Wildcats reclaim Territorial Cup

TUCSON—This wasn’t just a football game. For the 58,704 fans who packed Arizona Stadium last night (minus the media and the few hundred Sun Devil fans who made the trip), this was an exorcism.

The Arizona Wildcats (7-5, 5-4 Pac-10) shook off a rough first half to blow out their archrivals from Arizona State (5-7, 4-5) 31-10 — the Cats’ biggest win in the series since 1964.

Senior wideout Mike Thomas captured the Bob Moran MVP Award with his nine-reception, 75-yard performance, with a 52-yard punt return late in the third quarter serving as the exclamation point in Arizona’s statement win.

Sophomore tailback Nic Grigsby — who has split carries with freshman Keola Antolin throughout most of the season — regained his feature-back role and flourished, gaining 116 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown.

Tight end Rob Gronkowski showed flashes of dominance, hauling in six catches for 95 yards and his 10th touchdown reception of the season.

Senior signal-caller Willie Tuitama finally got the best of ASU’s Rudy Carpenter, completing 25 of 37 pass attempts for 284 yards and two scores. Carpenter, meanwhile, struggled mightily in his final game as a Sun Devil, hitting only 13 of 31 passes for 124 yards.

The Wildcat defense stepped up to the occasion, holding Arizona State to a dreadful 162 total yards. The Sun Devils spent much of the game shooting themselves in the foot, committing eight penalties for 61 yards while converting only three of their 12 third-down plays.

Once the clock hit triple-zero, Arizona’s student section flooded onto the turf and celebrated a new wrinkle in this 109-year rivalry — one where the two football programs are engaged in a legitimate battle for state supremacy. Dozens of camera flashes commemorated the event, as well.

All but five of the players on the UA roster (Ronnie Palmer, Joe Longacre, Jason Bondzio, Brandon Lopez and B.J. Dennard) had never tasted victory against the Sun Devils

Now, senior stars like Thomas, Tuitama, Palmer, Marquis Hundley, Nate Ness and a handful of others can call their careers at Arizona complete, while the returners can finally claim interstate bragging rights once this rivalry is renewed in 2009.

A serious big-brother-versus-little-brother dynamic had invaded the “Duel in the Desert,” with the Arizona State Sun Devils playing the dominant role.

The last three seasons, ASU captured the Territorial Cup on the last regular-season game of the season. The last two years, those games kept the Wildcats out of a bowl.

Not this year.

As an added twist, Arizona’s win kept the Sun Devils from achieving that six-win plateau needed for bowl qualification.

Neither team had much success moving the ball early. Arizona started with possession and put together a decent drive, mostly due to three ASU offsides penalties. However, the Wildcats failed to score and punted it away.

Arizona’s defense held tough, with Carpenter looking completely out of sorts.

The Wildcats opened the scoring with an epic 98-yard drive. Grigsby got the Wildcats out of the shadow of their own end zone with an impressive 33-yard run. Tuitama capped the drive with a pretty 17-yard pass to Gronkowski just before the end of the first quarter.

In between quarters, former UA cornerback and current San Diego Charger Antoine Cason was inducted into the ring of fame.

The Sun Devils finally showed signs of life on the ensuing kickoff, which was returned 52 yards, setting up a 40-yard Thomas Weber field goal and a 7-3 ballgame.

On the next series, UA stalled, leading to a Keenyn Crier punt attempt, but Crier took a knee while attempting to field a low snap, giving the Sun Devils excellent field position on the Arizona 19. Shortly after, Carpenter found Andrew Pettess in the end zone, giving ASU a 10-7 lead, which would be the halftime score.

Arizona fans might’ve been frustrated with the score, given that the Wildcats had out-gained the Sun Devils 185-66 in the first half, but things would drastically change after intermission.

Arizona put up 21 unanswered points in the third quarter, beginning with a Tuitama pass to Delashaun Dean for a 10-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

On ASU’s next possession, Carpenter locked onto Michael Jones, but Jones cut his route short, giving Hundley an easy interception. Hundley broke off a huge pick return, setting up a remarkable touchdown run from Grigsby and a 21-10 advantage.

Grigsby’s run started toward the middle, but he bounced it to the right side, where he put on his patented stutter-step move, freezing an ASU defender in his tracks. He kicked it into another gear and sprinted the remaining 12 yards untouched.

After another go-nowhere ASU drive, Thomas fielded the punt on one bounce, turned to his left and took off. He had a wall of blockers set up, and thanks to a pair of key blocks in the open field, Thomas took it to the house for his second punt return for a TD this season.

Bondzio capped the scoring with a 49-yard field goal, tying his career long.

With the win, Arizona will now set it sights on the Las Vegas Bowl, which will take place in two weeks at 6 p.m. against either BYU (likely) or TCU. As an added bonus for Wildcat fans, the hoops team will take on UNLV that same day at 1 p.m., giving fans plenty of time to hit both games.

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