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Jubilant Arizona Wildcats paraded around with the Territorial Cup.

Elated UA players gave the “Forks Down� sign.

The Pride of Arizona played the school fight song again and again.

What a scene at Mountain America Stadium on Friday night.

“These moments are going to be the days we look back on,� sixth-year defensive back and three-time Territorial Cup winner Treydan Stukes said after Arizona’s gritty 23-7 triumph over Arizona State. “We're going to soak it in as much as we can.�

The players were literally soaked after another raucous locker-room celebration during which they sprayed one another with water and drank from the silver chalice that means so much to every Wildcat and Sun Devil in this state.

That was a new twist. Happy locker rooms have become commonplace for the 2025 Wildcats, who ended the regular season with a five-game winning streak and a 9-3 record that no one saw coming.

The outcome of the Territorial Cup was a little more predictable. How it transpired was a bit of an adventure. Here are my top five takeaways from the 99th UA-ASU matchup on the gridiron:

1. The constant

Offensive coordinator Seth Doege summed it perfectly during the week:

When you have a good defense, you can endure offensive struggles. And when you finally figure it out, you’re still in position to win.

Arizona has a very good defense. Maybe even a great defense.

Yes, ASU was limited without quarterback Sam Leavitt and, for almost the final three quarters, go-to receiver Jordyn Tyson. But Friday night wasn’t the first time the Wildcats completely stifled an opposing offense.

The Sun Devils’ seven points were the fewest the Cats allowed in nine Big 12 games. But it was the second week in a row in which Arizona shut out its opponent in the second half. Two weeks before that, Kansas scored a mere field goal after halftime.

Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, who’s done as good a job as any assistant coach in America, made sure his players were well aware of their doubters. The Wildcats had struggled, at times, against mobile quarterbacks. They couldn’t stop BYU’s Bear Bachmeier or Houston’s Conner Weigman. KU’s Jalon Daniels rushed for 74 yards against them. It was a legitimate concern entering the Territorial Cup.

Kenny Dillingham didn’t run Jeff Sims as much as I thought he might. Sims finished with 10 rushing attempts for 43 yards. Aside from his 27-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, he averaged 1.8 yards per carry.

Like most quarterbacks before him, Sims struggled mightily to complete passes against Arizona’s standout secondary. He finished 11 of 25 for 114 yards with three interceptions. All were by defensive backs: Michael Dansby, Dalton Johnson and Treydan Stukes.

Stukes’ pick was as good as you’ll see. Running stride for stride with ASU’s Jaren Hamilton on a deep corner route, Stukes leaped and practically plucked the ball off Hamilton’s helmet.

It’s a play NFL Draft analysts will drool over for months. It’s a play UA fans will remember forever.

2. Sticking with it

Through the first nine games of the season, UA football followers had a recurring complaint: Why weren’t the Wildcats running the ball more?

Doege flipped the offensive script against Cincinnati and Baylor. He stubbornly stuck with the run against ASU even though it wasn’t working. Like, at all.

Eventually, though, it paid off.

Through three quarters, Arizona had 29 rushing yards on 28 attempts. Yes, you read that right. The Wildcats were averaging just a hair over 1 yard per carry. Even after adjusting for sacks, the numbers weren’t pretty: 41 yards on 27 carries.

But there’s a reason so many of us clamored for more running plays earlier in the season: We’ve seen how that type of attack can wear down a defense. Often, it’s been the UA defense. But that was in the before times.

Anyway, those jab-like runs had a cumulative effect. By the fourth quarter, ASU’s stout defense was a little wobbly. The Wildcats rushed for 59 yards — more than twice their total from the first three quarters — on 16 carries in the final period.

Fittingly, the put-away touchdown was a physical 1-yard plunge by Kedrick Reescano out of the goal-line formation. (Since that jumbo alignment features Rhino Tapa’atoutai, can we call it the “Rhino Package?�) It capped a 14-play, 87-yard drive that took more than six minutes off the clock.

The 11th play of that possession was utterly fascinating.

3. Call of the night

Arizona was in “four minute� mode, trying to tack on another score while taking as much time off the clock as possible. A touchdown would be the preferred outcome in this situation, especially considering how much the field goal unit had struggled.

