Who had this year's Territorial Cup being one of the most historic matchups in the all-time series between Arizona and Arizona State on their bingo cards?
You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of the UA and ASU football programs who believed the regular-season finale would be a battle between two ranked teams, but here we are, the 20th-ranked Sun Devils are hosting No. 25 Arizona Friday night at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe.
Arizona is No. 25 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, while the Sun Devils moved from No. 25 to No. 20 鈥 No. 20 is hosting No. 25 for the Territorial Cup in 2025.听 听
Friday will be the first Territorial Cup with both teams ranked since the 2014 showdown, when the Wildcats outlasted the Sun Devils and won the Pac-12 South championship, punching their ticket to the conference title game to play Oregon.听
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The stakes for Friday's game aren't as high as the one in 2014, but the Wildcats could play spoiler and beat the Sun Devils, which would eliminate them from the Big 12 championship conversation.听
Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright III (33) takes down Arizona State quarterback Mike Bercovici (2) in the second half at Arizona Stadium, Nov. 28, 2014. Arizona won 42-35.
Arizona is 2-1 in ranked Territorial Cup matchups and has won the most recent two.
Here's a look at the three ranked matchups between the Wildcats and Sun Devils:
2014
Stanford beating UCLA propped up the '14 Territorial Cup game as the Pac-12 South championship, because the Cardinal knocked the Bruins out of contention. Arizona All-American linebacker Scooby Wright鈥檚 sack on the opening drive forced a fumble that was returned for a touchdown by linebacker Anthony Lopez.
UA running back Nick Wilson ran for 178 yards and three touchdowns, while quarterback Anu Solomon had two passing touchdowns to Samajie Grant. The 11th-ranked Wildcats beat No. 13 ASU听42-35 and finished the regular season 10-2 to advance to the Pac-12 championship.听听
1986
Undefeated and fourth-ranked ASU visited No. 14 Arizona in Tucson ahead of its first-ever Rose Bowl game against Michigan. Arizona safety Chuck Cecil intercepted ASU quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst in the end zone and returned it 106 yards for a touchdown, which sealed the win for the Wildcats. It remains arguably the most iconic play in program history.听
UA football player Chuck Cecil celebrates with the crowd after the team defeated ASU in 1986.听
"I knew what the play was before they snapped the ball," Cecil said on earlier this week. "I had a very good idea. I watched film and that play showed up several times on film. They ran switch hooks in the end zone, so I knew where everyone was going and what they were doing. I baited him into making the throw."
1975
No. 8听ASU punctuated its undefeated regular season with a 24-21 win over the 12th-ranked Wildcats, but the Sun Devils were in danger of suffering their first loss of the season. Arizona jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first half until ASU quarterback Dennis Sproul threw an 8-yard pass to the fully-extended wide receiver John Jefferson for a touchdown 鈥 a play known as "The Catch." Arizona players argued Jefferson was out of bounds, but the play was ruled a touchdown since official review wasn't available.听
ASU went on to win the WAC championship and beat No. 6 Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl, finishing the season 12-0 and No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25, the highest end-of-season AP ranking in program history.听
John Jefferson鈥檚 legendary grab 鈥 known simply as 鈥淭he Catch鈥 鈥 led ASU to a 24-21 win over Arizona in 1975.
Arizona finished 9-2 in head coach Jim Young's third season at the UA. Young's coordinators? Larry Smith (defensive coordinator) and John Mackovic (offensive coordinator), two eventual head coaches of the Wildcats.听
Contact Justin Spears, the Star's Arizona football beat reporter, at jspears@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @JustinESports
Justin Spears
Sports Reporter
Breaking down the Territorial Cup between Arizona and ASU, other Big 12 news | Michael Lev
