THE GAME - Sun Devil Football will conclude the regular season on the road this weekend as the team travels south to take on in-state foe Arizona in the annual Territorial Cup Game. The rivalry match is scheduled to kickoff at 1:30 p.m. Arizona time on Saturday, Nov. 24. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 with Christopher Vosters on the call, alongside analyst Petros Papadakis. The game will be broadcast over the airwaves on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM with the Voice of the Sun Devils, Tim Healey, on the call alongside analyst Jeff Van Raaphorst and sideline reporter Jordan Simone
TERRITORIAL CUP -This will be the 91st Duel in the Desert, with Arizona leading the all-time series 49-41-1. The winner of the game will receive (or retain) the Territorial Cup Trophy, and the game is recognized by the NCAA as the nation's oldest rivalry trophy game.
ASU downed the Wildcats in Tempe last season, 42-30. Arizona leads the series in games played in Tucson, 31-19. Neither team has truly dominated the series since the Wildcats went 8-0-1 against ASU over the course of the 1980s. Since then, there have only been two occurrences where one team has posted a three-game winning streak - once for each team (ASU 2005-07, UA 1993-95).
The Sun Devils will be looking to take their sixth victory in the past nine contests against Arizona. The home team has won each of the last five meetings, though the road teams won four in a row from 2009-12. The winning team has scored at least 41 points in the last 6 contests between the two teams. Eight of the previous 14 games have been decided by a touchdown or less.
AN ASU VICTORY WOULD...
- Be the first road win in the Territorial Cup series in the last 6 seasons.
- Give ASU 6 wins over Arizona in the last 9 matchups.
- Eliminate Arizona from bowl eligibility.
- Give ASU 7 wins in a season for the 5th time in the last 7 seasons.
- Give ASU a second-place finish in the Pac-12 South
MILESTONE COUNTDOWNS
589 passing yards needed for Manny Wilkins to move into 3rd in program history (8,819, currently at 8,230).
597 passing yards needed for Wilkins to move into 2nd in program history (8,827, currently at 8,230)
33 receiving yards needed for N'Keal Harry to move into 3rd in ASU history (2,867, currently at 2,834).
159 receiving yards needed for Harry to move into 2nd in ASU history (2,993, currently at 2,834).
2 receiving touchdowns needed for Harry to move into 4th in ASU history (24, currently at 22).
3 receiving touchdowns needed for Harry to move into 3rd in ASU history (25, currently at 22).
58 rushing yards needed for Eno Benjamin to move into second in single season rushing yards at ASU (1,502, currently at 1,444)
121 rushing yards needed for Benjamin to set the all-time single season school record for the Sun Devils (1,565, currently at 1,444)
2 rushing touchdowns needed for Benjamin to move into the Top-7 in single-season history (14, currently at 12).
3 rushing touchdowns needed for Benjamin to move into the Top-6 in single-season history (15, currently at 12).
10 rushes touchdowns needed for Benjamin to set the ASU school record for carries in a single season (266, currently at 256).
#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)
1. ASU has had a 100-yard rusher in 12 of its last 16 games dating back to last year (Demario Richard with 4 and Eno Benjamin with 8).
2. Sun Devil freshmen (true or redshirt) have combined for 2,893 play snaps on defense this season with two games left to play. Comparatively, freshmen combined for just 918 total defensive snaps played in 2017 and 1,035 in 2016.
3. Only three Pac-12 TRUE freshmen have played at least 600 defensive snaps this season and all of them play for Arizona State (Merlin Robertson/661, Darien Butler/616, Aashari Crosswell/634).
4. Arizona State holds the FBS active streak for consecutive games scoring more than 7 points, currently doing so in 132 straight games.
5. No ASU running back has lost a fumble (or even put the ball on the ground) in 854 consecutive carries, dating back to the 2016 season - a streak of 30 consecutive games.
6. According to Pro Football Focus, there are just 17 3-4 outside linebackers in the FBS to not miss a tackle on a running play this season that have played at least 100 snaps on rushing plays - with Merlin Robertson being one of those.
