Nick Foles doesn't feel like rehashing his one-time affiliation with Arizona State.
"I'm an Arizona Wildcat," he said, "and that's all that matters."
Maybe.
But given the quarterback's history with the Sun Devils, perhaps no player in today's Territorial Cup rivalry has more perspective.
Foles verbally committed to ASU as a senior at Westlake High School (Austin, Texas) with hopes of becoming the Sun Devils' next great downfield passer. But ASU's offensive identity changed when coach Dirk Koetter was fired - and Dennis Erickson hired - after the 2006 season.
While Foles' scholarship offer remained intact, the quarterback's comfort level with ASU became shaky. Erickson landed verbal commitments from Chasen Stangel and Samson Szakacsy, giving the Sun Devils three quarterbacks in their 2007 recruiting class.
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Most programs typically sign one.
"We tried to pursue him, and he had a scholarship offer from us," Erickson said. "We ended up signing or committing three quarterbacks in that class, and he decided he didn't want to come here."
Foles would only say that Arizona State was no longer a match with Erickson as coach. Foles signed with Michigan State in February 2007; he then transferred to the UA before the start of the 2008 school year.
"Nothing against (Erickson), but I thought it was the best fit for me and my family to go somewhere else," he said.
Foles has been a revelation as a Wildcat, throwing for 2,033 yards in nine games (seven starts). With Foles under center, the Wildcats have a chance to post their best regular-season mark in 11 seasons. The UA (6-4 overall, 4-3 Pac-10) can finish as high as second place in the conference or as low as seventh depending on how it finishes the season. Arizona will take on USC next week.
Arizona State's two signees, meanwhile, have had mixed success in Tempe. Stangel began his career fourth on the depth chart, and eventually transferred to Northern Arizona. Szakacsy is expected make his second career start for the Sun Devils today.
Motivation won't be an issue for any player,regardless of position.
"You're always going to get both teams' best games," Foles said. "It's exciting."
THE LAST TIME
Electrifying punt return by Thomas in second half spurs UA past Sun Devils
Date: Dec. 6, 2008
What went down: The Arizona Wildcats overcame a three-point halftime deficit to rout Arizona State 31-10, the largest UA victory in a Territorial Cup game since 1964. The win earned Arizona a berth in the Las Vegas Bowl, its first postseason appearance since 1998.
How it read: The Star's Greg Hansen said the rout was one of the most gratifying moments in a decade marked by frustration. Wrote Hansen:
"Beating a bad Sun Devil squad on Saturday was harder than it should have been, but that's the way football has been at Arizona. Nothing has come without a heavy price in the years since Dick Tomey was asked to leave. Perhaps UA fans will appreciate a 7-5 record far more than they did in the 1980s and 1990s when 7-5 was viewed as a minimum achievement.
Now it prompts a celebration."
Turning point: Mike Thomas broke the game open with a 52-yard punt return late in the third quarter for a touchdown.
Stats that matter: Thomas caught a team-high nine passes for 75 yards, and tailback Nicolas Grigsby gained 114 yards on 22 carries. Quarterback Willie Tuitama was brilliant, connecting on 25 of 37 passes for 284 yards in his first-ever win over Arizona State.
It's history: Arizona went to a bowl game, while ASU did not.
THE BIG PICTURE
Winner of football game provides insurance in Territorial Cup Series
The Arizona and Arizona State football teams have even more to play for this year.
The State Farm Territorial Cup Series will reward the school that wins the most rivalry games in 18 Division I-sponsored sports with a $20,000 check for its scholarship fund.
The winning school will also receive a Territorial Cup Series Trophy made by the same company (Reed & Barton) that fashioned the original cup in 1899.
The series stands at 2-2 heading into today's game, with Arizona's women's soccer and volleyball teams and Arizona State's two cross country teams scoring points.
Here's how the Territorial Cup Series breaks down:
• Each sport is worth one point.
• In sports in which there are two games played per year (like basketball), a split is worth one-half a point to each school. Postseason meetings serve as tiebreakers.
