TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter showed up at his weekly campus news conference wearing a black brace on his sprained right thumb.

Coach Dennis Erickson intercepted Carpenter on his way to the interview table and pointed to the brace.

"You're not supposed to wear that," Erickson said with a smile. "Now, I mean, how are we going to fake people out?"

Carpenter hurt his thumb handing off to tailback Keegan Herring in a 31-20 victory over California on Saturday. Although Carpenter still had swelling in his hand two days later, he's expected to play at Oregon (No. 5 BCS, No. 4 AP) this week.

ASU (No. 4 BCS, No. 6 AP) had Monday off. Erickson said he expects Carpenter to try to throw in practice on Tuesday.

"We'll be careful with it," Erickson said. "We just want him to be able to play and be 100 percent Saturday, but he's still got to practice to see the different things that we see. He doesn't necessarily have to throw the football during the week, but as long as he sees things, that's the biggest thing."

Sophomore Danny Sullivan is Arizona State's backup quarterback.

"I have a lot of confidence in Danny if that came about," Erickson said, according to the Arizona Republic.

Carpenter couldn't resist trying to have a little fun with reporters who wanted to know the extent of his injury. Asked if it would hamper him in practice, Carpenter replied, "You'll have to come to practice to find out."

One indication that Carpenter isn't badly hurt: After the news conference, he carried a large soft drink cup in his right hand.

"It's nothing special," Carpenter said, referring to the injury. "I wasn't happy about it because it was my throwing hand and it was hurting. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to throw the rest of the game or at that moment."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.