(Photo via Alyssa Buruato/WCSN)
TEMPE — An emotional Jordan Clark sat before a crowded Mountain America Stadium press room just minutes after Arizona State football’s 2023 season and Pac-12 Conference tenure came to a close.
The redshirt senior defensive back hadn’t even begun to reflect on the Sun Devils (3-9, 2-7 Pac-12) campaign — the first under head coach Kenny Dillingham — as his focus was still locked on his team’s 59-23 defeat to rival No. 16 Arizona (9-3, 7-2 Pac-12) on Saturday.
“I really haven’t had a chance to sit back and digest anything,” Clark said. “I’m just embarrassed and mad as s—.”
Clark’s disgust was certainly warranted, with the 36-point loss being ASU’s worst defeat to Arizona since 1946 when they were blown out by a score of 67-0. For Dillingham, Saturday’s loss to the Wildcats held a much larger significance than simply losing a rivalry game.
“Even though it’s not fun to lose games like this, it’s not fun for all this stuff, sometimes it’s needed,” Dillingham said. “Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to bounce back up. And where we were as a program and the direction we’re going, I have 1,000% confidence that the ball’s bouncing up, not down.”
At first, it appeared that the 97th edition of the Territorial Cup could end much closer than the final score indicated. After the Wildcats were held to a field goal on their first series of the afternoon, ASU marched down the field on a seven-play, 75-yard drive that culminated in a four-yard rushing touchdown from redshirt junior running back Cam Skattebo.
On that initial scoring drive, the Sun Devils didn’t throw a single pass. Dillingham used a combination of direct snaps to Skattebo and redshirt junior tight end Jalin Conyers, along with conventional runs.
While Arizona continued to find success on offense throughout the rest of the first half, the Sun Devils found quite the opposite. Heading into the locker room, the Wildcats had totaled 410 total yards of offense, with redshirt freshman signal caller Noah Fifita accounting for 357 and two touchdowns through the air — and finishing the game with 527 passing yards, four touchdowns and a 73% completion rate.
ASU, on the other hand, logged a mere 150 yards of offense in the first half.
“We were drilled down, did a great job on our first possession,” Conyers said. “When we got the touchdown, it was good, and we kind of slowed down. They started changing a couple of things in the run game. Pass-game wise, we were just struggling out there a little bit. [It] is what it is. Offense struggled, and we didn’t come out on top tonight.”
Starting in his first contest since Week 2 against Oklahoma State, freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada’s return to a starting role proved bittersweet. The young signal-caller went 10-for-22 with 82 yards. He overthrew his receivers at times and threw a pair of interceptions, both resulting in eventual Arizona touchdowns.
However, he also had some strong plays throughout the game, including a 31-yard touchdown pass to redshirt junior Troy Omeire — who came down with the football while simultaneously drawing a pass interference call. With a successful two-point conversion, ASU made the score 52-23 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“Were there some things that, he comes off the field and he’s like, ‘Golly?’” Dillingham said. “Yes, he’s a freshman in [his] third start. But did he deserve to start? Yes. Was he ready to start? Yes… I’m happy with the direction he’s gone. He’s a Sun Devil. He’s passionate about this place, and I have a lot of confidence in him moving forward.”
The Sun Devils were outscored 21-16 in the second half but generated multiple positive plays to take away from the loss. Trailing 52-7 in the closing seconds of the third quarter, Conyers punched in a 1-yard touchdown before also converting the two-point conversion to give ASU some momentum.
Graduate linebacker Tre Brown also provided a second-half highlight for the Sun Devils early in the fourth quarter, building off Rashada’s touchdown pass. While Arizona moved the ball 87 yards immediately after allowing a score — reaching ASU’s 5-yard line — Fifita threw a pass that Brown intercepted and returned 32 yards.
Even when the deficit was virtually insurmountable, the Sun Devils continued to battle, a testament to the culture Dillingham is building at his alma mater.
“I think the biggest thing was just coming out with fight,” Brown said. “In the past, we’ve kind of settled down or laid down, I’d say, with some of the teams that probably had been up by two or more scores. So the biggest thing was to come out and fight.
“So we relayed the message that we’re going to come out, we’re going to fight no matter the score, we have to score, and we’re going to play ball. We’re going to play football.”
