Friday's three-touchdown win was not just the final game of the season for the Sun Devils, but the final game ever for a group of ASU's seniors.
All 14 seniors served as single-game captains for ASU and ended a disappointing year with the best possible going away present - a win over rival UA.
"There's no one word that you can say that would say it all," said fullback Mike Karney, who had more than 40 friends and family members in attendance and contended there would have been more if it weren't for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Even Karney, who at 6-feet and 260 pounds is known as one of the toughest players on the team, was a little emotional seeing his family before his final collegiate game.
"That kind of did me in," said Karney, whose two carries doubled his season high.
Ten of the 14 seniors who stayed at the team hotel Thursday night spoke to the other players and tried to express what they've learned while playing at ASU.
"We didn't talk too much about the game because we ... had two weeks to know what we're going to do," guard Regis Crawford said.
A three-year starter, Crawford's message to the younger players was crystal clear.
"Never take anything for granted," he said. "You can't just be expected to win. You have to put in the time and the hard work. I'm going to be preach that for a long time."
The game also gave a chance for Crawford and fellow offensive linemen Tim Fa'aita and Tony Aguilar to play side by side by side for one last time.
When junior center Drew Hodgdon went down with an ankle injury at the end of the first half, Aguilar moved back to his old position of center for the remainder of the game.
The finale was not just an emotional time for the seniors, but also for the entire team.
"With three minutes left, I went around trying to find everyone ... I wanted to be the first one to say that I appreciate them," junior quarterback Andrew Walter said. "When you can look at a guy in his eyes during the heat of the battle, and he just has a confident look ... and you can just trust him with your blind side. You don't get that anywhere else.
"I would fight for those guys the rest of my life," he added. "That's past football."
Reach the reporter at jeffrey.hoodzow@asu.edu.
