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Arizona Wildcats vs Arizona State Sun Devils Football Recap

Arizona State 30, Arizona 29 (2OT)

It used to be that if you were a member of the extended Zendejas family, you were a highly-regarded kicker in the Arizona State-Arizona rivalry, a nasty Southwestern feud with few national stakes but a lot of local meaning. Now, the Zendejas name has been sullied – not morally, mind you, but certainly in the realm of on-field performance.

A very unexpected turn of events quite literally enabled the Arizona State Sun Devils to avoid a losing season, albeit not a bowl-less campaign. All in all, ASU will enjoy a happier offseason than the defeated Arizona Wildcats, whose 7-1 season has ended with a four-game losing streak before the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State.

Back in the 1980s, Max Zendejas won this rivalry for Arizona with a long and late field goal against Arizona State. Meanwhile, ASU thrived in the first half of the 1980s thanks to Luis Zendejas, a capable kicker who went on to have a solid if unspectacular professional career in the NFL. The Zendejas family is a family of kickers, and on Thursday night in Tucson, Arizona, Alex Zendejas was ready to add to the household’s list of honors when his Arizona team took on its archrival under the lights.

With 27 seconds left in regulation, an Arizona team that was trailing by a 20-14 score and had been outplayed for most of the evening scrambled to tie the score at 20 on a five-yard touchdown pass thrown by its inconsistent but persistent quarterback, Nick Foles. All that was left was for Zendejas to boot through the extra point, and the Cats would have ended their season on a solid note. A three-game losing streak would have melted into the background. Losses to Pac-10 heavyweights Stanford and Oregon would have been allowed to fade away in light of a win over the hated Sun Devils and coach Dennis Erickson. Zendejas wouldn’t have done anything spectacular, but he would have been able to say he made a game-winning kick. Max – the U of A man in the family – would have been particularly happy.

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There was just one problem: Zendejas hit a low ball that got blocked at the line of scrimmage by the middle of the Sun Devils’ defense. The two teams labored into overtime instead of walking off the field with a 21-20 Arizona victory plastered on the scoreboard.

In the second overtime, Alex Zendejas’s horrible night got even worse. After Arizona stared down a 30-23 deficit, David Douglas scored on a nine-yard touchdown run for the Wildcats to make the score 30-29. Zendejas trotted out for another extra point, and few people thought that two straight kicks would be or could be blocked. Yet, that’s exactly what happened. The ball was struck poorly by Zendejas, allowing the pigskin to float wide of the right upright. Arizona State beat its great adversary not due to any profound display of excellence, but because its opponent couldn’t make two separate extra points in the endgame phase of the proceedings.

It’s going to be a long winter in the Zendejas house… and for the humiliated Arizona Wildcats.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer