Noah Fifita passed for a school-record 527 yards and five touchdowns, and Tetairoa McMillan had 266 yards receiving, as No. 15 Arizona poured it on against rival Arizona State to retain the Territorial Cup trophy with a 59-23 victory on Saturday in Tempe, Ariz.
The Wildcats (9-3, 7-2 Pac-12) won their sixth consecutive game as Fifita completed 30 of 41 passes with one interception, also setting a record for most passing yards in the history of the 97-game series. McMillan caught 11 passes, including a 50-yard touchdown, and set a Territorial Cup record for receiving yards.
The previous Arizona record for passing yards was 520 by Anu Solomon against Cal in 2014.
ASU (3-9, 2-7) ended the first season of coach Kenny Dillingham by giving most of the quarterback snaps to true freshman Jaden Rashada, who had been out since the second game of the season due to injury. He was 10 of 22 for 82 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Arizona, which still has 13 players left from the team that lost 70-7 to Arizona State in 2020, couldn’t quite reverse that score. But the Wildcats were headed in the direction after an interception led to an 8-yard touchdown pass to Tanner McLachlan and a 45-7 lead just 91 seconds after halftime.
The 50-yard TD pass to McMillan made it 52-7 six minutes into the half to cap a 49-0 run before Arizona State responded with two touchdowns, plus a pair of two-point conversions.
Michael Wiley scored three first-half touchdowns for Arizona. Jacob Cowing caught nine passes for 157 yards and a touchdown.
The Sun Devils’ Trenton Bourguet, who has started the majority of games at quarterback, was out with a stomach virus, although Rashada was slated to take over in the finale. To start the game, Arizona State used 270-pound Jalin Conyers as a wildcat quarterback, who led a ground-based touchdown drive, but its 7-3 lead was short-lived.
The Wildcats scored touchdowns on their next five possessions, with Wiley getting into the end zone on a 22-yard run, a 1-yard run and a 21-yard reception. Arizona had 410 yards at halftime and led 38-7 at the break.
Fifita had 357 first-half passing yards. McMillan outgained ASU by himself in the first half, with 162 receiving yards to the Sun Devils’ 150 total yards.
–Field Level Media