The Arizona State Sun Devils fell to their in-state rivals, the No. 16 Arizona Wildcats 59-23 in their final contest of the season. The Wildcats took control early in the first quarter, giving Arizona their second straight victory in the Territorial Cup.
The Maroon and Gold scored the first touchdown of the game, courtesy of junior running back Cam Skattebo. Arizona took control from there, leading at the end of the first quarter 10-7 and dominating the second quarter with a 28-0 run.
The four-touchdown run came courtesy of the Wildcats’ redshirt freshman quarterback Noah Fifita’s passing game and senior running back Michael Wiley’s rushing game. Wiley had three touchdowns in the game, all of them coming in the second-quarter. As the Sun Devil’s defense looked hopeless to stop the run, the fans began their early exit just as Wiley rushed in for his third in a row within seven minutes of his first.
“There’s no one that’s not bought in,” Sun Devils redshirt junior tight end Jalin Conyers said. “If you’re not bought in, then they’re free to leave. So this kind of mentality going in with, I think we did a good job.”
The Wildcats headed into halftime with a devastating 38-7 lead. The student section was visually secluded to the first five rows in each section. Multiple fumbles and one interception ended the first half for ASU, unable to gain any momentum on offense. Meanwhile, the Wildcats entered the 3rd quarter firing on all cylinders.
Arizona quickly got another interception off of Sun Devil freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada and took it into Sun Devil territory, just under 10 yards from the end zone. Wildcats redshirt senior tight end Tanner McLachlan eventually got the 8-yard touchdown, as the Sun Devils hoped to rally back on the next play, by breaking into Wildcat territory.
Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, this only prolonged the inevitable, as an unsuccessful play on 4th and 11 led to the Wildcats retaining possession on their 47-yard line. Only a minute into the Wildcat’s drive, Fifita threw the ball deep to sophomore receiver Tetairoa McMillan for a 50-yard touchdown. This was the theme of the day, as Fifita threw a program record of 527 yards in this game.
“[Fifita’s] better than what I was anticipating,” Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “He’s better than what I thought he was in high school at pocket movements. Just the ability to move around the pocket and fill the pocket.”
With the Wildcats up 52-7 in the 3rd quarter, the game seemed to wind down for Arizona as the Sun Devils tried to make one last push. In back-to-back drives, the Sun Devils got two touchdowns followed by 2-point conversions to make the score 57-23 at the start of the 4th quarter.
While the Devils seemed to have lit a spark with a 4th quarter interception by graduate linebacker Tre Brown, the Wildcats quickly snuffed it out. The defense stifled the Sun Devils to lose the ball on 4th and 4 on their 39-yard line.
This allowed the Wildcats an opportunity to put the final nail in the coffin, as Fifita threw just one more touchdown to senior receiver Jacob Cowing, setting the score at 59-23 with just four minutes to go, cementing the Wildcats victory for the Territorial Cup.
“I want to build something that’s sustainable. And even though that may hurt us early in the process when it gets built, it’s going to last,” said head coach Kenny Dillingham. “It’s painful to sit up here and lose, I hate it. But even worse than losing, would be five years from now, not having built it.”
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