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CATCH UP ON THE COUNTDOWN BY VISITING: ARIZONA’S TOP 100 INDIVIDUAL RECORDS
Only 81 days separate us from the start of Rich Rodriguez’s fifth season, when the Arizona Wildcats football team plays 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.
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Arizona quarterback Nick Foles stood his ground in a record-setting performance against Stanford’s Andrew Luck in a 43-38 victory over the Cardinal and coach Jim Harbaugh in 2009.
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In past years, we have counted down the top games and highlighted players and some of the top plays in Arizona Wildcats football 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. 81
Highest Completion Percentage, Game: 78.4, Nick Foles, vs. Stanford, Oct. 17, 2009 (40 of 51)
Nick Foles’ name is all over the Arizona record book as he has another entry in this ranking of the Wildcats’ top individual records.
This is already Nick Foles’ fourth entry in the Arizona Wildcats individual records ranking and he’s bound for more.
The others to date in our Arizona Wildcats football ranking:
82. Fewest Passes Had Intercepted (Pct. of Attempts), Career (500 att): 2.36 percent, 2009-11 (33 in 1,396 attempts)
91. Most Pass Completions, career: 933, 2009-11
97. Total Offense in Career — 9,712 yards, 2009-11 (10,111 passing/-290 rushing/-9 receiving)
Foles’ impeccable performance in the 43-38 victory for the Arizona Wildcats football team on Oct. 17, 2009 was of legendary status because of the way he performed against Stanford’s much-publicized quarterback Andrew Luck.
Foles completed 40 of his 51 pass attempts for 415 yards without an interception and connected on three touchdown passes. Luck completed 21 of 35 tries for 423 yards with an interception and three touchdown passes.
Arizona battled back from a 15-point deficit in the second quarter and the Wildcats were also down 38-29 midway through the third quarter. Foles’ passing performance helped open the Arizona running game, which propelled the Wildcats to victory in the fourth quarter.
Greg Nwoko scored on a 43-yard run and Nic Grigsby took a delayed handoff from Foles and raced past Stanford’s blitzing defense on a third-and-17 play for the 57-yard game-winning touchdown with 2:57 remaining.
Juron Criner had 12 receptions for 152 yards and Terrell Turner tallied nine catches for 91 yards and a touchdown for Arizona.
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.
