TUCSON -- There Thomas Weber stood, like Poseidon with his trident, eyeing the Arizona Stadium end zone.
He stabbed at it with a pitchfork, a symbolic reaction to the fork his Sun Devils had just put in the Wildcats. Oh, thank you, Territorial Cup, for once again delivering a game that played out like a Greek tragedy.
ASU beat Arizona, 30-29, in overtime Thursday night thanks to a blocked extra point in a meeting that delivered both redemption and hope for the Sun Devils.
"It's nice to get the football gods on our side, well, at least the extra-point gods," ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. "What a football game."
Redemption came for Weber, the senior kicker who until this season was of the can't-miss variety. But the player who failed to connect seven times in 2010 made all five tries, including a 40-yarder in overtime.Hope came in the form of a defense that did something unexpected: It gave ASU an identity for 2011.If the Sun Devils can build around their young, quick and bullying defense, they can enter next year with a swagger. The group that stifled Arizona early in the game has the potential to make ASU a player in its new-look conference.
The Sun Devils limited the nation's ninth-ranked passing offense during crucial times and allowed the Wildcats to convert on third down on just 5 of 17 attempts. Arizona struggled to establish a running game early on and for much of the game, ASU quarterback Brock Osweiler was the leading rusher for both teams.
Read more: Redemption, hope define ASU football victory over rival Arizona Wildcats
