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As Ronnie Palmer began preparing for Arizona State this week, his mind drifted to the last time the Arizona Wildcats won the Territorial Cup.

Palmer, the UA's senior linebacker, smiled.

"It was a great game. I know it wasn't a good season for us my freshman year, but we all really got a good feeling after that game," he said.

"It's been a long time since that trophy has been back home."

Palmer is one of the Fortunate Five, the remaining UA players who know what it feels like to beat Arizona State.

Palmer, guard Joe Longacre, place-kicker Jason Bondzio and H-back Brandon Lopez were all redshirt freshmen in 2004, when Arizona stunned the 18th-ranked Sun Devils 34-27 at Arizona Stadium.

Wide receiver B.J. Dennard was the only current Wildcat to see playing time in the game. Dennard, then a freshman two-way standout, caught one pass for 33 yards.

Things may have changed in the four years since Arizona's last win, but the game against Arizona State still has a chance to make or break the Wildcats' season.

With a win Saturday, the UA (6-5 overall, 4-4 Pac-10) can punch a ticket to the Las Vegas or Emerald (San Francisco) bowls. A loss and Arizona would likely end up in the Hawaii Bowl.

Arizona's upcoming bowl game is an improvement over 2004, when the Wildcats played the spoiler against an Arizona State team that ended up in the Sun Bowl.

UA coach Mike Stoops said the 2004 game built his team's confidence at the end of a long season. The Wildcats finished 3-8 in Stoops' first season.

"You can see what making a few plays does for your confidence," Stoops said this week. "Teams change as the game goes on; their confidence level rises when they can make a few plays. That's what happened in that game. We're a much better team — mentally, physically, emotionally — than we were back then."

Longacre said the win over ASU "made the off-season a lot easier and got us excited that we could beat a team as good as they were."

But Arizona has been unable to replicate the 2004 win since then.

Arizona State won 23-20 in 2005 and 28-14 in 2006. The Sun Devils' 20-17 victory a year ago robbed the Wildcats of a bowl berth and extended ASU's winning streak to three games, its best stretch of victories since the mid-1970s.

The Fortunate Five can end it — and create some new memories — with a win Saturday.

"There was a good feeling after that game," Bondzio said. "It's one I'd like to experience again."

Five members of the UA football team remain from the last time the Wildcats beat ASU. They are:

Joe Longacre

• Position: Guard

• Height, weight: 6 feet 3 inches, 315 pounds

• 2004 role: A redshirt freshman

• Since then … Longacre has become a mainstay on the UA's improving offensive line. The bearded Texan has started 34 consecutive games dating to his sophomore season.

Ronnie Palmer

• Position: Linebacker

• Height, weight: 6-2, 245

• 2004 role: A redshirt freshman

• Since then … Palmer has become a team co-captain and leader of the UA's defense. His 70 tackles and nine tackles for loss are tops on the team.

Jason Bondzio

• Position: Kicker

• Height, weight: 5-6, 165

• 2004 role: A redshirt freshman

• Since then … Bondzio has become one of the most reliable kickers in UA history. He connected on 21 of 26 field goal attempts and scored 100 points — the first UA kicker to do so — in 2007. Bondzio has hit 12 of 14 field goal attempts and all 47 PAT attempts this year. Tuesday, he was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic Football Team for the second consecutive year.

Brandon Lopez

• Position: H-Back

• Height, weight: 6-1, 230

• 2004 role: A redshirt freshman linebacker

• Since then … Lopez moved to a new position — H-Back — in 2005, and has since played in 45 consecutive games, most of them as a backup. Lopez has caught six career passes for 52 yards.

B.J. Dennard

• Position: Wide receiver

• Height, weight: 5-11, 194

• 2004 role: Two-way threat. Dennard played in 10 games as a wide receiver and a defensive back as a true freshman, starting two of them. He caught one pass for 33 yards against Arizona State, his only offensive grab of the year.

• Since then … Dennard's role has decreased. He caught seven passes for 72 yards — and made seven tackles — as a sophomore in 2005. He quit the team briefly in 2006, only to return later in the season. Dennard had five catches for 38 yards as a junior, and has yet to play this season.