Saturday Storylines: 2022 Territorial Cup win a turning point for Arizona under Jedd Fisch

Five storylines for No. 15 Arizona's afternoon matchup with Arizona State on Saturday afternoon in Tempe to wrap up the regular season.

While Arizona's upset victory over UCLA last season marked a sign of substantial improvement under coach Jedd Fisch, the Wildcats were still without a Territorial Cup win with their new leader.

Behind two critical defensive takeaways in the fourth quarter and UA running back Michael Wiley's 214 yards and three touchdowns, Arizona edged Arizona State in Tucson and snapped a five-game losing streak to the Sun Devils. 

"For us, it was a huge win for the program, to get the cup here in Tucson," said Fisch. "It was the first time I believe the cup was here with (UA president Robert Robbins) and (athletic director Dave Heeke). That was a big deal. None our players had beaten the team up north, so that was big."

The Wildcats are 10-4 in their last 14 games going back to last season. Arizona has won five straight games since its triple-overtime loss to USC and has beaten four ranked opponents in the process, which hasn't happened in a season for the UA since 1989. Arizona is a Top 20 team across college football poll — No. 15 in the College Football Playoff rankings. 

"We won two out of the last three last year, and then we've been able to win six out of the last seven home games, using (the ASU game) as the first one and that one was important as well," Fisch said. "All together, I would say it was a nice momentum push into the offseason, and now we're excited with where we're at now Week 12 of this year.

"There was a lot of emotion" in Arizona's win over ASU "because it was the last game of the year and I felt like we were turning the corner," Fisch said.

"I think my elation at that moment had a lot to do with just feeling like the program was turning, not just the one victory. But it's a super cool moment when you get to hold the rivalry trophy up. That means a lot to the state of Arizona." 

Arizona nickelback and Phoenix-area native Treydan Stukes said, "Getting that cup back was a fantastic feeling and we look forward to keeping it."

Fisch described practice this week as "very animated, very heated and a lot of fun to coach." However, Arizona's coaches have challenged the Wildcats to resist from engaging in jeering or altercations that could lead to ejections; at least one Wildcat was ejected in each of the last three Territorial Cup games. Ejections would lead into half suspensions in the potential Pac-12 championship or the upcoming bowl game. 

"The tradition of this rivalry is powerful. You can't get too high or too low for any game," said Arizona offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll. "You've got to do a fantastic job of respecting the game and respecting the opponent and making sure you don't look overlook something for the emotions of the game. ... There's more to play for this season. This isn't the last game of the year. We have to take that approach and we've gotta be smart about it.

"There will be emotions, there will be tempers, all the things that come with a rivalry game. We just have to be smart about it and let the kids understand we can't let a game like that become a thing. We have to make sure we're really diligent in doing the right things and still playing fast and really hear and still doing all of the tough stuff."

Stukes 'one of the best players' at Arizona

One of Stukes' first college football experiences was in Arizona's infamous 70-7 loss to the Sun Devils during the pandemic-influenced season in 2020. 

"I remember being young. Had no idea if I belonged out there," Stukes said. "We were down to the bottom of the roster, so I had no choice. The game felt significantly faster than high school. I remember feeling a little tippy-toey at the start." 

Then a true freshman, the 6-0, 168-pound Stukes posted a career-high seven tackles at cornerback. Despite a career game for Stukes, the 63-point loss to ASU was "about as low as it could get."

"You never want to lose a rivalry game like that, especially when they were running up the score," he said. "We've come a long way since then, so we just look to the future now."

Stukes was a walk-on at the time. Since then, Stukes and the UA football program have simultaneously grown together. Stukes earned a scholarship entering the 2021 season and changed his jersey number twice from 39 to 20 and now 2. The junior is now 6-2, 195 pounds and moved from cornerback to nickelback in defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen's second season.

In his first season at nickelback, Stukes is among the leaders in Arizona's young secondary and is fifth on the team with 42 tackles. In last week's blowout win over No. 22 Utah, he recorded an interception for the first time since the Mississippi State loss in Tucson last season. Stukes is fourth in the Pac-12 with eight pass breakups and has the second-best defensive grade (77.1) on Arizona, according to Pro Football Focus. 

"He's probably one of the best players on our football team," Fisch said of Stukes. 

"He's an elite practice player. I would say he's probably the best practice player we have or at least one of them. He runs to the ball on every play, controls the huddle," Fisch said. "He makes sure we get lined up properly. He's someone who can play all positions; he can play nickel, he can play corner, he can play safety. He's done a fantastic job for us, and as he continues to grow one more year, he'll be an elite DB in this league. Or the the Big 12 league."

Stukes' rise as a defensive back has been a collaborative effort.  

"I gotta thank the strength staff, because they helped me put on weight, so I wasn't so skinny all the time," Stukes said. "Everyone has helped me grow so much as a player, as a man, and it's helped me get to where I am today." 

TE McLachlan 'a product of the system'

When it's all said and done, Arizona's Tanner McLachlan will end his career as the most statistically productive tight end since Rob Gronkowski; Gronkowski, of course, is a future Pro Football Hall of Famer and considered one of the all-time greats, albeit tight end usage was a rarity in Arizona's previous two coaching regimes.

