Dominant third quarter helps Sun Devils recapture Territorial Cup

TEMPE, Ariz. — Through the first half of football in the 91st annual Territorial Cup game, it looked like the Arizona Wildcats would hold onto possession of college football’s oldest rivalry trophy for another year.

The second half, however, came with a complete momentum shift in all three phases of the game that helped the Arizona State Sun Devils to a 42-30 win in front of 59,385 fans at Sun Devil Stadium Saturday.

Technically, the shift happened late in the second quarter.

Leading 24-14, Arizona got an interception from freshman corner Lorenzo Burns. A personal foul penalty on ASU’s Demario Richard tacked on 15 extra yards, giving the Wildcats great starting field position, a full minute on the clock and two timeouts to work with.

It was an opportunity for Arizona to take full control of the game. Instead, they got conservative.

Head coach Rich Rodriguez opted to run the ball twice — both carries by J.J. Taylor — gaining eight yards and allowing the clock to run down to :14 before calling a timeout. On third down, Taylor ran again, gaining two to the ASU 45-yard line, but only three seconds remained.

Arizona attempted a Hail Mary toss to end the half with Khalil Tate uncorking a long throw intended for Shun Brown in the end zone, but it was defended by ASU’s Kobe Williams, keeping the Wildcats’ lead at 10 points.

On the play, Tate injured his throwing shoulder and he was replaced by Brandon Dawkins to start the second half. Arizona went three-and-out on its first drive and was forced to punt. ASU freshman receiver Curtis Hodges broke through the line and blocked it, and the Sun Devils took over at the Arizona 5-yard line.

Two plays later, Richard scored from a yard out, and old momentum changed sidelines.

On Arizona’s next drive, Demonte King picked off a Dawkins pass and returned it to the Wildcats’ 30-yard line. The Devils would cash in again, with Manny Wilkins hitting N’Keal Harry on the first of two touchdown passes that gave ASU its first lead.

Later on in the third, Richard capped an 8-play, 75-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown run to put ASU up 35-24.

In all, the Sun Devils outscored Arizona 21-0 in the third quarter on their way to the win — ASU’s fourth in six Territorial Cup games that have pitted Graham versus Rodriguez.

So was there a fiery halftime speech from the embattled Graham to turn around his team’s attitude and fortunes in the second half?

“Nothing,” Wilkins answered when asked what was said in the locker room at the break. “We’ve been here before. We don’t gotta sulk about anything being down, none of that. We were down 10 against Colorado going into the half, so it’s about perseverance.”

Perseverance it was. ASU got 192 of their 227 yards rushing in the second half. They held Arizona to six points. The Sun Devils, who hurt themselves with penalties in the first half, committed none after halftime. Wilkins and the offense converted 7-of-8 third-down opportunities in the game’s final 30 minutes.

Richard, who finished with 165 yards and earned the Bob Moran Player of the Game Award, felt the momentum shift after halftime.

“You can tell when somebody really doesn’t want to do something, especially when you’re playing football,” he said. “And you can tell when you’re imposing your will on somebody and they don’t want to play no more.”

It would be naive to believe that Tate’s exit from the game didn’t have a big affect on the outcome. With him at the controls, Arizona scored on its first four possessions. With Dawkins at the controls, the Wildcats registered points on just 1-of-7 possessions.

“He got hurt and banged up,” Rodriguez said. “He tried to go, but couldn’t go. So the other guy went in.”

ASU safety Chad Adams said Tate’s injury wasn’t that big of a deal.

“It didn’t really give us a boost,” he said. “We played against Dawkins last year. He’s an effective quarterback and he can run just like Tate. They ran the same offense, and we just stuck to our game plan.”

The game plan worked, and Arizona State, picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12 South by the conference media over the summer, finishes the regular season 7-5 overall and 6-3 in the Pac-12, good for second place behind USC in the South.

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