PHOENIX (AP) -- The 15th-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils haven't lost to Northern Arizona since 1938.

ASU coach Dennis Erickson still has butterflies heading into the season opener on Saturday night in Tempe. They're a big part of his pregame routine.

"When I quit getting jitters, I better quit the business," Erickson said this week. "I always have jitters, for every game. I have jitters now and hopefully I'll have jitters twenty years from now. That's what it's all about."

Erickson has little to worry about in what shapes up as a virtual scrimmage for the Sun Devils, who are 10-0-1 against NAU since that last loss in 1938.

But ASU's relatively lofty ranking could be a cause for concern.

Coming off a 10-3 season, the Sun Devils have their highest preseason ranking since 1998, when they opened at No. 8. They tumbled from the rankings after losing their first two games that year.

Since joining the Pac-10 in 1978, Arizona State has been ranked in the preseason top 15 only three times. Twice it finished unranked, and the third time it dropped six spots in the final poll.

If ASU hopes to reverse that trend this year, it will need improved play by the offensive line, which was depleted by graduation. The unit yielded 55 sacks a year ago, 117th out of 119 major-college teams. Erickson said the line should improve after a year in his offensive system.

"The offensive front, even though we lost some players, are more familiar with the technique and the things that we want to do in our offensive scheme of things as far as run calls, blocking, and protection," he said.

The Sun Devils are looking for a big season from senior quarterback Rudy Carpenter, who is 22-9 as a starter, the fourth-most victories in school history. Carpenter needs nine victories to pass Danny White, who won 30 games in three seasons.

Carpenter said he is more comfortable in his second season in Erickson's attack.

"The game has slowed down a lot for me," Carpenter said. "Overall decision-making, knowing when to try and make plays, when to cut my losses and throw the ball away and trusting guys to make plays around me."

Erickson wants to run the ball consistently, and the opener will give him a chance to work out all his running backs. The Lumberjacks will likely see a steady diet of tailbacks Dimitri Nance and Keegan Herring. Highly touted freshman Ryan Bass, who backed out on an oral commitment to rival Arizona to sign with the Sun Devils, is also going to see action.

"Dimitri and Keegan are our two backs that we are going to use primarily," Erickson said. "Jarrell Woods will be involved a little bit for short yardage because he's bigger. Ryan Bass will see action in that game. How much I don't know, but we're planning on playing him."

The Lumberjacks are 14-18-4 all-time against ASU, but they haven't beaten the Sun Devils since 1938. Still, Erickson isn't taking anything for granted.

"They are going to give us everything we want," he said. "The bottom line for us is we need to be ready to play. It's the start of a season. It's an opponent that if we don't play well we will get beat. That's the nature of it. The old cliché that I say all the time is, `This is the start of 12 opportunities for us.' "

The opener is the first of four straight home games for the Sun Devils. On Sept. 6, they open Pac-10 play against Stanford. UNLV visits on Sept. 13, and No. 1 Georgia comes to Sun Devil Stadium on Sept. 20.

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