TEMPE – Arizona defensive back Treydan Stukes chuckled as he listened to fellow senior teammate Dalton Johnson talk about the Wildcats’ dominant defensive outing Friday night against Arizona State.
“We came to play,” Johnson said. “We didn’t come to watch. We’re eager to get out there, and I think the front seven and the back five are just clicking really well.”
Teams, of course, can only field 11 players at a time, although in the 99th iteration of the Territorial Cup, it felt as if Arizona had 12 defenders on the field all night long, as it locked down ASU in a 23-7 win at Mountain America Stadium.
The Wildcats managed to hold ASU’s offense, which came into Friday averaging just over 26 points per game, to single digits behind a stout rushing defense and by forcing a whopping five ASU turnovers. It helped Arizona win the turnover margin five to one, a mark that proved too difficult for the Sun Devils to overcome.
“Going into the game, winning the turnover battle was job No. 1,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said. “So that was a huge part of (the win).”
Stukes provided the highlight of the night defensively, going airborne over the top of a Sun Devils receiver, fully extended, to snag an interception and halt any momentum ASU had brewing. The former walk-on safety, who suffered an ACL tear in Week 4 of last season, has provided Arizona with a steady presence in the secondary this fall and wraps up his career as a Wildcats player with a victory in his final Territorial Cup game.
“I think Treydan Stukes is such a special football player and such a special kid,” Brennan said. “You don’t need to spend a lot of time with him to get a feel for how amazing of a young man he is. … It’s one of the best football plays I’ve ever seen.”
When Arizona’s offense struggled to find the end zone, its defense picked up the slack, landing on a fumble after a bobbled exchange between ASU quarterback Jeff Sims and running back Raleek Brown. It placed the visitors on the Sun Devils’ 6-yard line, allowing Arizona to score its first touchdown of the night and take its first lead – one it never surrendered.
It helped spark the Wildcats’ offense, which developed a greater rhythm in the second half, allowing the team to pull away.
“Our defense kept playing complementary football,” Brennan said. “They kept getting stops, they kept getting turnovers. … The offense in the second half had a bunch of sustained long drives that kept the ball out of ASU’s hands. Our defense kept answering and coming up with big plays and takeaways. So (it was) just an absolute team win.”
In addition to the takeaways, Arizona relied upon a stingy rushing defense to shut down ASU. After junior wide receiver Jordyn Tyson aggravated his lingering hamstring injury, forcing him out of the game, the Wildcats stacked the box to stuff the Sun Devils’ rushing attack at the line of scrimmage.
Following a week in which the Sun Devils’ ground game tore Colorado’s defense apart to the tune of 355 rushing yards, Arizona held it to only 100 yards. It’s just the third time ASU has been held under the century mark in rushing yards this season.
A major factor in its success in defending the run stemmed from its ability to contain Sims. The Wildcats, who have struggled against running quarterbacks all year long, limited Sims to just 43 rushing yards, most of which came when the game was already out of reach.
“Coach G (defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales) has made that an emphasis for us,” Stukes said about defending the quarterback run. “I thought we executed our plan to a pretty good standard. The guys up front did a fantastic job of clogging those lanes and making them run sideways, and then everyone was swarming to the ball.”
Gonzales, who served as ASU’s defensive coordinator for two seasons under Herm Edwards, has led a Wildcats unit that ranks near the top of the Big 12 in numerous categories, including yards allowed per game, points allowed per game, and takeaways.
It has been key to the winning formula for the Wildcats all season: strong defense and control of field position. Their 9-3 record marks a stark contrast from the grim 4-8 year it endured last fall in a season that drove Brennan to a point of “absolute misery.”
With a wide smile plastered across his face Friday night and his reflection gleaming in the silver glow of the Territorial Cup, Brennan finally had the chance to enjoy the fruits of his labor: a 9-3 regular season with a win over ASU to silence any doubts that he might not be the man for the job in Tucson.
“I wasn’t lying a year ago,” Brennan said. “I really think I’m fortunate to be surrounded by awesome people. … When you have a great alignment from top to bottom, and everybody is all in moving the same direction, you can do incredible things, and I think that’s what’s happening for our program right now.”
As a bowl game awaits, the Wildcats look to finish strong and put the finishing touches on what’s been a surprising turnaround season.
“We’re going to soak it in, our last few weeks as an Arizona Wildcat,” Stukes said. “With this special group of guys, these moments are going to be the days we look back on and (say) these were the good old days.”
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