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Whoever is victorious between the 25th-ranked Arizona Wildcats (8-3) and the 20th-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils (8-3) in the 99th edition of the Territorial Cup on Friday at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe will pick up their ninth win of the season. 

ASU will need to beat Arizona and No. 11 BYU to lose to UCF on Saturday to go to the Big 12 championship to likely face No. 5 Texas Tech. 

Not only is Friday the first ranked matchup between the two schools since 2014, it's also the first time both teams have eight wins going into the Territorial Cup since that memorable 42-35 game in Tucson just over a decade ago, which resulted in the Wildcats clinching the Pac-12 South championship. 

Arizona second-year head coach Brent Brennan said the Wildcats "got a lot of respect" for ASU third-year head coach Kenny Dillingham "and the team up north."

"I think it's one of the best rivalries in all of college football," Brennan said. "It's such a unique thing being in the state of Arizona. There are so many families divided by these two schools. ... It's a really special thing. We're excited to play." 

Several Wildcats, like defensive backs Dalton Johnson and Treydan Stukes (who played in ASU's 70-7 win over Arizona in 2020), have played in several Territorial Cup games over the years. 

"It's a big-time rivalry," Stukes said after Arizona's win over Baylor. "It's one of the oldest ones in college football. We take it very seriously here. It's a one-game season for us." 

Several members of Arizona's coaching staff have played in the Territorial Cup, including defensive specialist Chuck Cecil, wide receivers coach Bobby Wade and defensive line coach Joe Salave'a, who returned a fumble for a touchdown to help the Wildcats beat the Sun Devils 31-28 in 1995. Jon Prasuhn, the father of backup kicker Tyler Prasuhn, made a game-winning 36-yard field goal to beat the Jake Plummer-led Sun Devils in 1995.

Some, like ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV offensive coordinator Seth Doege, are experiencing the Territorial Cup for the first time. Doege combed through the rivalries he's been a part of, including a football game between two junior high schools in West Texas,  where "their girls hung out with us, and our girls hung out with them. Man, it was heated. One of the most heated games I've been a part of was in junior high." 

Doege took part in the Friday Night Lights-esque rivalries at Crane High School, where the mayor of Crane, Texas, would lead the team bus down the road for away games and "the whole town shuts down" for games. 

"That's Texas high school football in a community with 1,200 people," Doege said. 

During his playing career at Texas Tech, Doege played in rivalry games against Texas, Baylor and Texas A&M, and said, "Those games got heated." 

As a coach, he's been a part of the USC-UCLA rivalry and the Egg Bowl, the matchup between Mississippi State and Ole Miss, where he battled his mentor in the late Mike Leach. 

"I've been a part of some special moments, some special games, so I'm super excited to be a part of this one," Doege said. 

With any rivalry game, there are emotions. Sometimes those emotions can be costly. Just ask Arizona, which had three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after touchdowns last week against Baylor. Brennan said his message to the Wildcats is "to play right up on the edge, but not off the cliff." 

"That's something we have to do a really good job of talking about — and we have to play with composure, we have to play with poise," Brennan added. "It's a big football game. The most important thing is playing good football. When you do things that hurt your chances to do that, because you can't control yourself, it's unacceptable. It's treason." 

Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said the Wildcats must choose "passion over emotion."

"Anything you do in life, if you make an emotional decision, most of the time, it's stupid and wrong," Gonzales said. "If you make a passionate decision, it means you made a commitment to make that choice. We cannot be full of emotion — and there will be a ton of it all the way from warmups."

Dillingham had a similar message when he appeared on Arizona Sports' Bickley and Marotta show. 

"We got to be aware of that because the emotions of this game. But I want our guys to play with an elite level of passion," Dillingham said. "And to me, passion is not emotion, right? An emotion is an emotional response to something that’s negative. A passion means you have a purpose behind why you’re doing that emotion." 

Both sides of the current rendition of the rivalry genuinely respect the opposition and their success.

ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt is out for the year with a foot injury, but Jeff Sims is 3-0 since taking over as starter, and the Sun Devils' rushing attack currently ranks third in the Big 12. ASU running back Raleek Brown had 22 carries for 255 yards last week against Colorado and Sims owns the program's single-game rushing record for a quarterback. Arizona is eighth in the Big 12 in rushing defense, but is first in passing defense and defensive efficiency.  

"We stink at stopping the run, so what are they going to do? They're going to run it a thousand times," Gonzales said. 

Sims "is probably going to have 50 carries, Raleek Brown is going to have 40 and they're going to isolate (wide receiver) Jordyn Tyson one-on-one," said Gonzales, who added Tyson as an elite catcher on 50-50 passes.

"They'll get us to put 10 or 11 guys in the box and see if they can beat our (defensive backs) one-on-one," Gonzales said. "That's what I would do." 

ASU is second in the Big 12 in rushing defense and ranks fifth in the league in total defense. Doege said the Sun Devils will "come down and smack you smack you."

"They're extremely physical, and they're good at what they do," Doege said. "They'll always have advantages in hats in the box. They're very, very aggressive in stopping the run. That'll be a huge challenge for us, finding the run game. ... It's a major challenge for us from a scheme standpoint. They're good at what they do, and they believe in what they do.

"I've kept it real with our guys all week and told them, these guys are good. They have a lot of the same pieces that were a part of that team last year. We're excited about that challenge, but it is a challenge and we gotta be ready to play, for sure."

Both Arizona and ASU are connected in many ways. Gonzales coached at ASU for two seasons under former head coach Herm Edwards. Brennan was a groomsman in ASU offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo's wedding. Wade coached under Dillingham in 2023.

The Wildcats and Sun Devils will let the fans do the trash-talking; they're focused on letting the scoreboard — and ninth win — do the talking. 

"This is a great rivalry," Gonzales said. "The people up there don't like the people down here. That's fine. The people in the stands, don't touch each other, but you don't have to like each other. That's what makes it cool. The players don't need to get involved in that, because all of a sudden you do something emotional and a fight breaks out, and you lose five or six guys, it could be guys on both teams that are critical players.

"Neither team needs to get into that. ... It should be a great football game where both teams just try to beat the crap out of each other — the way it should be."