USC went into Saturday night's game against Arizona State having not surrendered a touchdown pass.
That streak ended at the Coliseum — and Sun Devils quarterback Mike Bercovici provided an exclamation point.
Bercovici burned the Trojans for five touchdowns, including a 46-yard Hail Mary to receiver Jaelen Strong on the final play to send USC to a crushing 38-34 defeat.
"It's never over," USC Coach Steve Sarkisian said, adding, "you learn the hard way in games like this."
A week after defeating Oregon State with the help of a Hail Mary touchdown pass, USC gave one up and dropped to 3-2 overall, 2-1 in Pac-12 Conference play and 0-1 in the Pac-12 South.
Bercovici, who played at Woodland Hills Taft High, was playing in place of injured starter Taylor Kelly for the second consecutive game.
In last week's defeat against UCLA, Bercovici passed for 488 yards and three touchdowns, but had two passes intercepted.
He apparently learned to eliminate mistakes.
The fourth-year junior from Calabasas shredded the Trojans, completing 27 of 45 passes for 510 yards.
Strong caught 10 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns, the last one the biggest.
"It leaves us with a sick feeling in our gut," Sarkisian said of the loss.
The Trojans scored at the end of the first half against Oregon State on a Hail Mary from quarterback Cody Kessler to receiver Darreus Rogers.
USC worked on the play again this week in practice, Sarkisian said.
"I'm sure Arizona State did too," he said, "and they made the play."
Arizona State's Hail Mary play wiped out a USC effort that included Nelson Agholor's punt return for a touchdown, tailback Javorius Allen's two touchdowns, Kessler's scramble for a touchdown and Andre Heidari's two field goals.
In a week when four of college football's top six ranked teams suffered losses, USC did not look like a team ready to ascend into top-10 territory.
The offense was sluggish most of the game and the defense could not stop Bercovici.
But despite game-time temperatures in the 90s, the Trojans appeared on their way to playing a huge Pac-12 South game at unbeaten Arizona.
After upsetting second-ranked Oregon on Thursday night, the Wildcats will break into the top 20 Sunday.
The Trojans, who led, 17-15, at halftime and 34-25 with three minutes left, will no doubt drop out.
Despite four dropped passes in the first half, Kessler completed 28 of 45 for 273 yards.
With long snapper Zach Smith out of the game because of a concussion, Kessler also punted four times. The first two bounced out of the end zone for touchbacks, the third pinned Arizona State at the two-yard line and the final one gave Arizona State the ball at its own 28 with 23 seconds left with no timeouts remaining.
USC took a 17-15 halftime lead on Agholor's 53-yard punt return, a short touchdown run by Allen and a field goal.
USC appeared to have the game in hand when Kessler bulldozed his way across the goal line for a 27-18 lead early in the fourth quarter.
But Bercovici pulled the Sun Devils with 27-25 with a touchdown pass to running back D.J. Foster.
USC's Randall Telfer recovered an onside kick and Allen appeared to seal the victory with a 53-yard dash to the end zone, giving the Trojans a 34-25 lead.
But Arizona State answered with a 73-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass from Bercovici to receiver Cameron Smith.
USC recovered another onside kick, but their possession ended with another Kessler punt.
Then came the Hail Mary that ended the game.
"We'll bounce back," Sarkisian said. "We'll fight back and play a hard-fought game next Saturday night."
Twitter: @latimesklein
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