It was clear from the beginning that the game could get ugly.

On the first play of Arizona State's third possession during its 56-14 win Saturday, right guard Pat Thompson was called for a personal foul and ejected from the game. It came after ASU's Terry Battle was tackled at the UA 47-yard line. In the pile, Thompson took a swing at a UA player.

"Pat said that he missed his fist and hit the guy - you know, like when you get frustrated and punch your fist into your hand," ASU left guard Kyle Murphy said. "He just missed and they (the officials) saw it differently. I know Arizona won't think that way."

That was just the beginning, however.

Thompson's replacement, Glen Gable, outdid him. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, with the Sun Devils on the verge of scoring again, ASU quarterback Jake Plummer was intercepted at the 2-yard line by UA safety Mikal Smith, who took the ball 98 yards up the Arizona sideline for the score.

But the Wildcats were not cheering. During the interception return, UA junior Daniel Greer was taken down from behind by Gable. Heading up the sideline in celebration, Greer never saw Gable coming. Greer went down immediately with a leg injury, eventually being carted off on a stretcher to University Medical Center. X-rays were negative, but at the least he has a severely sprained ankle.

"I knew some cheap shots were thrown, but I didn't think things would get that way," UA cornerback Chris McAlister said.

After officials broke up the ensuing fight and sent ASU players back to their sideline, Arizona's Kelvin Eafon emerged from the UA sideline and made a beeline across the field, colliding with Gable in retaliation. Both players were ejected.

Gable was one of the last out of the locker room and was visibly shaken.

"I was running, I saw him, I blocked him," Gable said. "I feel bad for what happened.

"I don't really know what happened," he said before he decided he had enough questions for the night.

"Eafon's hit was not understandable," Murphy said. "Two wrongs don't make a right."

Stemming from the Greer incident, two more players were ejected. ASU's Derrick Ford was called for a personal foul and tossed minutes later, and UA senior Frank Middleton got into a scuffle of his own and found himself on the sideline for the rest of the game.

"I don't want all that to overshadow just how well this team played tonight," ASU coach Bruce Snyder said. "There was some frustration. It wasn't very pretty, but I'm proud of my team. Especially in this environment, I'm very proud."

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