Territorial Cup returns to Tempe as ASU tops UA

After two losses that were directly impacted by blocked extra points, the football gods provided a little bit of redemption to The ASU football team on Thursday night at Arizona Stadium.

All UA needed was an extra point to win the game in regulation, but junior defensive end James Brooks was there to block the try and send the game to overtime.

In the second overtime, all the Wildcats needed was an extra point to send the game to a third overtime, but Brooks was there again, blocking UA junior kicker Alex Zendejas for the second time, securing a 30-29 victory for ASU and sending the Territorial Cup back to Tempe.

“I had a feeling we were going to block the kick; you have to believe me,” ASU junior linebacker Brandon Magee said. “The dice rolled our way this time. It had to roll our way sometime and it came today. I wasn’t going back to Tempe without a ‘W’.”

The bitter rivalry is recognized by the NCAA as the nation’s oldest trophy game.
But for the first time in the 111 years that the two teams have met on the gridiron, ASU and UA’s battle went into overtime.

Late in regulation, it appeared as if ASU was going to suffer another devastating defeat.
Holding on to a 20-14 lead with just 2:59 to play, it seemed destined that the Wildcats would drive downfield for the winning touchdown.
Junior quarterback Nick Foles engineered a 10-play, 57-yard drive that eventually led to a five-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver David Douglas.
Zendejas, who beat ASU last season with a game winning field goal, was about to win the game for the second straight season, but Brooks swatted the kick away.
In overtime, UA drove down inside the ASU 5-yard line, but the defense held and forced a 19-yard Zendejas field goal.
The Sun Devils needed a touchdown to win, but went three and out to set up a field goal try by senior kicker Thomas Weber to send the game into a second overtime.
Despite his struggles, Weber was dead on all night. He drilled his fifth field goal of the night with ease to keep the game going.
ASU got the ball first in the second extra session and didn’t take long to find the end zone. Two plays after a 19-yard completion from sophomore quarterback Brock Osweiler to senior wide receiver Kerry Taylor, sophomore running back Cameron Marshall scored from two yards out.
Read More: Territorial Cup returns to Tempe as ASU tops UA

Territorial Cup returns to Tempe as ASU tops UA

Redemption, hope define ASU football victory over rival Arizona Wildcats

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

Redemption, hope define ASU football victory over rival Arizona Wildcats