It was the most anticipated game of the year Friday afternoon at Arizona Stadium as the Wildcats took on rival Arizona State in the final game of the season in front of what was just under a sellout crowd. Led by a huge performance on the ground from running back Michael Wiley, Arizona (5-7, 3-6 Pac-12) was able to run all over the Sun Devils and pick up its first win over ASU since 2016.

Arizona State won the coin toss and elected to receive. After putting up an impressive drive, the Wildcats were able to pick up a couple of big tackles for losses forcing the Sun Devils to punt. Wiley was undercenter in Wildcat on Arizona's first offensive play, ripping off a 22-yard run before he later closed the drive out with a 51-yard touchdown run.

The Sun Devils were driving again into Arizona's territory when Tucson native Trenton Bourget threw a pass that was tipped by Treydan Stukes and intercepted by Jaxen Turner for the first of a few turnovers on the afternoon forced by the Wildcats.

Arizona wound up going three-and-out before ASU fumbled the punt return giving the Wildcats the ball right back with great field position. Arizona drove inside the ASU 10-yard line but were forced to settle for a field goal as the previous red zone struggles showed for the Wildcats.

Arizona State responded quickly with a touchdown as Bourget began to pick apart Arizona's secondary. Jayden de Laura and the offense were driving again looking to take back a two score lead, but a tipped pass led to an interception in the end zone to give ASU the ball right back. Bourget was able to lead Arizona State to another long touchdown drive to give the Sun Devils a 14-10 lead going into halftime.

Out of the half, Arizona went back to what was working on the ground and this time it was Jonah Coleman who ripped off a 24-yard run followed by a 9-yard score to put Arizona back in front. The defensive struggles continued as Bourget led the Sun Devils on another long touchdown drive to take the lead right back. Three plays later, Arizona took a 24-21 lead on a big pass to Dorian Singer and two big runs by Wiley.

It was looking like another scoring drive for ASU deep in Arizona's territory, but a fumble was forced on RB Tevin White for the Wildcats third forced turnover of the game. Wiley continued to run all over the Sun Devils defense as two plays later, he ran for a 72-yard touchdown to put Arizona up 31-21.

"I said to him can he go 75 yards," Fisch said. "I said if we hit this, this could be a 75-yard run. Can you handle that? He said, 'Yeah.' I wasn't actually expecting that to happen, but it was a 72-yard run and it was one heck of a run."

Wiley ran for 214 yards and three touchdowns on 11 carries himself, while Arizona ran for 274 yards and five scores as a team while averaging over 12 yards per carry.

"It's not just me out there." - Michael Wiley said crediting the Wildcats offensive line and wide receivers blocking throughout the game.

The lead did not last long for the Wildcats as the back-and-forth game continued with two more touchdown drives for the Sun Devils with a punt in-between to give Arizona State a 35-31 lead early in the final quarter. There were five lead changes in the second half alone.

After a big 30-yard pass to Wiley followed by a couple of penalties on Arizona State, DJ Williams was able to continue the pattern of Arizona running all over the Sun Devils as he was able to find the end zone to give the Wildcats the lead back.

ASU was driving deep into Arizona's territory again with the clock rolling down quickly when Jacob Manu sacked Bourget and forced a fumble which was recovered by Tia Savea to give Arizona the ball up 38-35 with just a few minutes left in the game.

After dominating on the ground all afternoon, Arizona ran four straight times and couldn't pick up a first down to turn the ball over on downs. As ASU looked to drive down the field to tie or take the lead at the last second, Manu got to Bourget again and Isaiah Taylor picked him off for the fifth turnover forced by the Wildcats in the game to seal the win for Arizona.

Manu made the two huge plays late to force the fumble and interception to seal the win for Arizona. Out of the four freshman who joined Arizona this year from Servite high school, Manu was the least recruited out of that group but he made the two biggest impact plays in this year's Territorial Cup to help the Wildcats defeat the Sun Devils.

"T-Mac kept talking about him," Fisch said. "Every time I'd talk to T-Mac and Noah and Keyan, they kept saying we got a linebacker here. I talked to our defensive staff and then I went and watched him play. He made like 10 or 11 tackles, caused a fumble, had an interception and then I just offered him. I offered him that night. We called him up and I got on the phone and said 'Hey you want to be a Wildcat, man?' I said I am trumping our staff on this one. I'm not checking with anyone, I have seen you play and we want you to be a Wildcat. It was awesome that he agreed to it."

de Laura didn't have a huge game, completing 12 of 23 passes for 200 yards and the interception, but he didn't need to have a huge game with how dominant the run game was. Singer led all pass catchers with three catches for 91 yards.

"Whatever coach asks me, I go out there and execute it," de Laura said. "I had a lot of faith in our o-line and our running backs, whoever is in the game to just give them the ball and let them go to work."

Arizona officially doubles its preseason win/loss total of 2.5 wins with a five win season. It was a very successful year two under Fisch with a number of key freshman and younger players playing pivotal roles over the back half of the season who should only improve heading into next year.

"I feel like this win means a lot, especially for the older guys," de Laura said. "And for the young guys, it helps them see that this is how it should be here and this is what is expected. This is a good win going into this offseason is what I first told coach Fisch when we came into the locker room."

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