This will be just the third time the Territorial Cup features two ranked teams since No. 20 ASU and No. 25 Arizona first joined the Pac-10 in 1978.
It’s also the first matchup where both teams have winning records entering the game since 2017, but that matchup included 13 combined wins going in while this one will include 16, eight apiece.
So with both teams having success this year, where does each team have the edge in what’s expected to be a hotly contested matchup?
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Territorial Cup matchup preview for ASU-Arizona
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This one would be a lot tougher to judge if ASU had starting quarterback Sam Leavitt but since it does not, Arizona gets the nod with a program record holder in Noah Fifita (69 career passing touchdowns and counting).
After a down 2024 in the first year with head coach Brent Brennan, Fifita has returned to 2023 form with a 25-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio, completing 64.4% of his passes. He’s got two games of at least 300 yards as well as two with at least four touchdown passes.
ASU’s Jeff Sims has had one quarter as an efficient passer, when he was 11 of 17 for 159 yards and three touchdowns to three different receivers in the second quarter against West Virginia. He is otherwise 50-for-97 (51.5%) with 555 yards and three touchdowns in his four starts on the year.
The turnover bug that bit the veteran for much of his career has returned with two interceptions and three fumbles lost in his last three games after he had no turnovers in his first 200-plus snaps as a Sun Devil.
Sims has the edge over Fifita as a runner, more than doubling his rushing total on the season (125 yards) in just three starts (321).
Rushing attacks — ASU
Raleek Brown gives the Sun Devils the advantage here as a top-5 rusher in Power Four with 1,078 yards, averaging 6.2 yards a pop. He’s a threat to break long ones on any run, like the 88-yard touchdown he had at Colorado.
Ismail Mahdi is no slouch for Arizona at 732 yards on 6.8 yards per carry, ranking ninth in the Big 12 behind Brown’s second. Kedrick Reescano has been the thunder to Mahdi’s lightning with four touchdowns over 26 carries in his last two games.
The run rate simply isn’t as high because Arizona has such a successful passing game to rely on, so it lags behind ASU’s 197.5 yards per game as a team (156.1).
Rush defense — ASU
The Sun Devils led the Big 12 in this category last season (112.9 yards per game allowed) and are close to the same production in 2025 (119.3) albeit in second this time around (Texas Tech at 71.8).
That’s largely because of their defensive front led by linebackers Keyshaun Elliott and Jordan Crook, the leading tacklers on the team at 89 and 81, respectively. They’ve combined for 21 tackles for loss, and Elliott leads the team with seven sacks.
Defensive linemen C.J. Fite, Clayton Smith and Elijah O’Neal each have 6.5 tackles for loss, while Prince Dorbah paces the position group with 7.5 despite playing two fewer games than the other three.
Arizona has allowed 30.5 more yards per game on the ground, led by interior defensive lineman Deshawn McKnight and his 11 tackles for loss. Three others have at least seven between linebackers Taye Brown (8.5), Chase Kennedy (eight) and Riley Wilson (seven).
Arizona has allowed at least 170 rushing yards in five of its last six games, having let through eight touchdowns in those five games. ASU, meanwhile, has given up more than 150 rushing yards just twice all year, in losses to Utah (276) and Houston (183).
Pass defense — Arizona
The Wildcat defense picked off quarterbacks seven times this season before they allowed a passing touchdown, and its 159.7 yards allowed per game ranks top-5 in Power Four.
Iowa State’s Rocco Becht is the only quarterback who’s had at least 200 yards with 60% passing or better, as he finished with 288 yards on 15 of 22 (68.2%). He didn’t throw for any touchdowns, but he rushed for three.
The only other time all season Arizona gave up 200 passing yards was the 223 yards it allowed to Hawaii on 55.3% in a 40-6 win.
ASU would be unwise to test the group that includes defensive backs Jay’Vion Cole (four interceptions to lead the Big 12), Treydan Stukes (three) and Dalton Johnson (three). That’s without including Ayden Garnes, Genesis Smith and Michael Dansby, who have 22 passes defensed combined.
The Sun Devils aren’t lacking in difference-making defensive backs, such as potential NFL draft pick Keith Abney II, who has two interceptions and 11 passes defensed.
But ASU isn’t close in yards allowed per pass attempt, where Arizona ranks second in Power Four (5.4, behind only Ohio State’s 5.1). ASU ranks 27th among Power Four teams at 6.7 yards allowed per attempt.
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