After 114 years, the oldest trophy in Division I college football finally has its very own book.

Territorial: The History of the Duel in the Desert by Shane Dale delves deeply into the history and tradition of one of the oldest rivalries in college football after he noticed that nobody else had done it yet.

“I was kinda surprised when I looked and realized no one had ever written a book about the rivalry,” Dale said. “There had been books written about ASU sports, U of A sports but nothing simply about the rivalry.”

Sensing an opportunity, Dale embarked on a roughly two-year quest to learn the history of the Territorial Cup, a rivalry that Dale feels “is really one of the best in the country that no one knows about.”

That could be, as Dale says, because the Duel in the Desert doesn’t have the same implications as “The Game” between Ohio State and Michigan or the Red River Rivalry of Texas and Oklahoma.

But what the rivalry lacks in terms of determining championships, it makes up for in passion that boils down to downright hatred.

“In terms of absolute just hatred, dislike for the other school, I think it’s right up there, maybe top-5, top-10 in the country,” Dale said.

So how did it get that way? That’s part of what Dale uncovers in Territorial. Here’s a teaser: it has to do with an election, a break-in and fire on the field of a newly opened Sun Devil Stadium.

An Arizona alumn himself, Dale maintains a balanced view of the rivalry after growing up a Sun Devil fan in Chandler, Arizona.

His first taste of the rivalry came in 1991 as he watched the Sun Devils win their first Territorial Cup in nine years, 37-14.

Although the 1991 game at Sun Devil Stadium was the first he remembers watching, it wasn’t his favorite.

“The double-overtime game a couple years ago (2010) was amazing, the way it ended,” Dale recalls. “The first half was terrible. The second half was great. Very rarely are you going to see a blocked extra point decide a game, let alone two, so that was pretty phenomenal…I just don’t think anything tops that double-overtime game a couple years ago.”

Territorial: The History of the Duel in the Desert is tentatively slated to be released July 12, 2013 on Amazon.com.

Follow Shane Dale on Twitter – @TerritorialCup