Arizona Pac 12 South Champions; Cats Beat ASU 42-35

Picture Courtesy of Arizona Athletics

By Francisco Romero

The Arizona Wildcats earned the right to play for the Pac 12 Championship game next week against No. 2 Oregon by defeating ASU 42 – 35.

No. 12 Arizona improved to 10 – 2 during the season.  Arizona captured the Pac-12 South Division championship for the first time since the league expanded and split into two divisions in 2011.

No. 13 ASU’s record stands now at 9-3.

“I’m really proud of our guys, I told them at halftime, it’s probably going to come down to the last minute so let’s get ready to play another 30 minutes,” said Arizona’s head coach Rich Rodriguez after the game.  “ Here we are, we’re where we want to be, playing for a Pac‐12 Championship. Our goal every year is to win the Pac‐12 South and then win the Pac‐12 Championship. We don’t talk about much after that because we don’t know.”

Everything seemed to align in Arizona’s favor as Stanford beat UCLA, allowing the Wildcats sole possession of first place in the Pac 12 South.

“We beat ourselves tonight and it killed us which is hard to say. We were on the one‐yard line and couldn’t even get seven points on the board,” said ASU’s head coach Todd Graham. 

Arizona State junior quarterback Mike Bercovici described the game in a more realistic way than his head coach; “They were a better team today. We turned the ball over too many times and that’s unacceptable as a quarterback especially in the fourth quarter.”

Arizona played with grit and determination on both sides of the field, “Anu (Solomon) toughed it out. He wasn’t 100 percent but he wasn’t doing any further damage. He was gutty, made a couple big throws. Anu’s a competitor and he’s a great leader for being a young redshirt freshman,” Rodriguez complimented his quarterback after the game.  

Redshirt freshman quarterback Anu Solomon, who missed the second half of last week’s game, threw for 208 yards and two touchdowns on 15-for-21 passing.

True freshman running back Nick Wilson finished the game with 178 rushing yards on 24 carries with three touchdowns. It was Wilson’s fourth-straight 100-yard rushing game and seventh of his young career.

Arizona’s defense once again proved it could play with anybody in the country.  Scooby Wright finished the game with 13 tackles and 2 quarterback sacks. “Scooby Wright has proven every game that he’s one of the best football players, not only on defense, but overall in the Pac‐12,” Said Rodriguez.

The win guarantees Arizona a 14th game (Pac-12 Championship game plus bowl) for the first time ever.