RECAP: Arizona embarrassed by rival ASU, 70-7, in Territorial Cup Game

By the end of the night Friday Arizona reached its low point in a season of low points. The Wildcats went down 14 points within the first minute of their game against in-state rival Arizona State and never recovered.

The Sun Devils continued to pile on the points in what ended up as a lopsided 70-7 victory over UA.

Kevin Sumlin's team looked overmatched and not up to the task Friday as his group had few answers for ASU. Many of Arizona's issues in the rivalry game were self-inflicted as the Wildcats had seven turnovers in the loss.

The Arizona head coach remains winless in the series through the three seasons and the loss also moved the Wildcats' current losing streak to 12 games, which extends the longest streak in program history.

"The turnovers gave them the ball on short fields and we dug a hole early in the game," Sumlin said. " ... No matter what your emotional level is you turn the ball over like that, particularly early in the game with shot fields, it's not a good recipe."

There wasn't a lot that went right for UA in the game as it took until late in the second quarter for the Wildcats to get on the scoreboard with a 20-yard rush from sophomore running back Michael Wiley.

Outside of that there were a lot of mistakes for the Wildcats in what ended up as a record-setting loss. The 70 points surrendered to the Sun Devils is the most allowed by either team in the 94 meetings between the longtime rivals. That is also the most amount of points the Wildcats have given up overall since 1949.

By the time Arizona was able to score its first touchdown the Sun Devils had already put up 42 points on the scoreboard including the first score of the game that came on a 100-yard kickoff return to open the matchup.

That was quickly followed up by a rushing touchdown for ASU, which came after a fumble from UA running back Gary Brightwell on the second play of the Wildcats' opening drive.

The defense was certainly an issue for Arizona during Friday's game as well, but the offense once again struggled despite welcoming back quarterback Grant Gunnell. The sophomore missed last week's game against Colorado after missing all but one play against UCLA with an injured shoulder.

His return to the field quickly went south and he was eventually pulled from the game in the second quarter in favor of freshman Will Plummer, who was Gunnell's replacement in each of the last two games.

"I thought Will came in and gave us a spark, actually," Sumlin said. "Moved the ball down the field. He had been playing the last couple weeks. Grant, before the game and through practice, looked good. He wanted to play, he felt good, but obviously we had some issues with turnovers.

"So, at that point, it wasn't a situation where we threw the towel in. We brought Will in because he had played the last couple weeks and moved the ball early when he was in there."

Gunnell finished his night with 78 yards and an interception on just 12 completions and 17 attempts.

Plummer led the Wildcats lone scoring drive in the game and he finished third game of the season with 83 yards on 13 attempts with seven completions plus 17 yards on the ground. Veteran backup Rhett Rodriguez finished out the game at quarterback for the Wildcats.

Arizona eventually amassed 350 yards of offense in the loss, but the mistakes came too often for UA to make any kind of headway after the dismal start.

"I feel like we were ready to play," senior tight end Bryce Wolma said. "We were prepared, but there's not much to say. It was embarrassing, really. ... It really came down to turnovers. I thought we were moving the ball OK, but can't throw interceptions. Can't have fumbles that turn into 35, 42 points."

In all the Wildcats quarterbacks tossed three interceptions while the team had four fumbles. Three of those giveaways came from Brightwell, who had an uncharacteristic mistake-laden night in what could be his final game at Arizona Stadium.

The Wildcats will now await their next opponent as the Pac-12 decides how it will create the schedule for Dec. 19. For now UA is going to focus on finding a way to get healthy considering the team could be close to minimum numbers that are required to play this season.

"I can't answer that right now just because of numbers," Sumlin said when asked if his team would be able to play next week. "So, we'll see where we are tomorrow. ... We just gotta see where we are injury-wise."

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