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CATCH UP ON THE COUNTDOWN BY VISITING: ARIZONA’S TOP 100 INDIVIDUAL RECORDS
Only 95 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.
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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:
No. 95
Highest Average Per Punt, Game: 57.6 yards, Danny Baugher vs. Purdue, Sept. 17, 2005 (7-403)
Arizona has produced some noteworthy punters including Mitch Hoopes, Sergio Vega, Ruben Rodriguez, Josh Miller and Nick Folk, but none had a better punting average in a game than Danny Baugher.
His 57.6-yard average in seven punts went largely unnoticed in game reports of Arizona’s 31-24 loss to the 12th-ranked Boilermakers. Mostly mentioned was Arizona’s use of red jerseys for the first time in 25 years and its 1-19 record in the last 20 games against ranked opponents. The mention of Baugher in reports included a failed fake punt attempt in the third quarter in which Baugher’s pitch to Wilrey Fontenot lost three yards. Such is the life of a punter.
Baugher had punts of 61, 51, 76, 63, 43, 68 and 41 yards. The 68-yarder bounced 20 yards before the ball rested at the Purdue 2. His career-best 76-yarder rolled into the end zone.
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.
