Take it with a grain of salt or completely buy into it, but only once since 1979 has the Territorial Cup gone to a team with a losing record when the other has a winning record.
That was in 2004, when an 8-2 ASU team went to Tucson to take on a 2-8 UA squad.
In the same time period, the Sun Devils have knocked off the Wildcats just once when they have had a worse record than their rivals.
In 1992, ASU was 5-5 and UA was 6-3-1 and No. 16 in the country when the Sun Devils won a 7-6 game in Tucson.
While history doesn’t favor the Sun Devils, ASU does enter the game after a victory, while UA has dropped three straight contests.
No matter what stats speak in the favor of either team, ASU coach Dennis Erickson thinks they can be tossed aside when it comes down to two rivals squaring off.
“You see a lot of funny games in rivalry games,” Erickson said. “I have been in a lot of funny games when you’re expected to win and you don’t. So many different things happen, and there a lot of emotion involved in rivalry games on TV throughout the season and you never know what is going to happen.”
Unlike the past few seasons, ASU will not close next season against UA, instead California will be the Sun Devils’ final 2011 regular season opponent.
While Erickson acknowledged that he hasn’t thought much about next season’s schedule, it will be strange to close with someone other than the Wildcats.
“I did that at Washington State one year; we played Washington and then went to Japan and played against Cal and it ended up being an awful football game,” Erickson said. “It was pretty awful.”
Hankins approaching milestone
After a strong performance against UCLA, senior punter Trevor Hankins is back on top of the Pac-10 Conference, averaging 46.2 yards per punt.
That leaves Hankins on pace to break the single season yards per punt average record at ASU. The record for punters with 46 or more punts in a season is held by Stephen Baker who averaged 45.7 yards per punt in 1998.
Hankins has 45 punts on the season, so he needs just one punt on Thursday to qualify for the record.
With a strong performance against UA, Hankins could leave ASU with the career punting average record. He currently holds a career average of 44.5 yards per punt, second place all time, just behind Baker’s career record of 44.9 yards per punt.
Notes
ASU’s win over UCLA marked the schools 250th victory at Sun Devil Stadium … Erickson said he expects sophomore defensive tackle Corey Adams to see more playing time on Thursday … Jamal Miles’ kickoff return for a touchdown last Friday helped the Sun Devils establish a new school record with three different kickoff returns for a touchdown in a single season. Three different players have each taken a kick back this season … With his 100-yard receiving day against UCLA, freshman running back Deantre Lewis became the first Sun Devil since George Montgomery in 1993 to have a 100-yard rushing day and a 100-yard receiving day in the same season.
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
