Nov. 23, 2001
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The Game For the Territorial Cup: Playing for state bragging rights and the oldest intercollegiate rivalry trophy in the nation - the Territorial Championship Cup - Arizona and Arizona State met up on the gridiron today for the 75th intrastate showdown. Found in a church basement several years ago, the Territorial Championship Cup was presented to Tempe Normal School (now ASU) on Nov. 30, 1899 following an 11-2 victory over the University of Arizona at Tucson's Carillo Gardens Field. According to the NCAA, the previous oldest trophy was the Michigan/Minnesota Little Brown Jug which dates back to 1909. Arizona will retain the Territorial Cup until next year's Big Game.
The All-Time Series: The annual "Showdown in the Desert" has been fought 74 previous times, with Arizona now leading the all-time series 43-31-1 after taking this year's game 34-21. The Wildcats ended a two-game losing streak vs. the Sun Devils and prevented ASU from winning three straight over U of A for the first time since 1975-78... the all-time series in Tempe is now 16-16-1.
Flowers Notches Third-Straight 100-Yard Rushing Game: With 138 rushing yards on 20 carries Friday, senior tailback Delvon Flowers became the first Sun Devil since Michael Martin notched three straight 100-yard games to end the 1997 season, as he posted 158 vs. Oregon on Nov. 15, 102 vs. Arizona on Nov. 28 and 169 vs. Iowa in the Sun Bowl when he earned Offensive MVP honors. That is the last time a Sun Devil posted three straight 100-yard rushing games. It has happened four times in the past since the beginning of the 1992 season. Terry Battle also notched the feat in 1996 when he posted 195 at Oregon State on Nov. 2, 165 vs. California on Nov. 9 and 150 at Arizona on Nov. 23. In 1993, Mario Bates had 111 vs. Oregon on Oct. 16, 127 at Stanford on Oct. 23 and 163 vs. Washington on Oct. 30. Bates also had 214 vs. Washington, 109 vs. Louisville and 118 at Nebraska to open the 1992 season.
Flowers Continues Solid Season With Impressive Outing vs. Arizona: With 138 yards rushing on 20 carries (6.9 average), senior tailback Delvon Flowers will enter the final game of his collegiate career (UCLA next Saturday) needing only nine yards to pass the 1,000 mark for the year... Flowers now has 10 TD rushes on the year and 16 in his two years in the Maroon and Gold.
Walter Notches First Career TD Pass: ASU redshirt freshman starting quarterback Andrew Walter recorded his first career touchdown pass with his 19-yard pass to senior wide receiver Donnie O'Neal in the second quarter. Walter had completed 17 passes in his career prior to his firs t TD pass. Walter finished the game with a career-high 132 yards passing on 10-of-22 passing.
McDonald Moves Up in Record Books: With three catches for 71 yards, ASU sophomore wide receiver Shaun McDonald moved into third place in the ASU single-season record books for receiving yards in a season... McDonald now has 1,039 yards on 44 catches... McDonald will need 106 yards vs. UCLA to break the single-season school record of 1,144 yards set by Morris Owens in 1973... his 23.61 average receiving yards per catch (with more than 40 and fewer than 50 receptions) is currently on pace to break the school record.
Sun Devil Notes: Donnie O'Neal's TD reception in the second quarter was his fourth of 2001 and the 11th of his career... Josh Amobi made his first career start at linebacker... Solomon Bates recorded his first sack of the year in the third quarter... ASU is 4-for-4 this year on fake-punt attempts... Tom Pace and Darryl Lightfoot connected on a 33-yard pass and catch in the fourth quarter on a fake punt... Michael Holloway recorded his first career sack in the fourth quarter... Holloway, a redshirt freshman free safety from Los Angeles, entered the game with seven total tackles and one TFL...
The Last Time Both Schools Had New Head Coaches: The first career meeting between ASU head coach Dirk Koetter and Arizona head coach John Mackovic marks the first time since the 1980 season when both schools had a new head coach. The 1980 Sun Devils finished the year 7-4 under first-year head coach Darryl Rogers, including a 44-7 defeat of Arizona in Tucson. The Wildcats finished the '80 season 5-6 under first-year head coach Larry Smith.
Senior Day For 20 Devils: The Arizona State squad features 20 seniors that played their final game in Sun Devil Stadium today. They include: tailbacks Delvon Flowers and Tom Pace, wide receivers Ryan Dennard and Donnie O'Neal, offensive lineman Levi Jones, Kyle Kosier, Marquise Muldrow, Scott Peters and Travis Scott, defensive linemen Paul Glass, Khoa Nguyen, Danny Masaniai, Tommie Townsend and Kurt Wallin, linebackers Eric Fields and Matt Gorczyca, safeties Willie Daniel and Davaren Hightower, snapper B.J. Miller and punter Nick Murphy. The offensive line graduates five seniors who have combined to make 120 career starts (Peters - 43, Jones - 34, Muldrow - 16, Scott - 4, Kosier - 22)
Future Dates of the Big Game: Here is a look at the future dates of the ASU-Arizona game, with all of the games taking place the Friday after Thanksgiving: Nov. 29, 2002 at Arizona, Nov. 28, 2003, at Sun Devil Stadium, Nov. 26, 2004, at Arizona, Nov. 25, 2005, at Sun Devil Stadium and Nov. 24, 2006, at Arizona.
Bobby Wade's Big Day: Junior wide receiver Bobby Wade had a big day on the field Friday, recording career-highs with 11 receptions and 157 yards... he was named the Big Game MVP for his performance, adding a TD reception in the first quarter to his day... Wade now has 62 receptions on the year to rank fourth in Arizona single-season history... his 882 yards receiving in 2001 (with eight TD's) finished eighth in single-season history... his 157 yards receiving were the fourth most by any player in the Arizona-ASU rivalry... Wade's 137 career receptions now ranks third in Arizona career history and his 1,962 yards receiving is fourth in Wildcat football history.
Arizona's Jason Johnson Moves Up in Record Books: With a 18-for-29 day passing for 225 yards and two touchdowns Friday, Arizona's junior QB Jason Johnson moved up in the Arizona record books... with his two TD passes, Johnson finished 2001 with 19, tying for second in single-season school history with Ortege Jenkins (1997)... with 2,347 yards passing, he ranks third behind consecutive performance from Tom Tunnicliffe (2,520, 2,474) in 1982 and 1983... his 169 completions finished ranking in a tie for fourth (Dan White, 1994).
Farmer Notches Sixth 100-Yard Game of 2001: Arizona sophomore running back Clarence Farmer (Houston, Texas) recorded his sixth 100-yard game of the season and the ninth of his career when he ran for 158 yards on 32 carries... only the 11th player in Arizona history to surpass 1,000 yards rushing in a season, Farmer finished 2001 with 1,229 yards on 209 rushes... his 1,229 yards rank fourth in school history, passing the 1,226 yards of David Adams in 1986... the 158 yards rushing is the second best performance by a Wildcat in the head-to-head series with ASU... current St. Louis Ram Trung Candidate also rushed for 158 yards in 1999.
Arizona Wildcat Notes: Sophomore corner back Michael Jolivette broke a school record with his 20th pass breakup of the season... he passed the former mark of 19 held by All-American Chuck Cecil (1986) and Lynnden Brown (1984)... Jolivette has now broken up 34 passes in his career to rank third in career pass breakups in school history.