McLachlan, a 6-5, 245-pound redshirt senior from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, has 69 catches for 896 receiving yards. Both rank second all-time by an Arizona tight end behind "Gronk." This season, the never-afraid-to-hurdle McLachlan is the Wildcats' third-leading receiver behind Tetairoa McMillan and Jacob Cowing. 

"I'm just a product of the system," McLachlan said. "This program, I've just been a product of it. I've trusted in everything they told us and continue to teach us, and I think the success comes from that and doing what I'm told and doing my one-eleventh."

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As an NFL tight end, McLachlan has a "fantastic ceiling," UA offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll said.

"There's more in there, and he's going to keep working to develop in the last couple games here. A guy like that who can stretch the field, make fantastic catches away from his body and create mismatches in the secondary. He's good against safeties, linebackers, he can go against corners.

"One of the most impressive things is you can throw him the ball in the flat and he can gain more yards than what the tackler is going to give him. He's stretching those plays and getting yards after contact, which creates value for the next level. ... I'm really excited to see him continue his football career." 

As for blocking, whether it's pass protection or run-blocking, it's "the thing he's going to emphasize the most this season as he gets ready to go to the next level," Carroll said. PFF has McLachlan with a 56.8 run-blocking grade for this season. 

"A lot of those fancy pass-catchers in the NFL aren't the best blockers, and they'll probably tell you that," Carroll added. "How far he develops is how far he'll take it."

The last two — potentially three — games for McLachlan this season will be the last opportunity for McLachlan to show NFL scouts his well-rounded skill set as a tight end. 

"Just gotta keep working and show that I can do all three phases of it," McLachlan said. "You've gotta be humble and continue to grow and build every day," he said. 

McLachlan is "disappointed I won't be here for the future to see where the program goes, because I know it's going to go into some pretty exciting ways."

"But I'm just trying to enjoy every last little bit." 

Kenny D coaches first Territorial Cup game

Who is Kenny Dillingham, ASU's 32-year-old fiery first-year head coach?

The Scottsdale native attended football powerhouse Chaparral High School and eventually became an assistant under former UA assistant coach Charlie Ragle, then the head coach Charlie Ragle, who's now on Dillingham's staff at ASU. Dillingham elevated to the college ranks and became a quarterbacks and offensive coordinator at Memphis, Auburn, Florida State and Oregon, where he mentored potential Heisman Trophy winner Bo Nix.

Arizona's Jedd Fisch said Dillingham coached under "some of the best coaches I know" such as Dan Lanning, Gus Malzahn and Mike Norvell. 

"He's putting in his culture based upon the experiences he's had with them along with his own beliefs," Fisch said.

Among Dillingham's assistants: Ragle, former UA defensive line coach Vince Amey, running backs coach and former ASU interim head coach Shaun Aguano and tight ends coach Jason Mohns. Ragle (Chaparral), Aguano (Chandler) and Mohns (Saguaro) combined to win 14 Arizona state championships as high school head coaches. Despite ASU's deep in-state connections, the Sun Devils have more players committed from Texas for 2024. Arizona has six in-state players committed for '24, including four-star Chandler Basha quarterback Demond Williams. The Wildcats previously had commitments from Salpointe Catholic edge rushers Keona Wilhite and Elijah Rushing; Wilhite flipped to Washington, and the five-star Rushing to Oregon.      

"We've been able to do a fantastic job of recruiting Arizona, owning the state of Arizona," Fisch said. "I don't think there's any question about that. The best players in Arizona either come to Arizona or they leave Arizona. That's been a good sign moving forward and we'll continue to recruit those areas at the highest level."

Dillingham has three additional UA connections on his support staff, including Arizona's all-time pass-catcher Bobby Wade as an analyst, former running back Pierre Cormier as a special teams analyst, and ex-Wildcats cornerbacks coach DeWayne Walker, who resigned after the '22 season to "pursue other opportunities," as a defensive analyst. Arizona replaced Walker with John Richardson.  

Bourguet's last stand? 

Saturday could be the last time ASU redshirt junior quarterback and Marana native Trenton Bourguet faces the Wildcats for the Sun Devils. 

With a large contingent of his family members and friends wearing mustard-colored shirts in the Zona Zoo behind Arizona's bench last season, Bourguet became the first Tucson-area native to start at quarterback in the Territorial Cup rivalry. 

Marana High School's all-time passing yards leader joined ASU as a walk-on before receiving a scholarship after the 2020 season. He completed 37 of 49 passes (76%) for 376 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions against the Wildcats in last year's rivalry game in Tucson.

"He's really smart," Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen said of Bourguet. "He knows what he's doing with the football.

"He understands the offense, so we have to do a good job of containing him in the pocket and make sure we try to get to him and move him off the spot (like last year)." 

After highly-touted freshman and starter Jaden Rashada suffered a knee injury against Oklahoma State, Bourguet returned to the starting lineup and has taken most of the snaps at quarterback this season. Five different players have started at quarterback this season for ASU. 

Multiple news outlets reported Friday evening that Rashada will start at quarterback for ASU on Saturday. In two games, Rashada leads ASU with three touchdown passes this season.