By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- As the Sun Devils senior football players filed into the Carson Student-Athlete Center on Tuesday to conduct media interviews before their final Territorial Cup meeting with Arizona on Friday in Tucson, an old Devil was roaming the building, conducting interviews for Channel 12 and sharing stories of his own Territorial Cup experiences.
"To tell you the truth, coming from California, I knew about the
USC-UCLA rivalry game but when I got out here I was like, 'OK, it's a rivalry game and I hear people talking about it but I don't really feel it," former ASU linebacker Brandon Magee said. "And I didn't really feel it until they came here [in 2011] and they beat us and they put their flag in the middle of the A at midfield! I was like, 'OK, now it's on!'"
That infamous slight is one of Magee's most vivid memories, but as the Sun Devils and Wildcats prepare for the 90th Duel in the Desert, other Sun Devils, current and former, shared their own memories from this heated rivalry.
Rocky Harris
Sun Devil Athletics Chief Operating Office
ASU, 1996-2000
Best memory: Nov. 23, 1996 -- ASU 56, Arizona 14 (the student's perspective)
"When I was a freshman, it just happened to be our Rose Bowl year. I hope Sun Devil Nation will forgive me, but my girlfriend was a U-of-A cheerleader and she gave me two tickets to the game down there. I went down with a fellow Sun Devil and we cheered and wore our colors and I was there with my cheesy foam finger waking around the stadium, getting somewhat harassed. What I didn't realize was the tickets she gave me were in the U-of-A student section, but being the person I am, I decided to go anyway. That day was great because we were so good. We were undefeated that year. There were a lot of Sun Devils in the stadium but we were the only two in the student section. We started routing them -- I think score was 56-14 (it was). When the rout began, the tension grew and grew. By halftime, security had moved us to seats outside the student section for our protection."
Jake Plummer
QB, 1993-97
Best memory: Nov. 23, 1996 -- ASU 56, Arizona 14 (the QB's perspective)
"Going 1-3 against the Cats in my career was not ideal, but we made up for it in that final game. When [receiver] Keith Poole caught that post for a TD and [UA DB] Chris McAlister drilled him, he gets up and let's it go in his face! That was three years of frustration coming out. Plus, our defense was insane that day! How sweet it was as we were on our way to Pasadena with roses on our minds."
Jean Boyd
Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development
S, 1991-94
Best memory: Nov. 23, 1991, ASU 37, Arizona 14
"As a kid who grew up in L.A. and watched UCLA/USC for years, I had no inclination that such vitriol existed in Arizona. There are many rivalry memories… My favorite, most memorable moment however was in 1991 -- my first game playing as a Sun Devil against "them". There was a sellout crowd for a 5-5 versus 4-7 team clash with storylines of ASU's head coach Larry Marmie being fired after the game, and Arizona being on a 10-year no lose streak. There was more energy in Sun Devil Stadium than I had experienced all year in any other game. In the fourth quarter, as we were blowing them out, [DB] Phillippi Sparks and I convinced Coach Marmie to run a fake punt from our own 10-yard line. I was the recipient, and ran 90 yards for a touchdown and couldn't hear myself run, move or breathe because the crowd was so loud. Even though the play was called back, there has never been a more exhilarating moment in my life!"
Tim White
WR, 2015-16
Best memory: Nov. 21, 2015, ASU 52, Arizona 37
"Mine would be [wide receiver] Jalen Harvey's first touchdown catch. You all remember him getting in and then running the post route and catching it in the end zone. Knowing how excited he was and how long he'd been waiting, especially coming off a [shoulder] injury. That was probably my biggest moment, for him, and definitely winning the game."
Mike Marcisz
OL, 2007-2011
Best memory: Dec. 2, 2010, ASU 30, Arizona 29 (2OT)
"Without a doubt, it would be James Brooks blocking two extra points [one to send the game to overtime, one to seal the win]. In the second OT, I was so gassed I was done, completely out of gas and they're about to send it to another OT after a TD. All of the sudden, I look up and he blocks another one. I think I was more excited that the game was over than the fact that we had won. I could finally take a rest!"
