A sold-out, Black Friday game at Mountain America Stadium was still running a sale deep into the night.
Five turnovers for the price of 60 minutes.
How is that profitable? Well, the Arizona Wildcats (9-3, 6-3 Big 12) found a way to cash in on a series of blunders from Arizona State (8-4, 6-3), turning the takeaways into a 23-7 Territorial Cup victory for the team from down south.
“This is horrible,” ASU coach Kenny Dillingham said bluntly. “I have to live in this city. That sucks. I get a year of this game just … around. That sucks. That’s the best part about this game; you have repercussions for a year. I get to hear about it.”
The prominent eyes of Sparky overlaying the field, courtesy of the ASU grounds crew, looked fearsome as the Sun Devils battled in the first half, holding down the Arizona offense, which averages more than 30 points per game. As the game wore on, and the ASU defense stayed on the field, the image wore down, fading into the lighter grass while the Sun Devils fell apart down the stretch.
For ASU, the loss extinguished any remaining hopes to crack the Big 12 title game and eliminated the defending champs on the final day of the regular season. Instead, the loss secured the matchup between Texas Tech and BYU in Arlington, Texas.
“You can’t have five turnovers and win,” Dillingham said. “That’s pretty much it. All the other stuff is pretty much irrelevant. It’s the most fundamental thing in football. We were really good last year at that, but today… We can’t turn the ball over five times.”
Quarterback Jeff Sims had a nightmarish performance on Senior Night. The journeyman had done a fine job taking care of the ball in his previous three starts, but the demons from his early career turbulence rose from the ashes in his final college home start. Sims completed just 11 of 25 passes for 114 yards and tossed three interceptions. He had 43 yards on the ground, which included a 27-yard touchdown run for ASU’s lone score of the night.
“He has all the ability in the world,” Dillingham said. “I feel for him tonight, I really do. I feel for him because he’s a great person, and he’s a guy that’s going to be successful in life; I can almost guarantee that. Even though it didn’t work out tonight, I just have so much respect and love, and he’s just such a good human being.”
Even as ASU honored the seniors pregame, that didn’t stop Sun Devils fans from booing as Sims continued to give the ball to the Wildcats. Mountain America Stadium was “rocking” as Dillingham wished earlier in the week, but “U of A” chants echoed throughout the stadium as ASU fans streamed up the stands and to the exits in the fourth quarter.
No matter how challenging the game was, the connection the Sun Devils displayed showed how the program has evolved from a 3-9 finish just two years ago.
“They changed an organization,” Dillingham said. “How many people in life can say that? A lot of people can join an organization, but a lot of people can’t change it. That takes a special group of people. These guys, they’ve done it.”
During the pregame ceremonies, tight end Chamon Metayer walked out with Sims and wide receiver Malik McClain, shouting “three man band” as the trio shared hugs with Dillingham and family on the field.
On ASU’s final drive, Sims threw a desperation pass over the middle to Metayer, but the ball sailed into the diving arms of Arizona safety Dalton Johnson for an interception that sealed the game.
Though the game was already out of reach, his body language changed. He slowly made his way to the sideline, where Metayer was waiting to give him a pep talk as the Wildcats iced the victory.
“Jeff Sims can get all the hate in the world, but he shows up and works every day,” Metayer said. “At the end of the day, I respect the guy. I’d give anything to him. If he needed it, I got it. That’s just how it goes. Same with Malik. If Malik ain’t feeling the play, I ain’t feeling it either. So we’re all going to argue about it.
“I’ll die behind Malik. I’ll die behind these guys, too,” Metayer said, pointing to his teammates.
The Sun Devils lost receiver Jordyn Tyson once again early in the game, seemingly aggravating his nagging hamstring injury. He stood in a long hug with an ASU staff member on the sideline, likely in his final time suiting up as a Sun Devils player in front of the home crowd.
ASU defensive end Justin Wodtly took a moment to sit on the bench after the game, a towel draped over his head. The senior defensive end led the team with six sacks, all coming in the final five games. His emotion underscored the power of the rivalry and the somber note the Sun Devils finished the season on.
“Remove yourself from this moment of misery,” Dillingham said. “I told the group, ‘You guys have done something special. You guys took a program that was dead.’ I had them all raise their hand, everybody who signed here when we were 3-9, which was anybody who didn’t sign here this last year. You guys all came here when we were dead. Absolutely nobody wanted to be here.
“Through all the adversity, you took a team that was dead and did something that hasn’t been done since you guys were 6, 7, 8 years old. No, we have an opportunity to still go get 20 wins in the last two years.”
Dillingham rebuilt the program through the transfer portal, developing new faces into local stars. There is no better example of that than Cam Skattebo, who returned to Tempe on his scooter as an honorary captain. The crowd rejoiced as he joined ASU at midfield for the coin toss, before wheeling 50 yards to the end zone in front of the student section, shaking the stadium like he did with his earthquake runs last season.
“This team is full of people who came from different places,” ASU linbacker Jordan Crook said. “I can say it’s truly different to be around a collective group of people. A lot of teams preach family, but I feel like people just say that. Here, I feel like it shows. … From the top down, you can just see that everything here is run the right way. It’s really a family culture.”
The culture and bond of a team can be harped on by a coach endlessly, especially when things are going well. For the players to bring it up after a devastating rivalry loss means something else entirely.
“Those are my brothers at the end of the day,” Metayer said. “We came in here, and we’ve all got similar stories. I could call on them whenever. We text every day. They’ve got my location, I’ve got their location. I see everywhere they go. They see everywhere I go. So if they’re doing something at night that I know they’re not supposed to be doing, I know. I know the type of guys they are, I see the type of work they put in. Those guys I can rely on, and the same for everyone else.”
Arizona State will await its bowl selection, where the senior Sun Devils will have one last chance to close their program-shifting tenure on a high note. Sims will make one final start in his college career, aiming to rectify the errors against the Wildcats. Metayer said Sims has “the character trait of picking himself up,” showing that the team has lost zero confidence in him after a tough night.
With the regular season in the books, it closes what some might see as a disappointing season for the defending conference champs. However, a four-loss team goes to show how far the standard has risen.
Still, the story of this season and a resurgent Sun Devils team has one more chapter to tell.
“Not many times in your life do you get the opportunity to change, from the bottom, to literally write your own story,” Dillingham said. “This team did. And guess what? Not all stories end with a happy ending. Sorry, it’s a bad ending. But the story is unbelievable.”
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