Arizona fans have a lot of expectations for their football team, but topping the list is always beating ASU. Win the Territorial Cup and it doesn\u2019t matter what happened the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats have won the Duel in the Desert 51 times since 1899, with ASU winning 46 times and one tie in 1987. The Cup currently resides in Tempe, thanks to the Sun Devils\u2019 49-7 win in Tucson last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, obviously, they had a great football team that did some spectacular things and boat raced us,\u201d UA defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said.<\/p>\n
That win in 2024 helped clinch a spot in the Big 12 title game for ASU, which again is alive for the conference championship. The Sun Devils (8-3, 6-2 Big 12) are 20th in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, while Arizona (8-3, 5-3) joined at No. 25 to mark the first ranked T-Cup matchup since 2014.<\/p>\n
The 2014 game was also the only time since the schools joined the Pac-10 in 1978 that both have at least eight wins when meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have two teams come together, they\u2019re both playing good football, I think just have a little extra juice to them,\u201d UA coach Brent Brennan said.<\/p>\n
The game will kick off Friday at 7 p.m. MT, the first in-state night game for Arizona since September, with Fox airing the contest.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what to watch for when Arizona and ASU tangle for the 99th time:<\/p>\n
How the ball is run (and defended)<\/p>\n
In its win at Colorado last week ASU ran for 355 yards, its most since 2020, while Raleek Brown ran for a school road-record 255 yards. For the season, the Sun Devils are third in the Big 12 at 197 yards per game.<\/p>\n
Run defense has been the only flaw on that side of the ball for Arizona, which has seen five of the six opponents gain at least 170 yards on the ground. Stopping mobile quarterbacks has been a particular issue, and ASU\u2019s Jeff Sims had 228 yards and two touchdowns on the ground a few weeks back at Iowa State and is just over 100 shy of 2,000 rushing yards for his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stink at stopping the run, so what are they going to do? They\u2019re going to run it a thousand times,\u201d Gonzales said. I mean, that\u2019s what I\u2019d do. That\u2019s what I keep hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n
ASU has the No. 2 run defense in the Big 12, allowing 119.3 yards per game. Arizona has averaged 180.5 rushing yards during its 4-game win streak, with 10 touchdowns, but those results were against teams at the bottom of the league against the run.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have struggled running the football on them, and it\u2019s because they\u2019re really stout up front,\u201d UA offensive coordinator Seth Doege said.<\/p>\n
Safety Genesis Smith said the goal will be to try and take ASU out of its run-first offense. Arizona has missed 69 tackles on run plays this season, 11 by Smith.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to see a pass if we won\u2019t stop the run,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSo we should come out stop the run first and then win 50\/50 balls.\u201d<\/p>\n
While ASU has the edge in the ground game, both offensively and defensively, Arizona has a distinct advantage through the air. That starts with redshirt junior Noah Fifita, the school career TD pass leader with 69 who is also three from tying the school single-season TD pass record of 28.<\/p>\n
The last time Fifita played at Mountain America Stadium, in 2023, he had five TD passes along with a school-record 527 yards in the 59-23 blowout win. He\u2019s thrown five TD passes twice this season, both at home, but it\u2019s been on the road where Fifita has really shined.<\/p>\n
Since throwing two interceptions at Iowa State in the Big 12 opener, Fifita is 58 of 76 (76.3 percent) for 776 yards and seven TDs with no picks. His QB rating (163.0) in road games is 7th-best in FBS.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of a difference when he\u2019s on the road,\u201d Doege said. \u201cJust by watching him move, his mannerisms, his focus, the way the ball is coming out of his hands. Watching him warm up at Colorado, I was like, oh, it\u2019s gonna be a long night for these boys. And then watching him in Cincinnati, I was like, okay, we\u2019re gonna be fine. Anything that he messes up, I think the Iowa State thing he took hard and he made sure it\u2019s never going to happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
ASU is second in the Big 12 with 31 sacks. Fifita has been sacked 24 times, most in the Big 12.<\/p>\n
Sims, a 6th-year senior in his second season with ASU, took over as starter at the beginning of the month when Sam Leavitt was shut down to have foot surgery. He\u2019s thrown for 772 yards and two TDs this season but is completing only 53.8 percent of his passes and has also fumbled six times.<\/p>\n
If Arizona can force ASU to throw it plays right into its strengths. The Wildcats are 6th nationally in pass defense, with Iowa State\u2019s Rocco Becht the only QB to top 200 yards against them.<\/p>\n
