When life is normal – certainly not a thing right now! – college football fans typically can expect a clockwork regular season schedule each year that begins somewhere in the late August or very early September range and ends around the Thanksgiving weekend, with conference championships and bowl games played all through December and into the middle part of January.
For a program like Arizona State, that sort of model much more frequently requires preparation for 100-plus degree temperatures in the first month or so of the season as opposed to concerns of frigid late season environments.
Naturally, due to the global pandemic endured through the majority of 2020, the Pac-12 Conference was forced to revise its schedule not once, but twice. Of course, even that third and final version was filled with wishful thinking as a multitude of games – including what as of right now is a conference-high three for ASU – have been canceled due to COVID-19 issues.
With the seemingly countless oddities and the general unpredictability of this year’s scheduling, one must wonder what sort of experiences and outcomes Arizona State has had in December regular season football games through the program’s history.
Prior to the atypical scheduling of the 2020 season, Arizona State has played 18 regular-season games in December, and overall, the Sun Devils have an 11-7 record in those games. Ten of the 18 occurred before the year 1960, and only four of the remaining eight have been played in the 21st century.
Note: This list exclusively focuses on regular season games and excludes all bowl games as well as ASU’s 2013 appearance in the Pac-12 championship game.
December 18 or 19
2020 - TBD
In the final iteration of the 2020 Pac-12 schedule, the final week of the season was to not only feature the Pac-12 Conference championship game but matchups between north and south teams based on the order of finish. We could also see a makeup game where ASU could host Cal or Utah, assuming that the Sun Devils’ four-game season would have an even number of home and away contests. The other makeup option, perhaps less likely, would be a road game at Colorado.
December 14
1948 – New Mexico (28-17 win in Tempe)
Arizona State’s 10-game slate in 1948 began on Sept. 25 and featured a midseason bye week on Oct. 23 and a near three-week gap between the final two games of the year as the Sun Devils played BYU on Friday, Nov. 26 and then closed the season against New Mexico on Tuesday, Dec. 14. The Sun Devil victory gave Arizona State a 5-5 final record on the year.
December 11
2020 – at Arizona*
*-Assumes ASU’s game is played as scheduled versus Arizona
It should come as little surprise that this game will be the latest in a calendar year that the Territorial Cup showdown between the Sun Devils and Wildcats has ever been played. This Friday matchup will be the fifth all-time rivalry meeting in December, with ASU having a 3-2 edge with wins by the Sun Devils on Dec. 2, 2010, Dec. 1, 2007, and Dec. 5, 1970, and victories by the Wildcats on Dec. 6, 2008, and Dec. 1, 1902.
December 7
1974 – at Hawaii (26-3 win in Honolulu)
ASU began the season ranked No. 15 in the Preseason Associated Press poll, but year one of the post-Danny White Era in Tempe was a stark deviation from the program’s recent string of high final poll rankings as Arizona State entered this season finale game at Hawaii with a 6-5 record and on the heels of the first loss to Arizona in 10 years. At the time, the five defeats tied for the most in a single season by an Arizona State team since 1947.
The Dec. 7 clash in Honolulu helped the year-end on a positive note, as ASU would return to Tempe with a 26-3 victory over Hawaii. The momentum would carry through the entirety of the following season as Arizona State finished with an undefeated record in 1975 and a No. 2 final rankings in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls.
December 6
Three Times: 2008 (at Arizona, 31-20 loss in Tucson), 1947 (Hardin-Simmons, 42-0 loss in Tempe), 1941 (Hardin-Simmons, 20-0 loss in Tempe)
The latest in the year that the Territorial Cup game has ever been played (prior to 2020), weather wasn’t an issue as the near 6 p.m. kickoff had a temperature of about 65 degrees. However, little else went well for the Devils, that day as the Wildcats broke a three-game losing streak to ASU with a 31-10 victory in Tucson, the largest margin of victory for Arizona in the series since 1964.
