Editor’s note: This year, UA and ASU football will face off for the 100th time in what has come to be known as the Territorial Cup game. Leading up to that Nov. 28 matchup, which will be played right here in Tucson, we will be republishing the Arizona Daily Star’s coverage of each rivalry game — one a day — going back to their first meeting in 1899. Tune in daily for a blast from the past.
Some important things to keep in mind: This isn’t the 100th anniversary; the upcoming meeting will be the 100th time the teams have gone head-to-head. There were a number of years that they didn’t compete against one another. The Wildcats lead the all-time series vs. the Sun Devils, 52-46-1.
Matchup: Game 47
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Date: Nov. 25, 1973
Where: Tempe
Winner: ASU, 55-19
What was reported at the time:
By TOM FOUST
Star Sports Editor
TEMPE — The potent Arizona State Sun Devils spoiled the University of Arizona’s dream of an undisputed Western Athletic Conference championship and a Fiesta Bowl trip here Saturday night by ripping the Wildcats, 55-19, before a stadium record crowd of 51,383.
The Wildcats, with an 8-3 overall record and 6-1 WAC mark, will share the conference crown with the Sun Devils, who have won it the last four years, but the big prize, the Fiesta Bowl trip, goes to ASU for the third straight year. The Sun Devils will play Pittsburgh Dec. 21 in Sun Devil Stadium.
The Devils were awesome against the Cats. The 55 points were the most scored against an Arizona team since 1958 and the most ASU has gotten against the Wildcats since 1951, when they won 61-14.
Senior quarterback Danny White passed for 333 yards and four touchdowns, while Woody Green rushed for 192 and Ben Malone for 147.
Three of White's TD tosses went to Morris Owens, who caught seven passes for 128 yards, giving him a record 1,077 yards receiving on the season.
White set six national records Saturday night. His touchdown passes set a major college career record for TD responsibility. During his three years as starting quarterback for the Devils, he was credited with 73 touchdowns, surpassing the old mark by two.
White also set five other NCAA season and career records. He finished the season averaging 8.8 yards per play and 9.9 yards per attempted pass. For his career, he averaged 8.1 yards per play, 9.1 yards per attempted pass, and 17.1 yards per completed pass.
The Devils amassed 701 yards total offense against 418 for the Wildcats, who had their best season offensively in 20 years.
An obviously disappointed, but not dejected Jim Young, the winningest rookie coach in UA history, summed up the game very simply.
"We got beat by a very fine football team," Young said. "They have as fine an offense as you can find anywhere and those three backs are as good as you can find. They soundly beat us."
Young said that he was willing to give the Devils some of the running yards, but "we couldn't cut off that play action pass."
The Wildcats hung with the Devils in the first half, trailing only 28-19 at halftime, but despite an excellent passing performance by Bruce Hill, they couldn't get on the board in the second half.
Jim Upchurch, who had 85 yards but lost the WAC running title to Green, broke away on a 45-yard touchdown run on the fifth play of the third quarter, but the tally was called because of a motion penalty. Young said that was the turning point of the game.
Hill completed 19 of 44 passes for 298 yards and one touchdown. "T" Bell caught six of them for 119 yards, while senior Mark Neal had four catches for 101 yards.
With the game just over five minutes old, the Sun Devils held a 10-0 lead after a 79-yard touchdown drive and a field goal by Danny Kush following a blocked UA punt.
It took the Devils just nine plays to score after receiving the opening kickoff. White completed four passes without a miss in the drive, three of them to his split end, Hudson, and Green ripped off a 16-yard run to the Wildcat 31.
The touchdown came on a 16-yard pass from White to Hudson. Leon Lawrence tipped the ball, but Hudson grabbed it just before falling out of the corner of the end zone. Kush kicked the point with 11:05 left in the first quarter.
Starting from their own 20, the Wildcats were unable to move, and linebacker Bob Breunig roared through to block Mitch Hoopes' punt. Neal Skarin recovered on the UA 9 and after a two-yard gain by Green and two incomplete White passes, Kush kicked a 24-yard field goal. There was 9:56 left in the quarter.
