Thanksgiving and Big 12 tiebreakers. It's rivalry time for Dillingham

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Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham grew up here, so one would think he has memories of the Territorial Cup game against state rival Arizona. Yes, he attended the games often, but he couldn't single out one particular game or memory.

"I don't have a good memory for things like that," he laughed. "My mom wants to kill me sometimes. She's like, 'Why did I take you to all these things if you don't remember them?'"

That game is coming up again this week. It will be Arizona (8-3, 5-3) making the trip to Mountain America Stadium to face the defending Big 12 Conference champion Arizona State Sun Devils (8-3, 6-2) in the regular-season finale for both at 7 p.m. on Nov. 28, the day after Thanksgiving.

THAT is what he remembers most.

"I don't know if I have anything specific, other than, like, I think about it and Thanksgiving kind of go together," he said in his weekly news conference on Nov. 24. "When I think about Thanksgiving, I also think about it's Territorial Cup week and they kind of just go together. It's almost like the holidays.

"The Territorial Cup is, you get together with your family, you eat Thanksgiving, you eat leftovers the next day and then you go to the Territorial Cup."

It will be the third rivalry game for Dillingham, whose teams split the previous two games. It will be the second for Arizona coach Brent Brennan, although he was around it earlier in his days as a graduate assistant under Dick Tomey.

While the game is always big as far as bragging rights, this looks like the first time in several years that the teams are evenly matched from a competitive standpoint.

Territorial Cup past and ASU's Big 12 title chase

Last year, ASU went 11-3, which included a 49-7 win over the Wildcats. ASU advanced to the Big 12 championship game, and then the College Football Playoff, while Arizona finished 4-8 after being expected to contend for the conference title.

It was ASU struggling in 2022 and 2023, going 3-9 in each of those seasons, the first being the end of the tumultuous Herm Edwards tenure and the second being Dillingham's first season.

The 2020 season was the one in which ASU won the rivalry showdown 70-7.

ASU heads into this one tied for third, one game behind Texas Tech and Brigham Young. ASU still has an outside shot at a return trip to the conference title game, but it would need to win and then get a lot of help, which isn't expected with frontrunners both playing bottom-feeder teams this week.

The current scenario, according to the Big 12, must include an ASU win over Arizona, along with:

Scenario 1: BYU and Utah lose.

Scenario 2: Texas Tech and BYU lose; Utah wins.

Scenario 3: Texas and Utah lose; BYU wins.

Odds as of Nov. 24: Texas Tech is favored by 24 1/2 points at West Virginia, Utah is favored by 12 1/2 points at Kansas and BYU is favored by 17 1/2 at home against UCF.

Arizona football has rebounded nicely

Arizona has had a resurgence, doubling its win total from 2024. The Wildcats are one of three three-loss teams. That will make the game that much more fun, according to Dillingham, who praised Arizona's veteran players, such as quarterback Noah Fifita and defensive back Treydan Stukes, for leading the resurgence and being loyal to the program in tough times.

ASU has won three straight games and four of its past five, while Arizona has won four straight games. The winner should get a better bowl game.

Arizona was a 1.5-point favorite as of Nov. 24. That is how close this one could be.

"It's awesome to have this game played with two really good football teams," Dillingham said. "I think that's what you want. You want this game to matter. It's awesome that it matters."

The bragging rights part of the equation isn't lost on the ASU coach.

"This is a game, it matters," Dillingham said. "You know that your neighbor could have gone to either school. That's what makes this rivalry fun is that people are friends with people on both sides of this rivalry, and that's what makes it so big is the relationships that are within the rivalry. Right?

"You always want to beat your brother the best. You play your brother in something, you'll hear about it for a year if he beats you. I play a random person, that sucks for a week. You play your brother and you're around him 24-7, you hear about it all year, and it's horrible."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Thanksgiving week means Territorial Cup for Kenny Dillingham

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