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TUCSON — It wasn't apparent from the get-go that the Territorial Cup would be for all the marbles. By the time it was, the annual rivalry between No. 13 ASU football and No. 11 UA was well on its way to the wild finish it holds a reputation for.
"My life got a whole lot more stressful for the last five minutes," UA offensive lineman Mickey Baucus said.
That's the first time Baucus heard the score of the UCLA-Stanford game, which kicked off at the same time as the Territorial Cup and decided whether it would have Pac-12 South implications. It was also the first time Baucus thought about the Pac-12 championship, which he and the Wildcats (10-2, 7-2 Pac-12) will play Oregon for next Friday after defeating the Sun Devils (9-3, 6-3 Pac-12) 42-35.
As Stanford began to pull away, eventually winning 31-10, the Wildcats also began to take control of their game. UA never trailed, but it also couldn't put the Sun Devils away until the very end. Even as UA took one of only two leads more than one score — 35-21 and 42-28 —ASU hung around.
Ultimately, one of the most competitive divisions in college football wasn't decided until there was 1:07 left on the Arizona Stadium clock, on Nov. 28, the final week of the regular season.
The Cardinal took their first lead, 14-7, at nearly the same time the Sun Devils tied UA at 14 in the second quarter. But seemingly, every time ASU gained momentum, the Wildcats took it right back.
"We just beat ourselves with the things we clearly talked about in this game," ASU coach Todd Graham said. "We said, clearly the winner of this game is going to be the one that wins the turnover ratio."
Entering the game, the Sun Devils were fifth in the nation in turnover margin at plus-12. UA was ninth, at plus-10. Each team turned the ball over twice and each team turned those turnovers into 14 points. Turnovers are more than potentially easy points; they're game-changing momentum shifters. And that's exactly what UA's last forced turnover turned out to be.
Redshirt junior Mike Bercovici, who entered the game after Graham pulled redshirt senior starting quarterback Taylor Kelly at the end of the third quarter, had just led the Sun Devils down the field to score and bring ASU back within seven. The move looked like a stroke of genius. But on the next drive, Bercovici threw into double coverage and was picked off by senior safety Jourdon Grandon. That was quickly converted into seven points for the Wildcats and the lead was again 14.
Nobody on the field knew then that Bercovici's interception could have cost the Sun Devils a chance at the Pac-12 title. By then, Stanford had gone up 31-10 and everyone in the sold-out stadium but the teams knew what was on the line.
"It hurts," Graham said. "Obviously we wanted to be in San Francisco next week, and we fell seven points short."
Despite never having a lead, the Sun Devils weren't out of it until a missed fourth down with 1:07 left. The game screamed overtime. It's the Territorial Cup. It's for the Pac-12 South. The two teams were so even all season.
But Graham had no plans for that. It's a moot point now, but Graham said the Sun Devils planned to go for the two-point conversion if they had scored on the final drive. But in the end, it finished just like ASU's loss to Oregon State: with the offense failing to score with the game — and this time, a Pac-12 South title — on the line.
It's the first time Graham has lost the Territorial Cup. The 13 seniors on the team went 2-2 against the Wildcats. The man leading ASU into action next season is confident the Sun Devils will rebound, though.
"It sucks," Bercovici said. "At the end of the day, we don't lose to these guys. ... Next year we'll get it done."
Correction: UA senior offensive lineman Mickey Baucus was originally misidentified
Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EvanWebeck
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