The Wildcats faced third-and-1 from the ASU 27-yard line with 3:10 remaining. Doege called a pass, which fell incomplete.

You figured, based on that call, that he had a run planned for fourth-and-1. The Sun Devils clearly thought the same as Doege caught them completely by surprise with what he did next.

The play began with Quincy Craig briefly going in motion to the left, then returning to Noah Fifita’s side in the backfield. When a running back does that, it’s usually to determine whether the defense is in man-to-man or zone.

Fifita then motioned tight end Cameron Barmore from the slot into the box — the type of action that typically signals a run play.

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Fifita drifted back in the pocket. Receiver Kris Hutson, who had another stellar game, slanted in from the left side. Craig leaked into the left flat to receive Fifita’s pass.

With Hutson providing a natural pick, Craig was able to outflank the defense for a 24-yard gain to the ASU 3.

That play essentially ended the game.

It was a gutsy, well-executed call that was consistent with the aggressive mindset Brennan has instilled in this year’s team. It was a “redline� kind of call, one might say.

But maybe it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Doege has said many times that he wants the ball in his best player’s hands when it matters most. His best player is Noah Fifita.

4. 2025 vs. 2023

As I noted earlier in the week, Fifita, Johnson and Stukes are the only starters remaining from the 2023 squad that won the Territorial Cup on this same field.

Now that the '25 club has matched that team with a 9-3 record achieved in startingly similar fashion, let’s compare the two, shall we?

The '23 team had more star power. On offense alone, it had three players who’d be picked in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft: offensive lineman Jordan Morgan, receiver Tetairoa McMillan and lineman Jonah Savaiinaea. Two other offensive players would be drafted: receiver Jacob Cowing and tight end Tanner McLachlan.

That team peaked offensively in the Territorial Cup, racking up 59 points and 619 yards. Fifita had a school-record 527 passing yards and five touchdowns.

This year’s offense isn’t nearly as prolific. But I would argue that Fifita is a better player now than then. He has more experience. He has proved he can thrive without surefire NFL talent around him.

I don’t think this year’s defense is as talented as that one, especially up front. But the production speaks for itself.

The '25 Wildcats are allowing fewer points per game, fewer yards per game and fewer yards per play. They’ve taken the ball away at an astounding rate — 28 and counting.

The '23 team had better special teams. It had NFL-bound Tyler Loop kicking and Kyle Ostendorp punting.

What do the two teams have in common? Stukes, who would know, cited one area in particular: week-to-week improvement. Both teams suffered frustrating midseason losses before going on season-ending winning streaks.

“We put so much hard work in to get to this point,� Stukes said. “We just kept attacking week after week, and the team kept getting better and better. That's something we had in common with that '23 team. Every week, we just kept improving. We kept finding ourselves more and more.�

5. Alignment, momentum

His sweatshirt still drenched, Brennan made his way into the postgame interview room with the Territorial Cup in tow. I asked him how his team got here from “there� — there being the 2024 season that Brennan described as “absolute misery� after last year’s Territorial Cup.

The first thing that popped into his head: “I really think I'm fortunate to be surrounded by awesome people.�

Brennan then touched on a topic he has brought up a lot lately: “Alignment.�

It’s incredibly helpful when a head coach has support from his administration. Desireé Reed-Francois could have moved on from Brennan a year ago. But Reed-Francois understood that doing so would set the program back even further. So she helped Brennan execute a plan.

He hired new coordinators. He brought back defensive line coach Joe Salave’a. Brennan and the front office hit the transfer portal hard. Collectively, and quickly, they remade the Wildcats.

Brennan and his players talked about how “special� this team is. What’s special about it? It’s a true team.

As mentioned, this squad doesn’t have a lot of stars. The product doesn’t always look pretty. But these Cats play for one another. They play with toughness and determination.

The 2025 Arizona football team is a shining example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. And it gets to play together one last time.

Got plans for Jan. 2? How does San Diego sound?

A Holiday Bowl rep attended the postgame news conference and chatted with Brennan afterward. Nothing is guaranteed, but it sure seemed like there was mutual interest.

Any bowl would be lucky to have this group.