7. ASU has held opponents to just 3.8 points per 4th quarter - the 6th lowest total in FBS as ASU's outscored opponents 99-42 in the frame. ASU was 112th last season (8.9 points per 4th), 124th (10.7 points) in '16, 121st (11.1 point) in '15 and 101st (8.6 points) in '14.
8. ASU hasn't finished in Top-100 in fewest sacks allowed per game since 2011 (74th). In fact, since 2003 (as far back as easily accessible team rankings go), ASU has finished in the top-100 just 3 times, and never better than 70th. ASU is currently tied for 23rd in the FBS with 1.36 allowed per game.
9. The Sun Devils are forcing opponents into the 6th-worst starting field position nationally, with teams starting on average at their own 25.1 yard line.
10. NKeal Harry is within 103 receiving yards of second in program history, despite the fact that seven of ASU's 10 all-time leading receivers did so in four seasons while Harry still has at least two games left in his junior campaign.
BY THE NUMBERS
854 - No ASU running back has lost a fumble (or even put the ball on the ground) in 854 consecutive carries, dating back to the 2016 season - a streak of 30 consecutive games. That includes 279 running back carries this season (NOTE: this stat includes only RBs on rushing plays and does not include receptions). The fumble that ended the streak occurred on a direct snap play to a running back. If only conventional running plays were included, the streak of carries without losing a fumble is 1,193 carries over 43 games (since 2015).
132 - Arizona State holds the FBS active streak for consecutive games scoring more than 7 points, currently doing so in 132 straight games. The Sun Devils last scored a touchdown or less when they were shutout, 28-0, against eighth-ranked USC in the 2008 season. They have scored 30 or more points in 74 of those games (56.1 percent). The Sun Devils scored at least 30 points in each of their victories during it's three-game winning streak. ASU is 5-0 this year when scoring 30 or more points.
122 - Eno Benjamin needs just 122 rushing yards to set ASU's all-time single season school record. Benjamin is currently third in the nation with 1,444 rushing yards as he eyes Woody Green's 1972 school record of 1,565. Eno Benjamin ranks first among Pac-12 running backs with an overall grade of 82.6 according to Pro Football Focus, over 4 points higher than the next closest tailback. It is the 8th-highest grade among all Pac-12 offensive players, regardless of position. He has rushed for 70 first downs this season, second nationally and 6 behind the national leader
36 - N'Keal Harry has a reception in all 36 games of his career at Arizona State, tied for the 10th-longest active streak among active FBS players. Harry has a 121.5 Pro Football Focus QB rating when targeted this season, good for 15th nationally among receivers that have logged at least 50 percent of their team's targets. He has forced 17 missed tackles this season, which is good for 7th-most among Power Five receivers. Harry's ability to make plays pivotal situations has been a staple of his career. In 2018, he is 5th among all FBS receivers in receiving yards in the fourth quarter of games (327) and tied for 6th with four fourth quarter touchdown receptions. His 12 first down grabs in the fourth quarter of games are fifth nationally.
3 - The Sun Devil have also closed games strongly, holding opponents to just 3.8 points per fourth quarter - the 6th lowest total nationally and allowing ASU to outscore opponents 99-42 in the frame this season. ASU struggled to close teams out last year, allowing 8.9 points per fourth quarter (112th nationally). ASU was 124th (10.7 points per fourth) in 2016, 121st (11.1 point per fourth) in 2015 and 101st (8.6 points per fourth) in 2014. The tough scoring defense has kept ASU in every game this season, with eight games this year being decide by one possession - tied for the most in the FBS this year. Unfortunately, ASU has been on the wrong end of five of those - the most losses by less than a TD in the FBS.
0 - Cohl Cabral is one of just 17 Power Five centers to not allow a sack on the year and is the 26th-highest graded center as a pass blocker in all of the FBS according to Pro Football Focus (81.2) and 3rd-highest graded center overall in the Pac-12 (69.2) and 38th-highest graded center in the FBS. Cabral has scored a positive run-blocking grade on 9.9 percent of his rushing snaps this season - the 21st-best percentage among FBS centers in the country and 2nd in the Pac-12. ASU's 15 sacks allowed this season are 24th nationally. A year ago, ASU finished 124th in the nation with 41 sacks allowed and 119th in 2016 with 41 sacks.