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Arizona’s B.J. Denker almost made history tonight falling just short of becoming the first quarterback in the program’s history to rush for at least 200 yards in the Wildcats’ 44-20 victory over Colorado.
Denker, listed at 6’3″ and 184 pounds, gained 192 yards on 15 carries with a longest run of 54 yards (a career best). He made a strong candidacy for Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week completing 21 of 32 passes for 265 yards with a touchdown and interception. He was not sacked.
“He’s running the system,” Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said in a postgame show on 1290-AM. “His eyes are in the right place for most of the game. He’s not a big guy. He’ll be sore as heck.
“I don’t want a guy who weighs 190 to run that many times, but we have to do what we have to do to win.”
Arizona’s media relations department stated in its postgame notes that Denker’s 192 rushing yards is believed to be the most by a UA quarterback in the history of the program.
Denker is now only 47 yards rushing from reaching the top season rushing yardage production for a UA quarterback since the Wildcats joined the Pac-10 in 1978. Ronald Veal rushed for the most yards — 566 yards on 161 attempts — as a freshman in 1987. Keith Smith is next at 546 yards, achieved also as a freshman in 1996.
Denker has 519 yards rushing on 90 carries with five regular-season games remaining.
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TOP ARIZONA QB RUSHING
SEASONS (PAC-10/12 YEARS)
Source: Sports-Reference.com and ArizonaWildcats.com
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.@ArizonaFBall's @CoachRodAZ talked postgame about B.J. Denker and Ka'Deem Carey after win vs. @RunRalphieRun Video: http://t.co/bqfBVribOk
— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) October 27, 2013
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B.J. Denker had 457yds offense (265 passing, 192 rushing), 6th-highest single-game output in school history. #AZvsCU pic.twitter.com/FVoxtTLemV
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) October 27, 2013
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ARIZONA TOP SINGLE-GAME
RUSHING PERFORMANCES
Source: Arizona media relations
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Matt Scott had 506 yards on 113 carries last season.
Other marks of interest largely because of Denker’s performance:
>> Arizona’s 670 total offense yards were a season-high and rank as the third-most in school single-game history. The school record is 691 vs. New Mexico State set in 1969.
>> The Wildcats have gained 600 or more yards in a game on eight occasions, with four of those coming under Rodriguez the last two seasons.
>> Denker amassed 457 yards of total offense (265 passing, 192 rushing), which is the sixth-highest single-game output in school history.
>> He has 519 yards on 90 carries this season.
>> The Wildcats rushed for 405 yards on 50 carries.
When asked by 1290-AM’s Brian Jeffries about his performance, Denker said, “That’s just me getting more comfortable played a lot of games. Confidence is the key to the quarterback position. We’re clicking. I love the way we’re playing.”
WILDABOUTAZCATS.net publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report, Lindy’s College Sports and TucsonCitizen.com.
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