Friday is the first time Arizona and Arizona State have met as ranked teams to play for the Territorial Cup since 1986. It's the first time the Wildcats and Sun Devils have met with nine wins apiece since 1975. Two top-15 ranked teams clash in the 2014 Duel in the Desert with a Pac-12 Championship on the line, so long as the Stanford Cardinal knock off the top-10 UCLA Bruins at around the same time.
Easy enough.
No pressure or anything.
Rich Rodriguez and Todd Graham have done more than build their teams into the national conversation in less than three years on the job -- they've built two football programs to that point at the same time. For teams in locales that have admittedly been subjected to the fair weather fan treatment in their more recent histories, that's impressive.
There's not much fair weather about the rivalry, which is why this game is oh-so-important. This isn't Nick Foles' last team digging into the Sun Devils under Tim Kish in 2011. This is a fat Arizona squad coming off a healthy beating of the Utah Utes that is looking to avoid last year's fate, when it put together a disappointing effort in a 58-21 loss that could have pushed the Wildcats to an eight-win regular season.
So is there urgency? Rodriguez, after all, hasn't beaten his former assistant, Graham, in the first two seasons of his Arizona tenure. Nine wins is nice, but 10 gets that monkey off Rodriguez's back, all while giving the Wildcats one of their best regular overall seasons, ever.
Time
1:30 p.m. MST
TV
FOX
Odds
Arizona opened as 2.5-point favorites, according to OddsShark.com.
Reading material
- Three keys for the Wildcats, to the very Arizona tunes of Jimmy Eat World.
- Anu Solomon is questionable, and it's unclear if the Wildcats will roll with him or go to Jesse Scroggins at quarterback.
- The Wildcats will be wearing all red against the Sun Devils.
- ESPN's Pac-12 Blog has a must-read feature on the paths of Rich Rodriguez and Todd Graham. They probably don't like one another much. They also have another fun read on the Territorial Cup.
- Speaking of the Territorial Cup, SB Nation ranked it as the ninth-coolest rivalry trophy. Hooray respect!
- Have you heard science? It say the Duel in the Desert is the most intense rivalry in all of college football
- You want a pod? We got a pod to preview the ASU-Arizona game. And elsewhere in podcats, ASU blog House of Sparky (our ASU counterparts at SB Nation) caught up with Greg Byrne in their podcastthis week as well as ArizonaSports.com and Arizona alum Adam Green.
College football schedule
Thu, Nov 27, 2014 | ||||
7:30 PM ET ESPN |
LSU | at | Texas A&M | |
7:30 PM ET FS1 |
(5) TCU | at | Texas | |
Fri, Nov 28, 2014 | ||||
11:00 AM ET ESPNU |
Northern Illinois | at | Western Michigan | |
12:00 PM ET CBSS |
Houston | at | SMU | |
12:00 PM ET ABC |
Nebraska | at | Iowa | |
12:00 PM ET FS1 |
Western Kentucky | at | (24) Marshall | |
12:00 PM ET ESPN2 |
UCF | at | South Florida | |
1:00 PM ET ESPN3 |
Toledo | at | Eastern Michigan | |
1:00 PM ET ESPN3 |
Ball State | at | Bowling Green | |
1:00 PM ET ESPN3 |
Buffalo | at | Massachusetts | |
1:00 PM ET ESPN3 |
Akron | at | Kent State | |
2:30 PM ET CBS |
Arkansas | at | (17) Missouri | |
3:00 PM ET ESPN3 |
Navy | at | South Alabama | |
3:30 PM ET ABC |
Stanford | at | (8) UCLA | |
3:30 PM ET CBSS |
Colorado State | at | Air Force | |
3:30 PM ET FOX |
(13) Arizona State | at | (11) Arizona | |
8:00 PM ET ESPN |
Virginia | at | Virginia Tech | |
8:30 PM ET ESPNU |
East Carolina | at | Tulsa | |
Sat, Nov 29, 2014 | ||||
12:00 PM ET SECN |
(16) Georgia Tech | at | (9) Georgia | |
12:00 PM ET ESPN2 |
Kentucky | at | (22) Louisville | |
12:00 PM ET ESPNU |
Illinois | at | Northwestern | |
12:00 PM ET ABC |
Michigan | at | (6) Ohio State | |
12:00 PM ET FSN |
North Texas | at | Texas-San Antonio | |
12:00 PM ET BTN |
Purdue | at | Indiana | |
12:00 PM ET CBSS |
Rice | at | Louisiana Tech | |
12:00 PM ET ESPN |
South Carolina | at | (21) Clemson | |
12:00 PM ET FS1 |
West Virginia | at | Iowa State | |
12:00 PM ET ESPNN |
Cincinnati | at | Temple | |
1:00 PM ET PAC12 |
(25) Utah | at | Colorado | |
12:30 PM ET ESPN3 |
NC State | at | North Carolina | |
12:30 PM ET ESPN3 |
Syracuse | at | Boston College | |
12:30 PM ET ESPN3 |
Louisiana-Lafayette | at | Troy | |
2:00 PM ET ESPN3 |
Texas State | at | Georgia State | |
2:00 PM ET ESPN3 |
Idaho | at | Appalachian State | |
2:00 PM ET ESPN3 |
New Mexico State | at | Arkansas State | |
3:30 PM ET FOX |
Notre Dame | at | USC | |
3:30 PM ET ABC/ESPN2 |
(7) Baylor | vs. (Arlington) |
Texas Tech | |
3:30 PM ET ESPN |
Florida | at | (3) Florida State | |
3:30 PM ET ABC/ESPN2 |
(10) Michigan State | at | Penn State | |
3:30 PM ET BTN |
(18) Minnesota | at | (14) Wisconsin | |
3:30 PM ET CBS |
(4) Mississippi State | at | (19) Mississippi | |
3:30 PM ET ESPNU |
Rutgers | at | Maryland | |
3:30 PM ET CBSS |
San Jose State | at | San Diego State | |
4:00 PM ET FS1 |
Kansas | at | (12) Kansas State | |
4:00 PM ET SECN |
Tennessee | at | Vanderbilt | |
4:00 PM ET ESPNN |
Connecticut | at | Memphis | |
4:30 PM ET PAC12 |
BYU | at | Cal | |
6:00 PM ET ESPN3 |
Louisiana-Monroe | at | Georgia Southern | |
7:00 PM ET ESPNU |
Wake Forest | at | Duke | |
7:00 PM ET ESPN2 |
Pittsburgh | at | Miami (FL) | |
7:45 PM ET ESPN |
(15) Auburn | at | (1) Alabama | |
8:00 PM ET ABC |
(2) Oregon | at | Oregon State | |
10:15 PM ET ESPN2 |
Utah State | at | (23) Boise State | |
10:30 PM ET FS1 |
Washington | at | Washington State | |
10:30 PM ET ESPNU |
Nevada | at | UNLV |