A Pac-12 matchup between the Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils on Friday got extremely heated, featuring one of the uglier brawls that we have seen this college football season.
The play occurred late in the fourth quarter after a huge play from Arizona to clinch the game. Clinging to a three-point lead, Arizona safety Isaiah Taylor intercepted Arizona State quarterback Trenton Bourguet to subsequently sealed an Arizona victory.
This clearly got tempers flaring on both sides, and a massive fight broke out between both teams.
FIRST A MASCOT FIGHT AND NOW ANOTHER FIGHT IN ARIZONA VS ARIZONA STATE
5 PLAYERS EJECTEDpic.twitter.com/pCXp4BWiCO
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) November 25, 2022
Benches cleared and the majority of players on both sides were involved in the melee. It took quite some time for the officials to break up this incident, and five players were ultimately ejected for their involvement in the fight.
Arizona and Arizona State followed up a mascot fight with a fight between players. There were 5 ejections. 🏈 pic.twitter.com/Rnv2ZdNKBr
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) November 26, 2022
Many took the chance to react on social media to this ugly altercation, with many saying this took away from what was a great game throughout.
Complete chaos on the field at Arizona Stadium. Took about 10 minutes for @realBJP and I to wade through the crowd. Hundreds chanting "U of A!"
— Michael Lev (@MichaelJLev) November 26, 2022
Meanwhile, Arizona-Arizona State with 5 ejections as the game ended… pic.twitter.com/lOptPlJOLu
— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) November 25, 2022
A bunch of guys just got ejected from Arizona-Arizona State.
Wildcats have something that looks like a pitch fork on their sideline with a bunch of footballs stuck on it, i think for takeaways.
Territorial Cup forever!
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) November 25, 2022
https://twitter.com/MitchellMylo/status/1596286615487664128
2 players from each team ejected before end. Arizona going to win this 38-35
— Michelle Gardner (@MGardnerSports) November 25, 2022
This actually wasn’t the first fight that broke out in the game, with a hilarious fight between both mascots earlier in the game that laid the groundwork for the brawl on the field.
While this game ultimately didn’t mean all that much for either team on paper, it was still a huge victory for the Arizona Wildcats football program.
This victory put them to 5-7 on the year, which is certainly a drastic turnaround for Wildcats’ head coach Jedd Fisch from their 1-11 season in 2021.
While this was clearly an emotional matchup for Arizona, their big win may be slightly spoiled due to the unfortunate incident at the end of the game.
[Photo Credit: FS1]