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Arizona State took an early 3.0 to 0.5 lead over Arizona this school year in defense of its Territorial Cup Series competition heading into yesterday, but the Wildcats started to rally in a banner day for athletic director Greg Byrne.
Arizona’s victories over ASU in football, and then volleyball later yesterday, gave the Wildcats 1.5 points, trimming ASU’s lead to 3.0 to 2.0.
Arizona football coach Rich Rodriguez jokingly commented after the Wildcats’ 42-35 victory over ASU that Byrne is “obsessed” about the Territorial Cup Series.
“He’s got a running ticker on the score right there,” Rodriguez said.
Byrne said in a interview with Arizona Sports 98.7 FM in August that he and all of his coaches met to discuss the importance of winning the Territorial Cup Series after ASU claimed it last year.
“We want to be the top athletics department in the Pac-12,” Byrne said, “and so in order to do that, we first and foremost have to be strong within our own state, and I think we’re making good progress with that with our sports across the board. But obviously that rivalry means a lot to everybody here throughout the state and we want to make sure we get that Cup back here to Tucson as soon as possible.”
The No. 14-ranked Arizona volleyball team needed only three sets to beat the host Sun Devils (29-27, 25-20, 25-21) to sweep the season series from ASU. The Wildcats gained a half-point earlier this season by beating ASU in five sets at McKale Center on Sept. 24.
The Wildcats, who are vying to host the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002, will learn of their postseason fate tomorrow when the field of 64 is announced live on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. MST.
Arizona’s 23 regular-season victories are the most since winning 25 in 2000 while its 12 conference wins are the most since winning 14 in 2005.
The football game and volleyball match yesterday concludes the fall segment of the Territorial Cup series. The winter and spring sports remain starting with the men’s and women’s basketball games.
The men’s team hosts ASU on Jan. 4 and travels to Tempe on Feb. 7. The women’s team, in an odd scheduling sequence, host ASU on Jan. 8 and then play the Sun Devils in Tempe two days later.
Those games count for a half-point each in the Territorial Cup Series.
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TERRITORIAL CUP GUIDELINES
ASU and UA sports teams will compete against one another in 20 common varsity intercollegiate sports. For a school to be the winner of the Territorial Cup Series Trophy, they must accumulate 10.5 points.Each sport will be worth one (1) point.
The point is awarded to the team that wins a season series.
If the teams play once in a given season (football) then that game counts as one point.
For baseball and softball, all regular season games count towards season series tally, including the non-conference games.
For swimming and diving, cross country, golf, and track and field only, one point is awarded to whichever team finishes higher in the Pac-12 Championship (for these sports no other postseason competitions will count towards the series).
If teams split the regular season match-ups, then each team receives a ½ point for that sport.
Pac-12 and NCAA Tournament games can count toward determining season series winner (i.e. basketball splits regular season meetings and then plays in the Pac-12 Tournament, whichever school wins 2 of 3 games is awarded the point).
In the event of a tie the following tie-breaker will be used: University with higher finish in the Director’s Cup Standings
In the event of a tie after the Director’s Cup Standings the Territorial Cup Series will end in a tie
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2014-15 TERRITORIAL CUP STANDINGS
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has published articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
