With all the trials and tribulations of ASU football's season, the players and coaches focused all week on how much a win Saturday would help them see the 2015 season as a success.
The Sun Devils (6-5, 4-4 Pac-12) rode two late-game interception returns for touchdowns to a 52-37 win over rival Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium, recapturing the Territorial Cup and reaching bowl eligibility.
Redshirt senior quarterback Mike Bercovici summed up the feeling amongst the team and its fans in one brief clause.
"It's fun to be a Sun Devil right now."
Early on, it seemed as though that feeling would last all 60 minutes, as Bercovici led ASU to four first half touchdown drives, intermingled with a pick-six by Arizona sophomore cornerback Cam Denson, giving the Sun Devils a big halftime lead and momentum.
A lot of those yards and points came as a result of the play of redshirt senior wide receiver Devin Lucien, a graduate transfer before the season, who caught eight balls for 183 yards and a score, earning him the Bob Moran Territorial Cup MVP Award.
Then, the Sun Devils began to see their lead slip away.
In the third quarter, ASU's best by point differential this season, the Wildcats began to creep back into the game. Arizona motored down the field behind the legs and arm of redshirt freshman quarterback Brandon Dawkins, scoring 13 unanswered points, capped off by a 95-yard catch and run by redshirt junior wide receiver Trey Griffey to make the score 31-23.
In similar situations this season, ASU has crumbled late, allowing teams such as Oregon, Utah and Washington State to craft come-from-behind wins. Saturday, however, the Sun Devils strapped in and buckled down for the finish.
On the ensuing drive following Griffey's score, ASU faced a fourth-and-one on the Wildcat 48. Graham was split on whether to go for it and keep the drive alive or rely on his defense and punt the ball away.
"In the huddle I told them you better dang sure make this thing," Graham said. "Because at first I went, get the punt team, no, don't get the punt team. Call timeout. Get the punt team, no. And then (coach Shawn) Slocum said, 'Coach, the rules say punt it. We're playing good on defense, punt it.' And then (redhsirt senior guard) Vi (Teofilo) didn't say much and those guys and (senior center) Nick (Kelly) said, 'Hey, run the ball. We'll get it.' I said, 'You guys better make it.'"
They did, as Bercovici ran around right end for 10 yards, keeping the ball in ASU's possession. The drive finished off four plays later, when senior wide receiver DJ Foster powered the ball in from a yard away to put ASU back up two scores.
After an Arizona touchdown and a Sun Devil punt, Dawkins had a chance to tie the game up with a drive starting from his own six-yard line. On third down from deep in his own territory, the young quarterback did the one thing he couldn't do: turn the ball over.
Freshman safety Kareem Orr, who had been limited in practice all week due to an "upper-leg injury" intercepted the pass and returned it 21 yards for the touchdown, swinging all the momentum back to the home sideline.
On the next, Arizona possession, redshirt senior cornerback Lloyd Carrington registered his first interception of the season and taking it into the end zone, as well, kicking off the celebration that will ring until these two teams face off again in Tucson next season.
Despite the close losses and missed opportunities ASU had in the 10 games leading up to Saturday, the Sun Devils kept one promise in mind and delivered on it: winning this game and taking the Territorial Cup back to Tempe.
"It's home," Bercovici said. "It's home where it belongs."
While Bercovici is focused on the task at hand with two games remaining, he also took time to be retrospective on his games against the Wildcats and look to the future of this storied rivalry.
"Coach says that you're remembered by the games you play against the team down south and fortunately for the guys that have been here since 2011, we're 3-2, " Bercovici said. "I can promise you whether this senior group is on the field or not next year, we're going to do whatever we can to help beat them again."
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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