State Bragging Rights and a Pac 12 Championship Berth on the Line for Wildcats, Sun Devils

Picture Courtesy of Arizona Athletics

By Francisco Romero

As if it were scripted, it has come down to the last game of the season for the Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils to find out their fate.

Arizona beat Utah on Saturday 42-10 and ASU won at home against Washington State 52-31; they will play each other; both teams enter the game with a 9-2, 6-2 Pac 12 record.

On the line are the following: 1) state bragging rights, 2) sole possession of first place in the Pac 12 South (berth in conference championship game), 3) Territorial Cup.

If UCLA beats Stanford on Friday, the Bruins will win the Pac 12 South as it defeated both Arizona and ASU. 

If UCLA loses, the winner of the Arizona – ASU game will play against Oregon for the conference championship.

It’s no secret that it is a huge game for both schools.  

“I’m really proud of our guys. We played a really good football team on the road, in inclement weather. They handled everything really maturely and I thought the energy was really good in warm ups. Our guys kept their composure the whole time,” said Arizona’s head coach Rich Rodriguez after Saturday’s win over Utah. “Normally we celebrate a win for 24 hours, but since we play our rival next week, we will enjoy it for 12 hours and move on.”

ASU’s quarterback, Taylor Kelly, is being a bit conservative in his comments toward Friday’s game, “We are going to treat it just like

Picture Courtesy of ASU Athletics

every other week and we’re going to attack it, we’re looking at it like it’s a Pac-12 Championship game. It’s down in Tucson on a Friday afternoon, so we have to start preparing tonight and get to work.”

Kickoff time on Friday is 1:30 at Arizona Stadium.