The Wildcats came right back with an eight-play, 69-yard scoring drive. Most of the yardage came on a 38-yard pass from Hill to Neal after a beautiful fake by Hill, who a couple of plays earlier had gone 14 yards up the middle on a keeper. The pass play carried to the ASU two, where Upchurch plunged over with 7:02 left in the half. Charlie Gorham missed the extra point try.
Arizona got a break when Green fumbled at the end of a nice gain on a screen pass. Rex Naumetz recovered for the Wildcats on the UA 49. Hill hit Tom Campbell and "T" Bell with passes good for 13 and 14 yards, but Hamilton fumbled a bad handoff, and Larry Shorty recovered for ASU on the Devil 20.
That started ASU off on an 80-yard drive, which Green spearheaded with runs of 18 and 29 yards. White passed eight yards to Owens for the score, and Kush's extra point kick was wide. With 15 seconds left in the first quarter, the score was 16-6.
The next time ASU fumbled, the Wildcats turned it into a touchdown. Glen Gresham recovered Malone's bobble on the ASU 39. Two passes from Hill to Bell moved the ball to inside the five, and Upchurch cracked over from the one with 11:26 left in the half.
Malone put the Devils in scoring position again with a 44-yard sprint to the UA 25, but clipping moved the ball back to the 40. White passed to Hudson 13 yards to the 19, and Malone rushed to the 14. After Green lost a yard, Vince Phason knocked a sure touchdown pass away from Hudson, but on the next play White found Owens in the end zone with a perfect scoring pass.
It was White's third touchdown pass of the game and the 72nd he has been responsible for in his career, a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. record.
After Bell returned the kickoff 24 yards to the UA 33, Hill got the Wildcats moving again with a 35-yard pass play to Bell. He hit Bell again with a 10-yarder to the ASU 14, but the Wildcats were pushed back on the next play by a clipping penalty. They got it back, however, and then some when the Devils were called for pass interference on two plays in a row to give the UA the ball on the Devil four. Hill called the double-reverse pass and hit Hamilton in the end zone. Gorham missed his second PAT of the evening, and the score was 22-19 with 1:54 left in the half.
The explosive Devils got the points back immediately on a 28-yard screen pass from White to Green and a 58-yard TD bomb from White to Owens. Bill Adamson caught White trying to pass for the two-point conversion, and it was ASU 28, UA 19 with 1:16 left in the half.
Both Hill and White had 245 yards passing in the first half, Hill on 15 completions in 26 attempts and White on 14 of 21. With Green running for 106 and Malone for 85, the Devils had 191 yards rushing to just 74 for the Wildcats. Upchurch had 39 of them.
Both Bell and Owens went over 100 yards in receiving in the first half, Bell with five catches for 105 and Owens with five for 115 and three touchdowns.
Upchurch broke away on a 45-yard touchdown run on the fifth play of the second half, but a motion penalty against the Wildcats killed it.
The next time the Wildcats got the ball, a Hill pass which was caught nicely by Dan Howard in traffic popped out of Howard's hands and Breunig snagged it before it touched the ground at the UA 39. Six plays later, Green exploded up the middle for 11 yards and the score. The two-point conversion attempt failed, and the Devils led, 34-19, with 8:33 left in the third period.
The Sun Devils drove 83 yards in 15 plays for their next tally. The drive was kept alive by key passes from White to Hudson and tight end Dave Grannell. Owens made the touchdown on a six-yard reverse with 1:38 left in the third period. Kush's kick made the score 41-19.
A 36-yard punt return by Bell to the ASU 48 on the last play of the third quarter gave the Wildcats good field position and they started driving for a score. The Devils put an end to it, however, when Campbell fumbled the ball after taking a pass from Hill, and Alex Stencel recovered on the Devil 3.
The Sun Devils made it 55-19 with 2:29 when Bell bobbled the ball after signaling for a fair catch and Hudson pounced on it after it bounded into the end zone.
Climb into the Arizona Daily Star’s time machine as we revisit every Territorial Cup matchup between U of A and ASU football ahead of the Nov.…
