TEMPE, Ariz. -- One of the most overused clichés in sports was in full effect in the visitor's locker room at Sun Devil Stadium on Saturday night.

A win's a win.

And that's the truth. As unsatisfying as Saturday night's win was, it's still going down in the record book as a "W." While there's much to fix and adjust, that's a letter the Trojans will take away on any Saturday.

The 14-9 victory over Arizona State, ugly and unexpected as ever, turned out to be a great win because it was exactly that -- a win. And that's especially the case when looking at the alternative, something the Trojans had experienced just seven days before.

"It was really hard tonight," Coach Carroll told the players in the locker room after the game, in a tone still filled with the joy of a victory.

Hard, for sure. Enjoyable, not so much. But fulfilling? Oh yes.

Fulfilling in the sense that it will be recorded in the end as a victory regardless of the means to the end. Fulfilling in the sense that USC finished strong, a trait that was spotty in previous games. And fulfilling in the sense that the Trojans are now riding a one-game winning streak instead of that wretched-tasting one-game losing streak from last weekend in Oregon.

The Trojans rode to the victory behind an overpowering defense, one that scored half the team's points, produced four takeaways and sealed the win with a lockdown performance on the final drive.

"How bout that defense?" Carroll giddily exclaimed in the locker room after the game. "How sweet it is!"

The impressive defensive effort was somewhat of an odd sight, though, considering it had allowed 47, 36 and 27 points over the last three games, respectively. But on a night the offense had an off night, the defense stepped up -- in the same way the reverse had happened a few times previously this season.

"That's being a team," Carroll said, "and it's a beautiful thing."

Teachable moments continued to pour forth from Carroll's lips, as he talked, among other things, about the "big lesson was for us to keep fighting."

"When things don't go right, when they don't go like you want, you turn your sights on the very next step," Carroll said. "You can do anything when you put your power in that direction."

And after Saturday's win over Arizona State, the Trojans can turn their sights to Stanford. They've thankfully closed out their road schedule for the season -- "it's been a long haul," Carroll said while exhaling -- and will now enter into the fourth quarter of the '09 campaign with hope and optimism for what's ahead.

"You don't know what's going to happen -- lots of other teams lost today," Carroll told his players. "So let's go play next week and find out."

So as the Trojans soaked up the sweet winning feeling again, "we're coming home!" became the rally cry, with the players ecstatic to have finished up their road slate and have three straight games at the Coliseum in front of them.

They're coming home indeed.

And better yet, they're coming home victors.


[Photos courtesy of Getty Images]