No. 34 — ASU ripe for picking in banana uniforms for “The Streak” to reach eight
by Javier Morales on Jul. 29, 2012, under Sports
In the 50 days leading up to Arizona’s season-opener against Toledo, on Sept. 1 at Arizona Stadium, TucsonCitizen.com and its affiliate WildAboutAZCats.net will rank the Top 50 games in the history of the football program. The ranking is at No. 34 as the kickoff to the Wildcats’ season — and the start of the Rich Rodriguez era — is only 34 days away.
SCORE: Arizona Wildcats 28, ASU Sun Devils 10
DATE: Nov. 25, 1989
SITE: Sun Devil Stadium, a record 74,926 in attendance
WHY IT MADE THE LIST: Arizona State’s players looked like bananas, dressed in all yellow as a motivational ploy, but to Arizona, the Sun Devils were ripe for the picking. The Wildcats continued their mastery of ASU in “The Streak”, extending their unbeaten run against their arch-rivals to eight games. The game was played in front of the largest crowd (74,926) to watch an Arizona-ASU game at Sun Devil Stadium. It also increased Arizona’s unbeaten streak in Tempe to four games (3-0-1), the longest such streak for the Wildcats at Sun Devil Stadium.
David Eldridge scored twice on one-yard plunges in a 1:18 span of the third quarter to enable the Wildcats to pull away. Arizona, headed for the inaugural Copper Bowl in Tucson that year against North Carolina State, finished the regular season at 7-4 overall. Arizona State (6-4-1) had its three-game winning streak halted and was 0-7-1 against the Wildcats since 1982. It was the Sun Devils’ worst loss to Arizona since a 30-6 defeat in 1964 at Tucson.
Trying to change ASU’s luck in the series, Sun Devils coach Larry Marmie had his team swap its traditional maroon jerseys for new gold ones before the game. The move backfired as it got the Wildcats fired up.
ASU wore all gold uniforms which seemed to motivate Arizona more than the Sun Devils in Arizona’s 28-10 win in Tempe in 1989 (YouTube still, click on photo to watch video)
“I remember in 1989 when they came out in warmups in maroon jerseys and no shoulder pads,” former Arizona linebacker Donnie Salum told the Tucson Citizen’s John Moredich in 2005. “We were wondering if they just weren’t taking us too seriously. Once the game started, they came out in their yellow uniforms, which (ESPN broadcaster) Chris Berman called their ‘banana uniforms.’
“They were the ugliest uniforms you will ever see,” Salum said. “And in that game I think they were, like, a 12-point favorite, and we put it to them. We came out of the locker room with everybody holding up eight fingers to show how the streak was going to go.”
Eldridge’s one-yard plunge 3:29 into the third quarter capped a 71-yard drive in nine plays to put Arizona ahead to stay, 14-10. Wildcat defensive tackle Reggie Johnson then sacked Arizona State’s Paul Justin on a first-down play, stripping the ball from him and recovering it at the Sun Devil nine. Three plays later, Eldridge dove over from the one-yard line to make it 21-10 with 10:08 left.
Michael Bates’ three-yard touchdown run with 7:10 left made it 28-10 and capped an 80-yard, 18-play drive — all on the ground — that took 8:59 off the clock. Bates (Amphitheater) and Eldridge (Pueblo) were from Tucson high schools. Eldridge finished with 104 yards in 25 carries as Arizona, the conference’s rushing offense leader with a 236.5-yard average, controlled the football for 41 of the game’s 60 minutes and had 285 of its 366 yards of total offense on the ground.
The Sun Devils had 350 yards of total offense — 307 of it passing as Justin completed 17 of 34 attempts but was sacked four times.
The crowd at Sun Devil Stadium bettered the previous record of 74,911 at the Jan. 2 Fiesta Bowl game between Notre Dame and West Virginia for the 1988 national championship. The record was broken on Nov. 9, 1996, when 74,963 attended ASU’s 35-7 win over Cal.
The countdown:
No. 35 — Arizona tries risky fake PAT to beat California but loses in epic 4 overtime game (WildAboutAZCats.net)
No. 36 — Veal to Hill “Hail Mary” pass highlights “The Streak” reaching seven games against ASU (WildAboutAZCats.net)
No. 37 — USC outlasts Arizona 48-41 in one of most wild games played in Tucson (TucsonCitizen.com)
No. 38 — Arizona shows signs of life under Stoops with rout over No. 7 UCLA (TucsonCitizen.com)
No. 39 — Art Luppino “The Cactus Comet” rockets toward 38 yards per carry and five touchdowns (WildAboutAZCats.net)
No. 40 — Fumblerooski enables Arizona to sweep USC, UCLA in L.A. for first time (TucsonCitizen.com)
No. 41 — Sun Devil nemesis Dan White quarterbacks Arizona into Fiesta Bowl with win over ASU (WildAboutAZCats.net)
No. 42 — Struggling UA gets improbable win against ’83 Pac-10 champ UCLA (TucsonCitizen.com)
No. 43 — Closing chapter of “The Streak” includes Arizona’s dramatic fourth-quarter heroics (WildAboutAZCats.net)
No. 44 — Arizona overcomes rival Texas Tech with unfathomable late-game rally (TucsonCitizen.com)
No. 45 — Dick Tomey, the Desert Fox, does a number on UCLA by changing offense in midseason (WildAboutAZCats.net)
No. 46 — “The Streak” reaches three games, UA achieves best Pac-10 finish (TucsonCitizen.com)
No. 47 — Arizona’s first game at Arizona Stadium in 1929, a 35-0 win over Cal Tech (WildAboutAZCats.net)
No. 48 — Underdog Arizona’s 2011 thriller over arch-rival Arizona State (TucsonCitizen.com)
No. 49 — Arizona’s first win over arch-rival Arizona State, then known as Territorial Normal (WildAboutAZCats.net)
No. 50 — Arizona’s first win in program’s history: 22-5 over Tucson Indians (TucsonCitizen.com)
