ASU Sun Devils vs. Arizona Wildcats: The 5 greatest comebacks in Territorial Cup history

The first 87 meetings between the Arizona State Sun Devils and Arizona Wildcats have seen plenty of come-from-behind victories for both schools.

Here’s a list of the five greatest comebacks in Territorial Cup history, weighted by point deficit overcome, historical significance and, of course, the heartbreak factor for the losing side.

5. ASU 41, UA 34 (2012)

The first Territorial Cup between Todd Graham and Rich Rodriguez saw the lead change hands three times in Tucson — but it was the Sun Devils who enjoyed the game’s final rally.

A first-quarter touchdown run by tailback Ka’Deem Carey and a pair of TD passes by quarterback Matt Scott helped give the Wildcats a 27-17 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. But the Sun Devils scored 24 unanswered points in the final frame.

After a 39-yard Jon Mora field goal cut UA’s lead to 27-20, the Wildcats made their way into ASU territory on their next possession — but ASU safety Keelan Johnson forced Scott to fumble, and the ball was recovered by cornerback Deveron Carr. Six plays later, running back Marion Grice scored his third TD of the game to pull ASU even with just over seven minutes to play.

It was all Devils from there. On UA’s next two possessions, ASU blocked a punt deep in Wildcat territory to set up an 8-yard TD run by Cameron Marshall, and cornerback Robert Nelson had a 66-yard interception return (Scott’s fourth turnover of the game) that led to a 1-yard TD run by backup QB Michael Eubank to seal the deal with less than three minutes remaining.

Grice rushed for 156 yards for the game, while first-year starting QB Taylor Kelly completed 16-of-29 passes for 191 yards and rushed six times for 42 yards.

Former ASU QB Jake Plummer exchanged text messages with Kelly — a fellow native of Idaho — throughout the 2012 season.

“I like it when he gets out of the pocket — he reminds me a little of myself when he runs around out there,” Plummer said. “I thought he played really well, had a great year, and definitely did a good job (against UA).”

ASU and UA both finished the season with an 8-5 record after wins in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl and New Mexico Bowl, respectively.

4. UA 28, ASU 27 (1994)

Thanks to its Desert Swarm defense and its 10-2 record in 1993 that concluded with a 29-0 Fiesta Bowl win over Miami, Sports Illustrated ranked UA as its preseason No. 1. The Cats didn’t live up to the hype, coming in to the Duel in the Desert a disappointing 7-3 — but they made all the frustration disappear with a fourth-quarter rally against Jake Plummer and the 3-7 Sun Devils in Tucson.

A 2-yard run by Plummer gave coach Bruce Snyder and ASU a 27-15 lead heading into the fourth quarter. But UA tailback Gary Taylor scored on a 6-yard rush with 10 minutes remaining, and QB Dan White gutted out an injury to his throwing shoulder to find tight end Lamar Harris in the end zone to cap a 13-play drive with four minutes to play.

The Wildcats failed on a two-point conversion attempt, leaving the door open for the Devils to win on a field goal. But after Plummer got ASU in range (thanks in part to a roughing-the-passer call on a fourth-down play), barefooted kicker Jon Baker’s 47-yard attempt sailed six inches wide right in the final seconds, sending Arizona Stadium into a frenzy.

“That’s something that still haunts him. Every time I see him, it’s the first thing I think of,” said ASU wide receiver Keith Poole about Baker. “I hate to say that, and it’s one of those things that we can kind of joke about now, but it still hurts. It hurts him, it hurts us, and it stinks.”

The win was Wildcat coach Dick Tomey’s second straight victory and his fifth win in eight tries against the Sun Devils. “It was very emotional, and people’s hearts are in their throats on the sidelines,” Tomey said. “That’s what makes a rivalry like that so wonderful to play in, because it was so emotional.”

3. UA 31, ASU 28 (1995)

For the second straight season, Plummer and ASU built a double-digit fourth-quarter lead against the Wildcats. This time, the Devils had a 28-14 advantage with less than eight minutes to play in Tempe.

It was around that time that Plummer, who had lost his first two career games to UA, heard something that made him cringe.

“An ex-player that played on the first (ASU) Rose Bowl team in ’87, he came up to me on the sidelines and said, ‘Remember this feeling, Jake. It’s the best feeling you’ll ever feel,'” he said.

