(Photo: Hailey Rogalski/WCSN)
TUCSON – Regardless of Arizona State Football’s bowl game eligibility, the Territorial Cup had been highlighted on the calendar for months. When referring to the match in the weeks leading up to the game, some players couldn’t even stomach saying “the Arizona Wildcats,” opting for a nickname for the team, adding another level of hatred to the rivalry game.
Like the Sun Devils’ previous matches, a slow start plagued them, remaining scoreless until the 10:35 mark of the second quarter. As the match progressed, the scoring lid in the first quarter would come off, allowing the offense to score 35 points.
Ultimately the missed opportunities in the first quarter and the rest of the game proved vital, as the Arizona Wildcats defeated the Sun Devils 38-35, suffering their first loss to Arizona since 2016.
ASU certainly attempted to get its offense going as soon as it could, winning the toss and electing to receive, rather than defer, which is a decision interim head coach Shaun Aguano has made in the past.
“I tried to change that mentality this week.” Interim head coach Shaun Aguano explained about wanting to start fast. “We’re gonna dominate from the beginning, and let’s go and freakin win this football game. Not wait until the end, and of course, well it came back to the end.”
But the 35-point offensive output wasn’t enough for the defense, which struggled to contain sophomore quarterback Jayden de Laura and junior running back Michael Wiley, combining for 11 explosive plays. The Wildcats offense had four touchdown drives consisting of four plays or less, keeping their defense on the field. While Arizona put together rapid scoring drives, ASU relied on long, methodical scoring drives.
“When somebody goes down the field three times, and then I ‘go shoot, I gotta go back and go 12 times.’ I mean, it’s tough,” Aguano said. “I mean, three plays touchdown, and I’m like, ‘oh gosh. We gotta go back on the field.’ It is tough. And I don’t blame anybody. I’m in charge, and so I’ll take that blame.”
Although the Sun Devils didn’t have a scoring drive last under three minutes, their drives showcased an up-tempo playstyle, allowing redshirt junior quarterback Trenton Bourguet to keep the offense out of the huddle. The offense managed to drive the ball down the field but suffered from the turnover bug, committing five turnovers.
“It was tough offensively,” Bourguet said. “We were driving down the field, and it looked like every drive, we’re able to drive down on them. They made a couple plays. And we can’t turn the ball over five times against a scrappy team like that.”
One of the five turnovers came on a punt return, where the punt landed about 10 yards in front of freshman wide receiver Javen Jacobs, allowing the ball to take a hop. Jacobs tried to recover the ball, but muffed it instead, giving the Wildcats possession on the Sun Devils 40-yard line.
“It’s an emotional game, I get it,” Aguano said.” People are in each other’s faces, there’s personal fouls. It’s just the love for the game. And that’s just the game of football, but those turnovers really hurt us.”
In combination with the five turnovers, the Sun Devils also perpetrated eight penalties for 85 yards, constantly setting them behind the chains.
“Right before the fourth quarter, I brought everybody over and I said, ‘we can’t get emotional,’” Aguano said. “And I know how this is. People’s getting faces, taking shots. But we have to play smart because 15-yard penalties, kills a series, and there’s not too many series left.”
But ASU still fought through the turnovers all the way to the final whistle. The offense was driving down the field trailing by three points, and appearing to be on the brink of a comeback victory. But the game abruptly shifted when redshirt freshman safety Isaiah Taylor intercepted Bourguet.
The fight to win was a mentality Aguano has preached all season and was redshirt senior linebacker Kyle Soelle’s proudest achievement.
“Never quit. Every single game we never quit,” Soelle said. “That’s all you can ask for as a team and for my teammates. It’s never the way we wanted it to go, obviously, with the season. But the fact that we didn’t quit, you know, I respect all my teammates for that.”