The 1947 season closed out on Dec. 6 with a tail-whipping the Sun Devil suffered at the hands of Border Conference foe, 42-0 – the highest point total Arizona State allowed that season.
Six years to the day earlier, a similar outcome took place as Arizona State was blanked by a score of 20-0 by Hardin-Simmons in Tempe on Dec. 6, 1941. Fewer than 24 hours after the game was played, the Pearl Harbor bombing occurred in Hawaii, which prompted the United States’ entry into World War II.
December 5
Four Times*: 2020 (vs. UCLA in Tempe), 1970 (at Arizona, 10-6 win in Tucson), 1942 (at Northern Arizona, 14-2 win in Flagstaff), 1925 (at Phoenix High School, 19-6 win in Phoenix)
*-assumes ASU’s game is played as scheduled versus UCLA
The final known home game and what at first was to have been the fifth overall game of the year will be played on Dec. 5 against UCLA. This will be the second all-time meeting in the month of December between the Sun Devils and the Bruins.
Entering the 1970 Territorial Cup showdown with a perfect 9-0 record, a No. 9 national ranking, and having defeated all nine prior opponents by an average margin of almost 26 points per game, ASU’s trip to Tucson provided the closest nail-biter of the year as the Devils looked to maintain a flawless win-loss record against a Wildcat team with just a 4-5 standing on the year entering the contest.
The end to a dismal season that at the time saw Arizona State with just a 1-6 record, the 1942 campaign came to a close on Dec. 5 with a 14-2 victory over Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. This game would be just the second time for the 1942 season that Arizona State scored more than seven points in a contest.
Furthermore, though there are no weather records available to confirm it, one can assume this was one of the colder encounters ever to include an Arizona State football team as NAU played its games outdoors until the Walkup Skydome opened in 1977. The 1942 season was the one and only for head coach Hillman Walker at Arizona State, as the school shut down its football team for the next three seasons due to World War II.
Prior to joining the Border Conference in 1931, scheduling for the Tempe team often included a patchwork group of local junior colleges, high schools and other similar entities outside the traditional ranks of university athletics.
What appears to be the final game ever played by the Arizona State program against a high school opponent took place in a 19-6 win over Phoenix High School on Dec. 5, 1925, in Phoenix.
December 4
1959 – at Hawaii (14-6 win in Honolulu)
The second-ever island excursion for the Arizona State football team came on Dec. 4, 1959, when second-year head coach Frank Kush took his team to Honolulu.
A 14-6 victory for the visiting Sun Devils gave ASU a 10-1 record to complete the season, at the time just the second instance in program history that a Sun Devil team reached double-digit victories in a single season.
December 3
Twice: 1949 (Utah State, 27-12 win in Tempe), 1932 (New Mexico, 40-0 win in Tempe)
A 27-12 victory over Utah State in Tempe on Dec. 3, 1949, helped Arizona State achieve its seventh win on the year – at the time the second-best win total in a single season in program history. Additionally, the victory helped the Sun Devils on their way to their third-ever bowl game appearance, a New Year’s Day 1950 loss to Xavier in the Salad Bowl in Phoenix.
To finish the program’s second season in the Border Conference, Arizona State Teachers College dominated conference foe New Mexico with a 40-0 shutout victory on Dec. 3, 1932. That outcome would remain the largest margin of victory for what is now known as ASU against a Border Conference opponent until the Sun Devils downed New Mexico A&M (now New Mexico State) by a score of 52-7 on Nov. 5, 1948.
December 2
Three times: 2010 (at Arizona, 30-29 win in Tucson), 1990 (vs. Houston, 62-45 loss in Tokyo, Japan), 1955 (at Hawaii, 39-6 win in Honolulu)
Rare as it is for ASU to play a game on Dec. 2, the three occasions of regular season play on this date each hold some level of unique significance in Sun Devil lore.
A season of immense frustration that saw ASU lose four games by a grand total of nine combined points, it was only fitting that the year should end in as spectacularly unpredictable fashion as it did in 2010 when ASU took on Arizona in Tucson on Dec. 2.