• In sports in which there are three games played per year (like baseball), the team that wins the series takes the point.
• Winners in swimming, diving, cross country, golf and track and field will be determined by which team finishes higher in the Pac-10 championships.
• An overall tie will be settled by the higher finish in the Director's Cup Standings and which team wins in football.
"BEAR DOWN, ARIZONA" IN JAZZ?
UA's fight song is available to download in many forms
Looking for a way to annoy the Arizona State fan in your life? The UA has you covered.
The University of Arizona has created 10 riffs of "Bear Down, Arizona" guaranteed to bug just about anybody wearing maroon and gold.
Fans can download Caribbean, Dixieland, smooth jazz, symphonic and aria versions of the fight song at http://www.arizona.edu/home/bear-down.php. For traditionalists, there's even the standard and choral version of the song.
"Bear Down, Arizona" was written by Jack K. Lee in 1952. Lee wrote the song on a plane as he flew home after interviewing for the UA's vacant band director's job. Upon seeing "Bear Down" written on top of the roof of the UA gymnasium, Lee began working on an up-tempo counterpoint to the original fight song, "Fight! Wildcats! Fight!"
RESEARCHER STUDIES RIVALRIES
Home-field advantage is not that big a deal
Arizona State will have home-field advantage in today's rivalry game, but it's not as big as you'd think.
John Kros, an operations researcher at East Carolina University, has determined that home-field advantages in rivalry games are worth around 2.3 points.
According to the Inside Science News Service, Kros' research focused on more than 100 rivalries, including the battle for the Territorial Cup, dating at least 30 years.
Kros calculated the average margin of victory over all games hosted by the home team; games played at neutral sites were not considered.
The home team tended to have roughly a 2.3-points-per-game edge. Kros found a similar result when calculating the median, instead of the average for each game.
"Something's showing up, I can tell you that," Kros told Inside Science. "It's definitively different from zero."
HE SAID IT
"Just because I'm here at the University of Arizona, I have to hate ASU. From the colors to the mascot, from the head coach to the players and how they conduct themselves, everything. I don't like 'em, basically. Look at the way they play the game … they're the most-penalized team in the Pac-10. That's not how you want to represent your team. And, they steal recruits from us."
UA wide receiver Terrell Turner, on the Territorial Cup rivalry
BREAKING A VOW
Cats special-teams players take pride in Vargas' punt-return block
The Arizona Wildcats vowed not to watch film of last week's 44-41, double-overtime loss to then-No. 11 Oregon.
But the UA special-teamers broke the edict; they just had to see Orlando Vargas' block one more time.
"Yeah, we watched it," Vargas said sheepishly. "We heard the crowd react and everything."
Vargas crushed the Ducks' Garrett Embry to spring Bug Wright's third-quarter punt return. The 19-yard dash moved Arizona to Oregon's 31-yard line; the Wildcats took their first lead of the game four plays later.
Vargas called it "a good hit."
"I saw him running after Bug," he said. "I saw the guy turn his shoulders, and I just let it loose. I leveled ... him."
Arizona's coaches expect nothing less. For the second straight season, Vargas is part of the kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return and "hands" teams.
The Winslow native refers to himself as a "special-teams guru."
As for the block?
Said Vargas: "That's what I do."
INJURY UPDATE
ASU strong at linebacker, weak in defensive backfield
Arizona State might have the best set of linebackers in the conference, if not one of the best in the country.
Mike Nixon, Vontaze Burfict and Travis Goethel lead the team in tackles, in that order. Brandon Magee, a backup, has two sacks and one interception.
Most teams would probably remove a linebacker to play a nickel package - with an extra defensive back - when the Wildcats play three or four wide receivers.
But because of injuries, ASU doesn't have that option.
"We only have three corners," ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. "That kinda creates a problem or two with us. We have to do what we can do with the personnel we have."
With Omar Bolden and Deveron Carr out, cornerbacks Pierre Singfield and Terell Carr will start.
