter said. “I talked to Leinart after the game, and I told him that it was too bad he got hurt. I didn’t think it was a cheap shot. It was probably the hardest Leinart has ever been hit, but that’s college football. Robert was just doing his job and being aggressive. And they flagged it.”

THE REPLACEMENTS

USC running backs Reggie Bush and LenDale White piled up 355 yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries against the Sun Devils last year.

They’re both in the NFL now, but (surprise, surprise) USC has found capable replacements in Emmanuel Moody and Chauncey Washington. Moody is more of a slasher and has tallied 413 yards and two scores on 60 carries for a 6.6 yards-percarry average. The bigger Washington has rushed for 300 yards and two touchdowns on 65 carries for a 4.5-yard average.

They’re not the only backs to get the ball for USC this year, but they’ve done well enough that they’ve been dubbed “the replacements.”

“I doubt if they like to be called the replacements,” Koetter said. “All the tailbacks that USC has played this year, and there’s a bunch of them, are all very talented. They wouldn’t be playing at USC if they didn’t have a lot of talent. Even though they’re going with more of a committee approach, I think their running game is still very effective. You’d better be able to stop that or it’s going to be a long day.”