A generally sloppy, always chippy affair that in this case only featured 20 combined points through the first three quarters, it appeared that the Wildcats would win their third straight against the Sun Devils after scoring a touchdown with 27 seconds left to tie the game at 20 prior to the extra point attempt.
Stunningly, however, Arizona State defensive end James Brooks blocked the PAT attempt by Arizona kicker Alex Zendejas to send the game to overtime. The two teams would match field goals in the first extra stanza, followed by a touchdown and PAT by ASU in the first half of the second OT, which was matched by a Wildcat touchdown.
What happened next has become one of the most memorable scenes in recent Sun Devil football history as Brooks again blocked a Zendejas try to give ASU a breathtaking 30-29 win in Tucson.
Included in this list since it technically is not an NCAA recognized bowl game, ASU’s 1990 contest on Dec. 2 was the annual Coca-Cola Classic, featuring college programs from 1977-93 in Tokyo, Japan. In this contest, the Sun Devils dropped a high scoring affair to No. 11 Houston by a score of 62-45. This game is most memorable for Houston quarterback David Klingler throwing for an FBS record 716 yards against the Sun Devils – a record that would stand until 2014.
The 1955 game played on Dec. 2 was notable as it was Arizona State’s first game played in the state of Hawaii, a 39-6 victory for the visiting Sun Devils. This trip across the Pacific Ocean – a voyage of more than 2,900 miles – at the time was by far the longest trip for the Sun Devil football program at the time.
Before that visit, ASU had only ever played five opponents in sites more than 1,000 miles away from Tempe – Gonzaga in 1941, Wichita State in 1946 and again in 1955, Arkansas in 1951, and both Houston and North Texas in 1953 – with the distance of a bit under 1,400 miles to Spokane to play Gonzaga as the longest road trip at the time.
To put this into present day context, every time ASU plays at Oregon, Oregon State, or Washington State, the travel distance is in the ballpark of 1,200 miles, while Washington is in the vicinity of 1,500 miles from the Tempe campus area.
Also, before the excursion to Hawaii, ASU had played a total of 25 different opponents on the road outside the state of Arizona (some of them several times), with 16 of those teams hailing from the states of California and Texas.
December 1
Five times: 2007 (Arizona, 20-17 win in Tempe), 2001 (at UCLA, 52-42 loss in Pasadena), 1979 (at Hawaii, 29-17 loss in Honolulu), 1902 (Arizona, 12-0 loss in Phoenix)
Understandably the most frequently played December date as some season calendars just slightly extend beyond November, ASU has played on this date twice in the past 20 seasons and is the only December date ASU on which the Sun Devils have played a regular-season game on multiple occasions in the 21st century.
The 2007 regular season was brought to a finish with a 20-17 rivalry victory over Arizona, giving ASU a split of the Pac-10 Championship with USC in what was Dennis Erickson’s first year in Tempe. The victory also gave the Devils a 10-2 finish in the regular season, the first time since 1996 the program hit the double-digit win total in a season.
Due to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, games that would have been played on the weekend, including Saturday, Sept. 15, were postponed. As a result of that schedule change, ASU played UCLA as its final regular-season opponent on Dec. 1, 2001. Though the Sun Devils put up their highest point total of all the conference games they played across the 2001 season, ASU dropped a 52-42 decision in Pasadena.
Perhaps the most tumultuous season in Sun Devil football history, the 1979 campaign is most notably known for the midseason firing of legendary head coach Frank Kush. ASU’s second season in the Pac-10 Conference would spin to a painful ending as the Sun Devils dropped four of their last five games of the year.
Included in those four losses was a Dec. 1, 1979 visit to Honolulu, in which Arizona State suffered a 29-17 defeat at the hands of Hawaii.
The first game ASU ever played in December and just the ninth known game overall to be played by the football program, Tempe Normal dropped its season-ending contest to Arizona in Phoenix on Dec. 1, 1902 – a rivalry rematch of the first meeting between the two schools that took place three years earlier.
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