The ASU football team will be staying home for the holidays, and the team couldn't be happier about it.
ASU rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to defeat UA 23-20 Friday afternoon at Sun Devil Stadium, earning the Sun Devils a berth in the Insight Bowl at Chase Field on Dec. 27 against Rutgers.
It marks the first time in ASU coach Dirk Koetter's tenure that his teams have gone to back-to-back bowls.
"Have any of you people been to Phoenix at Christmas time?" Koetter joked after the game. "I'm serious now, it's nice."
The Sun Devils got the sealed invitation after junior place-kicker Jesse Ainsworth booted a game-winning 20-yard field goal with six seconds left in regulation.
The win also takes back the Territorial Cup, which goes to the winner of the ASU-UA rivalry game each year. According to senior wide receiver Derek Hagan, the cup "doesn't really belong down in Tucson."
Momentum began to take a hard shift toward ASU when the Wildcats were in field-goal range and ready to push a 20-12 lead to something more early in the fourth quarter. But on a third and nine, UA freshman quarterback Willie Tuitama was hit hard by ASU junior safety Zach Catanese while releasing the ball, and senior lineman DeWayne Hollyfield came up with the interception.
The hit knocked Tuitama from the contest.
ASU didn't score on the possession, but the inspired defense forced a quick three-and-out by new UA quarterback Richard Kovalcheck.
Junior wide receiver Terry Richardson took the ensuing punt back 71 yards to close the gap to 20-18. Redshirt freshman quarterback Rudy Carpenter's two-point conversion pass to Zach Miller knotted the game at 20.
"Out of the corner of my eye, I saw [UA cornerback B.J. Dennard] stop his feet," Richardson said. "As soon as he stopped his feet, I knew it was on. I ran around him and the blocks were there. The blocks were perfect."
The defense held again, and ASU got the ball back on its own 20-yard line with 4:49 left. Carpenter, who was battling strep throat, then engineered a 13-play, 77-yard drive to set up Ainsworth's field goal.
The Sun Devils had the ball at the 1-yard line, but after one try to punch it in, Koetter called on the field-goal unit.
"I just told the field-goal team to look around," Koetter said. "When you're on the field in a game like this, when there are 70,000 people and there's eight seconds on the clock and they're going to kick a PAT that Jesse's about 1,000-for-1,000 on. And that's for the game-winner?
"How great for those guys to be in that situation. There was never a doubt in my mind that that thing wasn't going through."
Matt Miller began the drive by catching a 26-yard pass to get the ball near midfield. The senior wide receiver had fielded plenty of jeers from UA backers after dropping a pass that sealed the Sun Devils' loss in Tucson last season.
"I had a lot of revenge going in from last year, and all I've got to say to that is, 'How do you like me now?'" Miller said.
The first two-and-a-half quarters weren't nearly as pretty as the ending. The Sun Devils began the game ahead 5-3 on a high-snap that resulted in a safety, but could get nothing going offensively.
Meanwhile, Tuitama and senior running back Mike Bell led the team to a 17-5 halftime lead. The Wildcats extended it to 20-5, but could have had more when Gilbert Harris dropped a sure touchdown pass early in the third quarter.
Then, Bell went out with a leg injury and Tuitama followed on the hit from Catanese.
Senior linebacker Jamar Williams pointed to the sidelining of Tuitama as a big momentum swing in the contest.
"I think it was huge," Williams said. "When we knocked him out, I don't think Kovalcheck was ready to play."
The Wildcats could not get anything going with Kovalcheck at the helm, and ultimately, ASU took advantage.
Reach the reporter at kyle.odegard@asu.edu.