“And I was sitting there, and I looked up at the clock and I’m like, ‘Oh, (expletive).’ And I told everyone to get away from me and started yelling, ‘This game’s not over! Everyone thinks it is, but this game’s not over!'”

Right on cue, White and the Wildcats engineered another fourth-quarter comeback to crush Sun Devil souls. This time, White’s TD pass to WR Cary Taylor cut ASU’s lead in half, and defensive tackle Chuck Osborne’s sack of Plummer on ASU’s next possession led to a fumble that was recovered by DT Joe Salave’a, who returned it eight yards for a score to tie the game.

Arizona completed its second straight Territorial Cup comeback with a 36-yard field goal by first-year kicker Jon Prasuhn with 22 seconds left. “The distinct memory I had was the noise going from I don’t know how many decibels to dead silence,” said Prasuhn, a Tucson native.

The result ensured UA and ASU both finished the season 6-5 — but according to many Sun Devil players, the heartbreaking loss motivated them to work harder in the offseason, setting the stage for their 1996 Rose Bowl run.

2. ASU 23, UA 20 (2005)

A timely special teams touchdown and an untimely UA injury combined to give ASU arguably its most impressive Territorial Cup comeback.

Trailing by a bizarre 20-5 margin in the third quarter, QB Rudy Carpenter got the Sun Devil offense going with a 10-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 7-yard TD run by RB/WR Rudy Burgess to pull the home team to within one score.

With under eight minutes to play in the game, wide receiver Terry Richardson returned a punt 71 yards for a TD, and Carpenter’s two-point conversion pass to tight end Zach Miller evened the score at 20-20.

“You just know that you’re eventually going to have the opportunity to take the game away, so we eventually turned it around and we got a big play,” said ASU safety Zach Catanese.

With UA’s offense faltering after starting QB Willie Tuitama was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury (thanks to a vicious hit by Catenese), Carpenter led the Devils on a 12-play drive in the final minutes to set up a 20-yard field goal by Jesse Ainsworth that gave the Devils their third win over UA in four years.

The Wildcats finished the season 3-8 in coach Mike Stoops’ second season. “I remember that pretty vividly. We played well in the first half. We should’ve won that game,” Stoops said.

Coach Dirk Koetter’s Devils finished the year 7-5 following a 45-40 win over Rutgers in the Insight Bowl.

1. UA 16, ASU 13 (1985)

It wasn’t the largest comeback in terms of points, but it was the most meaningful — at least for the men from Tempe.

In 1982, Arizona prevented ASU from advancing to its first-ever Rose Bowl, as the Wildcats beat the Sun Devils 28-18 in Tucson. Three years later, the Devils were in an even better position: All they needed to do was earn a tie against their rivals to punch their ticket to Pasadena.

Things seemed to be going ASU’s way the second time around, as the Devils enjoyed a 13-3 second-half lead thanks to outstanding defense and a third-quarter touchdown pass from QB Jeff Van Raaphorst to fullback Vince Amoia.

But as is often the case in this rivalry, a special-teams play turned the game’s momentum on a dime.
ASU cornerback Anthony Parker was hit by linebacker Byron Evans during a punt return, who jarred the ball loose. It was recovered in the end zone by UA safety Don Be’Ans to cut ASU’s lead to 13-10.

Wildcat kicker Max Zendejas provided the rest of the offense. His school-record-tying 57-yard field goal knotted the score with under six minutes to play, and after a late Van Raaphorst fumble that the Wildcats recovered, Zendejas was true from 32 yards out to put UA ahead for good with under two minutes to play.

Zendejas, who had already beaten ASU with a last-second field goal two years earlier, thrived on the pressure. “It was one of those things that I craved it, I wanted it, and when I got the opportunity, there was no way of missing,” he said.

Instead of settling for a tie, ASU coach John Cooper decided to go for the win and let Van Raaphorst pass in the final minutes, which set up the fumble. It’s a decision Cooper came to regret.

“I’ve got to be honest: That was pretty stupid on my part,” he said. “And they very intelligently ran three plays, but the ball in the middle of the field and kicked the field goal, and they beat us and knocked us out of going to the Rose Bowl.”

-Quotes are excerpts from “Territorial: The History of the Duel in the Desert”