There are 11 players in the Big 12 with at least 50 receptions this season, but only two have done so without playing in every game.<\/p>\n
ASU\u2019s Jordyn Tyson has 59 catches for 689 yards and eight TDs despite missing three games due to injury, returning to action at Colorado and having two catches for 61 yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s the best 50-50 ball catcher in America,\u201d Gonzales said of Tyson. \u201cHe\u2019s elite when the ball is in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Per Pro Football Focus, Tyson has only six receptions on 15 contested targets. That\u2019s compared to UA senior Kris Hutson, who has a contested catch rate of 76.5 percent (13 of 17) that\u2019s second-best in FBS.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing is the relationship that those two had during camp before Hut had an injury, because he had really separated himself,\u201d Doege said. \u201cYou could tell Noah was very, very confident just putting the ball up to him and helped us make a ton of plays in camp. He knows that Hutson will make a play, that Hutson will find a way to get separation, and if the ball isn\u2019t just extremely accurate, Hut\u2019s going find a way to make it accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hutson, who previously played at Oregon and Washington State, has 50 catches for 645 yards and four TDs. He missed the season opener and did not have a reception in Week 3 but in Big 12 play has three 100-yard games including a career-best 133 yards last week against Baylor.<\/p>\n
Arizona and ASU have a combined 48 players from the Grand Canyon State on their rosters, 29 for the Wildcats and 19 for the Sun Devils. The vast majority of them hail from the Phoenix-area, with Arizona having 24 including six starters.<\/p>\n
The Territorial Cup has been a part of their upbringing, with a side picked from an early age. It\u2019s also led to plenty of houses divided.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been something, especially having two brothers that went to ASU,\u201d right guard Alexander Doost said. \u201cThey always get on me about it. So when this time comes around, it means a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emotions always run high in this game, with fights and ejections not uncommon. Arizona has been flagged at least 10 times in the T-Cup four times since 1998, same for ASU, with the 2021 game combining for 22 penalties and 215 penalty yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s passion over emotion,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cAnything you do in life, if you make an emotional decision, it\u2019s most of the time a stupid one. And if you make a passionate decision, it means that you would put a commitment and made a commitment to make that choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzales coached at ASU in 2018-19 and has jokingly blamed \u201cAI\u201d for videos surfacing of him talking smack about the UA. Receivers coach Bobby Wade also coached for the Sun Devils in 2022-23.<\/p>\n
This will be Doege\u2019s first T-Cup experience but he\u2019s been part of plenty of rivalries, including Baylor\/Texas Tech and UCLA\/USC and even going back to his middle school days in west Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s part of the game that is emotional and that creates momentum, especially when things go well,\u201d Doege said. \u201cThere\u2019s gotta be emotion that creates momentum and energy, but there\u2019s also gotta be poise to that emotion. And there\u2019s gotta be be a fine line where you cannot cross. The line is not getting penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arizona has officially ruled out right tackle Tristan Bounds and linebacker Myron Robinson for the season after both were injured against Kansas. That makes four players who have started at least one game who have been lost for the year, joining tight end Tyler Powell and defensive end Tre Smith.<\/p>\n
Redshirt freshman Matthew Lado started for Bounds against Baylor and did not allow a pressure.<\/p>\n
Guards Doost and Chubba Maae both left the Baylor game, with Doost not returning. Doost is not on the availability report but Maae was listed as questionable on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Two Wildcats who missed the last game could be back. Running back Quincy Craig and cornerback Jay\u2019Vion Cole, who leads the Big 12 in interceptions, are listed as questionable, while defensive lineman Tia Savea is doubtful and could miss a third straight game.<\/p>\n
The rivalry and its importance won\u2019t play a role in deciding who can play on Friday, Brennan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not kidding, the medical questions belong to the medical staff,\u201d he said. \u201cThey do not belong to anybody on our coaching staff. Ever. Doctors and trainers make those decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arizona fans have a lot of expectations for their football team, but topping the list is always beating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[52664,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-559156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-arizona-football","9":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115623243244193591","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}