Arizona’s defense dominates in Territorial Cup win at ASU

TEMPE—Earlier this week, offensive coordinator Seth Doege expressed his gratitude for the work defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales has done this season. In the process he ended up more or less predicting how the upcoming Territorial Cup would go.

“We can struggle in a game and still be in the game,” Doege said on Tuesday.

On a night when the Wildcats kept stalling in the red zone, settling for field goals that were missed as much as they were made, Gonzales’ unit once again picked up the slack and helped bring the Territorial Cup back to Tucson.

No. 25 Arizona forced five turnovers and held 20th-ranked ASU to 214 yards in a 16-7 on Friday night at Mountain America Stadium. It was the fifth consecutive win for Wildcats (9-3, 6-3 Big 12) and third in the last four years over the Sun Devils (8-4, 6-3).

Michael Salgado-Medina made three field goals, but also missed three with one blocked, while Noah Fifita threw for 286 yards and a go-ahead touchdown pass in the 3rd quarter. Arizona finished with 88 rushing yards but 59 came in the 4th quarter.

The UA defense posted its second consecutive 2nd-half shutout, holding the line to allow for a 4th straight comeback after trailing at the half. ASU’s yardage was its second-fewest in T-Cup history, behind only the 162 it gained in 2008.

ASU quarterback Jeff Sims was limited to 114 yards on 11-of-25 passing, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble. He also muffed an exchange with running back Raleek Brown, who a week after rushing for 255 yards gained just 63.

Down 7-3 at the half, Arizona went 3-and-out to start the 3rd quarter but Isaac Lovison let loose a 62-yard punt down to the ASU 4. Three plays later, a muffed RPO exchange was recovered by Taye Brown, setting the Wildcats up to take the lead.

Fifita hit Cameron Barmore for a 9-yard TD pass, the first of Barmore’s UA career, to make it 10-7 with 11:36 left in 3rd.

Salgado-Medina missed a third field goal, from 48 yards out, midway through the quarter, but Arizona got the ball back when Treydan Stukes leapt over an ASU receiver for an interception at the UA 6. And that set up a 49-yarder by Salgado-Medina that was right down the middle to put the Wildcats up 13-7 with 1:17 left in the 3rd.

A 29-yarder from Salgado-Medina made it 16-7 with 12:05 remaining, giving Arizona its first 2-score lead. That forced ASU to have to throw more, and it got into the red zone with just under nine minutes left.

But then Sims, who has had a history of fumbling in his college career, got stripped by Dalton Johnson and Genesis Smith recovered at the UA 13 with 8:11 to go. Johnson got redemption for earlier in the game when Sims juked him out on his way to the end zone.

Arizona then iced the game by eating up more nearly seven minutes and going up 23-7 with 1:56 left on a 1-yard TD run by Kedrick Reescano. Two plays later, Johnson picked off a pass near midfield which allowed the UA to kneel it out.

Arizona converted four 3rd downs on its opening drive, the last getting it inside the ASU 10. But Quincy Craig the lost a fumble (punched out by former Wildcat Jacob Rich Kongaika) to make for an empty possession.

Another missed opportunity came on the second drive, with the UA inside the 20 before an early snap on 3rd down let to negative yardage and thenSalgado-Medinawas wide right from 45 yards.

ASU, which had gone 3-and-out on its first two possessions, gave the ball away on the third play of the next drive whenSims’ pass was intercepted by Michael Dansby. Yet Arizona did nothing with that takeaway in plus territory, punting away, and the Sun Devils finally broke through not long after.

After only gaining 15 yards on its first three drives, ASU went 90 yards on the fourth one with Sims juking scoring on a 27-yard TD run for a 7-0 lead with 10:33 left in the 1st half.

The Wildcats again got into ASU territory, reaching the red zone for the third time, but Fifita was sacked on 3rd down and then Salgado-Medina had a 42-yard attempt blocked.

ASU had its own kicking misfortune with 1:19 left in the half, with Jesus Gomez doinking a 49-yard attempt off the right upright. That gave Arizona one last possession, which it turned into points after Salgado-Medina hit a 49-yarder with a second remaining to avoid being shutout out in the 1st half for the first time since last year’s T-Cup.

The UA caught a break when officials stopped the clock with seven seconds to go to review a spot, allowing the field goal unit to come out on 4th down.

Arizona now waits to see where it will be going for its bowl game, the second in three years after not playing in one from 2017-22. The most likely options are the Sun Bowl in El Paso on Dec. 31 or the LA Bowl on Dec. 13.