Arizona Wildcats win Territorial Cup series over ASU in final year as Pac-12 opponents

In the final year as Pac-12 foes, the Arizona Wildcats edged the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Territorial Cup series, which tracks the rivals’ results against each other in sporting events.

Arizona edged ASU 12-10 in the series for the 2023-24 sports calendar — the second straight Territorial Cup series for the Wildcats and the last one of the Pac-12 era, with both teams leaving for the Big 12 this summer.

Arizona’s sixth-place finish at the Pac-12 Track and Field Championships moved the Wildcats ahead of the Sun Devils.

Since the Territorial Cup series was created for the 2009-10 season, Arizona has won it nine times to ASU’s six.

This season, Arizona earned its points with wins over ASU in football, men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s tennis, women’s golf, softball, men’s and women’s track and field, and the Wildcats split points in baseball and women’s indoor track and field.

Arizona football took down ASU 59-23 in Tempe to secure the actual Territorial Cup for the second straight year in November. The 36-point win for the Wildcats is the largest margin of victory in Tempe, passing a record that was originally set in 1953. Arizona’s 59 points are also the most it has scored in a Territorial Cup game since 1946.

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Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, who was named the Bob Moran MVP for the rivalry game, set a program record with 527 passing yards to go along with a 73% completion rate and five touchdowns. Fifita’s yards are also a Territorial Cup record for both schools. Arizona star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan had 11 catches on 15 targets for a career-high and Territorial Cup record 266 yards and a touchdown.

The win over ASU put the Wildcats ahead 23-22-1 in the head-to-head football series in the Pac-10/12 era. Arizona swept ASU in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball for the first time since 1998-99. Arizona’s 105-60 win over ASU at McKale Center in men’s basketball is the largest margin of victory in the series.

In the UA-ASU softball series at Rita Hillenbrand Stadium last month, Tucson native and senior Carlie Scupin hit a two-run single to walk off the Sun Devils on Senior Day, the last Pac-12 softball game in Tucson. Scupin’s Senior Day heroics came two days after right fielder Kaiah Altmeyer hit a walk-off home run over the Sun Devils.

The 2024-25 Territorial Cup series will mark the first time Arizona and ASU face each other as non-Pac-12 opponents since 1977 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).