Kody Kohl
TE, 2012-16
Best memory: Nov. 28, 2014, Arizona 42, ASU 35
"The loss really sucked, believe me, and it haunted me that entire summer and throughout the year until we got that next win, but I had a corner [route] on [my] touchdown that game. My parents and family were right in that corner and I got to see them and I was pointing at them and they were freaking out. They hate [Arizona] as much as I do. My brother played here. We bleed maroon and gold, literally."
Derek Hagan
WR, 2002-05
Best memory: Nov. 28, 2003
"That season was sort of the same thing that ASU and UA are going through this year. Neither team was that good and neither team that year was going to a bowl game but I remember the way we came together at the end of the season. I don't remember who it was and I don't remember what it was, but somebody from UA said something that got us all fired up in the locker room. I was a sophomore but I had a pretty big game (eight catches, 155 yards, TD). The only TD I scored was a post corner route. I ran a nice route, [QB] Andrew Walter threw a pretty ball and I remember celebrating in the end zone when my old teammate, Skyler Fulton tackled me. It actually hurt pretty bad. I wasn't expecting to get tackled after I scored but we had a great celebration anyway."
Laiu Moeakiola
LB/S, 2012-16
Best memory: Nov. 30, 2013, ASU 58, Arizona 21
"We beat them and ended up winning the Pac-12 South championship that year. [Arizona's] Ka'Deem Carey, he was a high-profile runner that year. I think he was the leading rusher that year in the conference. Coming in and having the front seven just handle that and Damarious Randall getting that pick-6, it was fun."
Anthony Parker
DB, 1984-87
Worst memory: Nov. 23, 1985, Arizona 16, ASU 14.
"We didn't beat them during my time at ASU and we had some really good teams. We always felt like we were the better team but it didn't seem to matter. They always found a way to win and we had some heartbreaking losses. When I look back at my college career, that is one of the only things that is really painful. Probably the worst loss was the year before we went to the Rose Bowl in 1986. We had a chance to go in '85 and we lost that game and ended up losing our bowl (Holiday) game, too. The reason I say that year instead of the Rose Bowl year when they gave us our first loss is because we closed that Rose Bowl year out on a high note by beating Michigan. The Rose Bowl was the best game I've ever played in with the most excitement and the most on the line so that season, in my mind, has been capped with that victory so I can sweep that UA loss under the rug."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- As the Sun Devils senior football players filed into the Carson Student-Athlete Center on Tuesday to conduct media interviews before their final Territorial Cup meeting with Arizona on Friday in Tucson, an old Devil was roaming the building, conducting interviews for Channel 12 and sharing stories of his own Territorial Cup experiences.
"To tell you the truth, coming from California, I knew about the
USC-UCLA rivalry game but when I got out here I was like, 'OK, it's a rivalry game and I hear people talking about it but I don't really feel it," former ASU linebacker Brandon Magee said. "And I didn't really feel it until they came here [in 2011] and they beat us and they put their flag in the middle of the A at midfield! I was like, 'OK, now it's on!'"
That infamous slight is one of Magee's most vivid memories, but as the Sun Devils and Wildcats prepare for the 90th Duel in the Desert, other Sun Devils, current and former, shared their own memories from this heated rivalry.
Rocky Harris
Sun Devil Athletics Chief Operating Office
ASU, 1996-2000
Best memory: Nov. 23, 1996 -- ASU 56, Arizona 14 (the student's perspective)
"When I was a freshman, it just happened to be our Rose Bowl year. I hope Sun Devil Nation will forgive me, but my girlfriend was a U-of-A cheerleader and she gave me two tickets to the game down there. I went down with a fellow Sun Devil and we cheered and wore our colors and I was there with my cheesy foam finger waking around the stadium, getting somewhat harassed. What I didn't realize was the tickets she gave me were in the U-of-A student section, but being the person I am, I decided to go anyway. That day was great because we were so good. We were undefeated that year. There were a lot of Sun Devils in the stadium but we were the only two in the student section. We started routing them -- I think score was 56-14 (it was). When the rout began, the tension grew and grew. By halftime, security had moved us to seats outside the student section for our protection."
Jake Plummer
QB, 1993-97
Best memory: Nov. 23, 1996 -- ASU 56, Arizona 14 (the QB's perspective)
"Going 1-3 against the Cats in my career was not ideal, but we made up for it in that final game. When [receiver] Keith Poole caught that post for a TD and [UA DB] Chris McAlister drilled him, he gets up and let's it go in his face! That was three years of frustration coming out. Plus, our defense was insane that day! How sweet it was as we were on our way to Pasadena with roses on our minds."
