It’s officially rivalry week in Arizona.
Both ASU and UA’s fan bases have already defaced one another’s property on campus and a blue banner reading “Beat Cats” hangs above the weight room at the Ed and Nadine Carson Student-Athlete Center.
Even after ASU football came up with a big road win at UCLA to clinch the Pac-12 South title, the Sun Devils’ game on Saturday against rival UA is perhaps the biggest regular season matchup of the year for coach Todd Graham. The second-year head coach spent much of his weekly press conference on Monday discussing the Territorial Cup rivalry.
“There’s nothing that I like better about college football than rivalry games,” Graham said. “To be part of the oldest one in history is pretty special.”
Graham called himself a college football historian. When he first arrived on campus, he spoke with former players, boosters and fans about what the rivalry means to the Sun Devil community.
“No question about it, the most important thing to our fan base every year is winning this game,” Graham said. “You can add things to it, but you need no motivation to get ready for this one.”
The players didn’t need any extra motivation either. Every week, Graham reiterates that the team focuses on the current opponent with little to no outlook on later games in the schedule.
“This team is very mature,” Graham said. “They know exactly what they’re playing for. They know exactly the significance of this game. We’re very focused that we have two steps left to our goal, and this is to be Pac-12 Champions.”
With a lot more stakes heading into this game, several storylines are surrounding the 87th Territorial Cup matchup — including the fact that the road team has won the last four games.
That doesn't matter to Graham, though.
“I don’t worry about all that stuff,” he said. “I don’t think what happened last year has anything to do with this year. People have a whole bunch of time in their hands to spend analyzing stuff. We don’t overanalyze it. We talk to our guys and evaluate them.”
Graham greets fans with doughnuts
With a greater demand for tickets to Saturday’s game, there was a longer than usual line of fans at the Sun Devil Stadium box office on Monday morning.
Senior associate athletic director of football Tim Cassidy decided to order doughnuts and hand them out to fans. Graham joined him and chatted with the ASU faithful about Saturday’s game.
When ASU arrived in Tempe after beating UCLA on Saturday night, approximately 100 fans were waiting for the team buses and congratulated the players as they unloaded at Wells Fargo Arena.
“Our guys really respond to that,” Graham said. “We had some really good atmospheres out here, so it was just kind of a good-willed gesture on my part to tell them how much I appreciate them. I love being involved. It’s supposed to be fun.”
According to ASU, less than 2,500 tickets remain for Saturday’s game as of Monday at noon.
Additional notes
– Graham called UA redshirt junior Ka’Deem Carey the best running back in the nation. When asked about ASU redshirt senior defensive tackle Will Sutton, Graham praised him and called him “the best defensive lineman I have ever coached, hands down.”
– Senior linebacker Chris Young was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. He recorded 13 tackles and three sacks, including several big stops on UCLA’s last drive in ASU’s win.
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
