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CATCH UP ON THE COUNTDOWN BY VISITING: ARIZONA’S TOP 100 INDIVIDUAL RECORDS
Only 99 days separate us from the start of Rich Rodriguez’s fifth season at Arizona, when the Wildcats play Brigham Young on Sept. 3 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
As is customary on this Web site we will count down the days with an interesting element associated with each day. This year the topic is the top 100 individual records in Arizona’s storied football past.
Compiling the list was no easy task, but it was feasible to do with the information provided in the record books by the Arizona media relations department, and we appreciate that.
In past years, we have counted down the top games and highlighted players and some of the top plays in Wildcat history. A couple of years ago in our top 100 countdown, we showcased the 1914 team that was responsible for Arizona becoming the “Wildcats”.
Back to this year’s countdown of the top 100 individual records in the 117 years of Arizona football:
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The Ortege Jenkins to Trung Canidate connection worked for the longest non-scoring passing play in school history in a 1998 game against UCLA
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No. 99
Ortege Jenkins to Trung Canidate — Longest non-scoring passing play, 74 yards vs. UCLA, 1998
The play can be viewed at the 18:55 mark of this video:
An interesting stat kept by the Arizona media relations department because long plays, especially passing, between the end zones are usually not recorded. A 74-yard pass is not all that uncommon — the Wildcats have completed 17 passes of 80 or more yards in their history. However, a 74-yard pass that does not make the end zone is rare. In a pivotal 1998 game against UCLA at Arizona Stadium, Trung Canidate started the play with a reception 10 yards from the line of scrimmage from quarterback Ortege Jenkins. He sprinted from one sideline to the center of the field before he was caught at the UCLA 4-yard line by linebacker Tony White. Kelvin Eafon ran for the score on the next play to give Arizona a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter. UCLA rallied for 21 points in the fourth quarter to pull away to a 52-28 victory, handing Arizona its lone loss that season and qualifying the Bruins for a trip to the Rose Bowl as the Pac-10 champs.
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
