Rich Rodriguez made his way through the mob, his family by his side, an ear-to-ear smile on his face.
His players ran around the field in elation, their hands over their heads in triumph.
The fans spilled onto the field, their eyes filled with tears.
This is how championships are won.
The Arizona Wildcats capped a 10-2 regular season by topping Arizona State 42-35 Friday afternoon at a bright and sunny Arizona Stadium. The victory, coupled with Stanford’s upset of UCLA, gave Rodriguez’s team the Territorial Cup — and more importantly — the Pac-12 South title.
Improbably, the Wildcats will head to Santa Clara, California, to play the Oregon Ducks in Friday night’s Pac-12 championship game.
Dreams do come true.
“Here we are, where we wanted to be at the beginning of August, playing for a Pac-12 championship,” an exhausted Rodriguez said after the game.
But could anyone really have imagined this nearly five months ago when the Wildcats — thought to be rebuilding — began training camp?
“We talk about it very briefly at the beginning of camp,” Rodriguez said. “Our goal every year is to win the Pac-12 South and then win the Pac-12. We don’t talk a lot after that because you lose your focus. You ask our kids; how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. That’s what we’re doing.
“We’re eating this elephant one bite at a time.”
On Friday, they took out a gigantic slice. Dumbo isn’t this big.
“This is what you live for,” senior free safety Jourdon Grandon said. “This is what everybody dreams of. This is what you play for. If you can’t get hype for this, and you don’t love this, then you shouldn’t be playing.”
Getting hyped wasn’t an issue.
In front of 56,083 fans, the Wildcats (10-2, 7-2) rose to the occasion from the start.
On Arizona State’s first drive, Scooby Wright sacked Taylor Kelly and forced a fumble. Anthony Lopez scooped up the ball and returned it for 25 yards.
Forty-four seconds in, Arizona 7, Arizona State 0, a sold-out Arizona Stadium officially awake.
“We got the energy from (Wright),” senior center Steven Gurrola said. “He set the tone.”
The game eventually settled into a typical UA-ASU back-and-forth affair.
The Sun Devils (9-3, 6-3) got a defensive touchdown of their own when Demetrius Cherry recovered an Anu Solomon fumble and scooted in from 2 yards to tie the game at seven midway through the first quarter.
The two teams then traded passing touchdowns — Arizona struck with a 69-yarder from Solomon to Samajie Grant and Kelly hit Jaelen Strong from 3 yards; 14-14 with 11:54 to play in the first half.
When halftime came around it was 21-21 with 30 minutes left to decide the heated rivalry.
By that time, Stanford was handling UCLA, which was exactly what needed to happen for the Wildcats to win the South.
Rodriguez and his players swear they weren’t paying attention.
“Heck no,” Rodriguez said when asked if he was keeping tabs on the score. “I was just busy yelling at the officials.”
The Wildcats came out in the third quarter and got on the board on their first drive of the half when Nick Wilson scored from 1 yard. About three minutes later, he broke a 72-yard touchdown to make it 35-21.
The tension and nervousness building at Arizona Stadium started to change to anticipation and excitement.
The Sun Devils scored early in the fourth quarter to cut it to 35-28, but after Grandon picked off ASU’s Mike Bercovici, Grant scored again from Solomon, this time from 20 yards.
The Sun Devils scored one final time — a 9-yard pass from Bercovici to De’Marieya Nelson — to cut it to seven, but never got any closer.
The win was clinched when Bercovici — who entered for an ineffective Kelly in the second half — fired an incomplete pass on fourth-and-12 with 1:07 left.
The Bruins had just lost to Stanford 31-10, and the Wildcats — whether they knew it or not — were Pac-12 South champs.
The first two years of the Rodriguez era brought 16 wins and two bowl victories.
Year 3 brought a division championship.
“I don’t know if we pictured it in the third year, but if I didn’t think it could happen, I wouldn’t have came here,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve been fortunate to be in successful programs, and I thought we could get a win here and win big here.
“This is a perfect environment to build the best program in the country, and we can do that here. We’re not there yet, but we’re on our way.”
Grandon, a senior who was recruited out of Phoenix by Mike Stoops’ staff, said the players bought into Rodriguez from the first day. That’s why the Wildcats are one game away from being Pac-12 champions.
“People outside (the program) should be amazed, but we knew what we were going to do before the season,” Grandon said. “We knew we had a great offense; our defense was filled with seniors, and we just knew that we had a shot to make a run at things.”
The win capped a remarkable end to the regular season. The Wildcats won their final four games of the season after a 17-7 loss at UCLA on Nov. 1.
First, it was Colorado, followed by a last-second win over Washington and a thrashing of Utah.
It culminated in a thrilling win over the rival Sun Devils.
The division championship was the most important thing won Friday, but the victory also means Rodriguez, who entered Friday 0-2 against ASU, doesn’t have to be asked about not beating the Sun Devils anymore.
“You know how many times I thought about that this week?” a relieved Rodriguez said as he sat back in his chair.
“You try not to put more pressure on rivalry games, but let’s be honest, there is more.”
On Friday, the Wildcats had no problem handling it.
Wilson ran for 178 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries.
Solomon, who was questionable with an ankle injury, was more than effective, going 15 for 21 for 208 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers.
Grant hauled in four catches for 91 yards, and Wright likely sealed his fate as a first-team All-American with 13 tackles, five tackles-for-loss, two sacks and one forced fumble.
It was a day no one in Tucson will forget.
“It’s a dream come true,” senior tackle Mickey Baucus said. “When I committed here five years ago, I thought we could build something and get to this level, and we have. Now we have a shot to win the Pac-12. It’s incredible.”