Jean Boyd
Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development
S, 1991-94
Best memory: Nov. 23, 1991, ASU 37, Arizona 14
"As a kid who grew up in L.A. and watched UCLA/USC for years, I had no inclination that such vitriol existed in Arizona. There are many rivalry memories… My favorite, most memorable moment however was in 1991 -- my first game playing as a Sun Devil against "them". There was a sellout crowd for a 5-5 versus 4-7 team clash with storylines of ASU's head coach Larry Marmie being fired after the game, and Arizona being on a 10-year no lose streak. There was more energy in Sun Devil Stadium than I had experienced all year in any other game. In the fourth quarter, as we were blowing them out, [DB] Phillippi Sparks and I convinced Coach Marmie to run a fake punt from our own 10-yard line. I was the recipient, and ran 90 yards for a touchdown and couldn't hear myself run, move or breathe because the crowd was so loud. Even though the play was called back, there has never been a more exhilarating moment in my life!"
Tim White
WR, 2015-16
Best memory: Nov. 21, 2015, ASU 52, Arizona 37
"Mine would be [wide receiver] Jalen Harvey's first touchdown catch. You all remember him getting in and then running the post route and catching it in the end zone. Knowing how excited he was and how long he'd been waiting, especially coming off a [shoulder] injury. That was probably my biggest moment, for him, and definitely winning the game."
Mike Marcisz
OL, 2007-2011
Best memory: Dec. 2, 2010, ASU 30, Arizona 29 (2OT)
"Without a doubt, it would be James Brooks blocking two extra points [one to send the game to overtime, one to seal the win]. In the second OT, I was so gassed I was done, completely out of gas and they're about to send it to another OT after a TD. All of the sudden, I look up and he blocks another one. I think I was more excited that the game was over than the fact that we had won. I could finally take a rest!"
Kody Kohl
TE, 2012-16
Best memory: Nov. 28, 2014, Arizona 42, ASU 35
"The loss really sucked, believe me, and it haunted me that entire summer and throughout the year until we got that next win, but I had a corner [route] on [my] touchdown that game. My parents and family were right in that corner and I got to see them and I was pointing at them and they were freaking out. They hate [Arizona] as much as I do. My brother played here. We bleed maroon and gold, literally."
Derek Hagan
WR, 2002-05
Best memory: Nov. 28, 2003
"That season was sort of the same thing that ASU and UA are going through this year. Neither team was that good and neither team that year was going to a bowl game but I remember the way we came together at the end of the season. I don't remember who it was and I don't remember what it was, but somebody from UA said something that got us all fired up in the locker room. I was a sophomore but I had a pretty big game (eight catches, 155 yards, TD). The only TD I scored was a post corner route. I ran a nice route, [QB] Andrew Walter threw a pretty ball and I remember celebrating in the end zone when my old teammate, Skyler Fulton tackled me. It actually hurt pretty bad. I wasn't expecting to get tackled after I scored but we had a great celebration anyway."
Laiu Moeakiola
LB/S, 2012-16
Best memory: Nov. 30, 2013, ASU 58, Arizona 21
"We beat them and ended up winning the Pac-12 South championship that year. [Arizona's] Ka'Deem Carey, he was a high-profile runner that year. I think he was the leading rusher that year in the conference. Coming in and having the front seven just handle that and Damarious Randall getting that pick-6, it was fun."
Anthony Parker
DB, 1984-87
Worst memory: Nov. 23, 1985, Arizona 16, ASU 14.
"We didn't beat them during my time at ASU and we had some really good teams. We always felt like we were the better team but it didn't seem to matter. They always found a way to win and we had some heartbreaking losses. When I look back at my college career, that is one of the only things that is really painful. Probably the worst loss was the year before we went to the Rose Bowl in 1986. We had a chance to go in '85 and we lost that game and ended up losing our bowl (Holiday) game, too. The reason I say that year instead of the Rose Bowl year when they gave us our first loss is because we closed that Rose Bowl year out on a high note by beating Michigan. The Rose Bowl was the best game I've ever played in with the most excitement and the most on the line so that season, in my mind, has been capped with that victory so I can sweep that UA loss under the rug."