The team with the best win in college football this year

[Chicat]

... Is your Arizona Wildcats.

BEAR DOWN!!!!

[Alieberman]

I just hope no NFL player goes out and hits his wife or kids tonight to take away our spotlight.

[wyo-cat]

something magical just happened tonight!!!

[UAEebs86]

Bear The Fuck Down!

[wyo-cat]

Bear The Fuck Down!

right on!!!

[catgrad97]

something magical just happened tonight!!!

And I do not care if you live in Newfoundland: If you slept through this one, not a fan.

[Chicat]

something magical just happened tonight!!!

And I do not care if you live in Newfoundland: If you slept through this one, not a fan.

Never leave . . . . your TV/radio/illegal stream.

[scumdevils86]

We have more wins in the last 9 years against Oregon than any other Pac 12 team...

Usc and Furd have 3 and we have 4...

[Puerco]

something magical just happened tonight!!!

And I do not care if you live in Newfoundland: If you slept through this one, not a fan.

Never leave . . . . your TV/radio/illegal stream.

I 'watched' it on game cast. Anyone know a site that streams video compatible with iPad?

[waysouthcat]

something magical just happened tonight!!!

And I do not care if you live in Newfoundland: If you slept through this one, not a fan.

Never leave . . . . your TV/radio/illegal stream.

I 'watched' it on game cast. Anyone know a site that streams video compatible with iPad?

Yeah, ESPN game cast for me too. I haven't found any streaming services that weren't some combination of malware, hard to use, and generally not worth the effort.

[CalStateTempe]

something magical just happened tonight!!!

And I do not care if you live in Newfoundland: If you slept through this one, not a fan.

Was up till 3am EST. Never felt better the AM.

[Chicat]

something magical just happened tonight!!!

And I do not care if you live in Newfoundland: If you slept through this one, not a fan.

Was up till 3am EST. Never felt better the AM.

I was up until 2:30 CDT, my kid came into our bed at 5:30 CDT after a nightmare and then proceeded to kick me for an hour, so I've been wide awake for a while and I'm still feeling great.

Maybe I'm still drunk...

[Longhorned]

I admit I fell asleep sometime around midnight and woke up to a boner

[Jefe]

Yet another Channing bet. Ridnour this time:

http://websta.me/p/823083346676250477_21707908

[the real dill]

College GameDay ‏@CollegeGameDay 5h5 hours ago
According to FPI, Arizona's 31-24 win over Oregon was the 8th-biggest upset in FBS this season and the 3rd-biggest between Power Five teams.

[EastCoastCat]

I made it until the end even though I had to get up at 5:30.

Great win, although when I watched Sportscenter to relish in the accolades that dickwad anchor from Oregon (Neil something) was doing the short highlights making excuses for the UO loss - prayer unsportsmanlike, Oregon's beat up o-line.

wtf?

[scumdevils86]

Definitely positives to living in the Pacific time zone

[Zona_Soccer10]

Duck hunting two years in a row.

[ghostwhitehorse]

[ANGCatFan]

Gimino at tucsonnewsnow.com with the best road wins in Wildcat football PAC 10/12 history.

It's self-evident that a victory over the second-ranked Ducks in Autzen Stadium is a great win. How great? Let's count down the biggest Arizona triumphs on the road in the Pac-10/12 era.

5. Arizona 31, Washington 28 (1998)

This is the Ortege Jenkins' Leap by the Lake game. His last-second dash and flip into the end zone provided the margin of victory. The win pushed Arizona to 5-0 heading into a home showdown against UCLA. The Wildcats, until Thursday night, hadn't been 5-0 since then.

4. Arizona 16, Arizona State 13 (1985)

The 20th-ranked Sun Devils just needed a tie to advance to the Rose Bowl, but Arizona denied them for the second time in four seasons. The game is well-remembered for Byron Evans stripping the ball from punt returner Anthony Parker, with Don Be'Ans recovering for a touchdown, and for Max Zendejas' fourth-quarter field goals - 57 yards with 5:29 to play and from 32 yards with 1:43 left.

3. Arizona 16, Notre Dame 13 (1982)

The Wildcats further cemented their giant-killer reputation under Coach Larry Smith when, a week after tying No. 8 UCLA 24-24 in Pasadena, Zendejas kicked a last-play 48-yard field goal to stun the ninth-ranked Fighting Irish.

2. Arizona 31, Oregon 24 (2014)

The Scooby strip, the running attack, Anu Solomon's poise, a hard-hitting defensive effort - all while in the Thursday night national spotlight - well, you can see the highlights and read all about it here.

1. Arizona 13, USC 10 (1981)

The Wildcats were 24-point underdogs - nearly identical to the oddsmakers' line from Thursday night - but ended USC's 22-game home winning streak. USC's Marcus Allen rushed for 211 yards - his fifth consecutive game with more than 200 - but Arizona allowed the Trojans to cross midfield only once in the second half ... and then the Cats recovered a fumble. Tom Tunnicliffe and Vance Johnson connected on a 13-yard score late in the third quarter for the winning points as UA rallied from a 10-0 hole.

It's Gimino so you should read the entire article, but here are a couple of his other points.

3. Anu Solomon can handle anything. Arizona's quarterback might have a moment or two every game when you say, "Oh, yeah, I can tell he's a freshman," but he already has the most epic fourth-quarter in school history against Cal, and a win over the second-ranked team in the loudest stadium on the West Coast. The stage will never be too big for him.

Just to recap for the people staring at their smart phones while life is happening all around them, redshirt Freshman Anu Solomon in 5 games has now posted the best total offense performance in school history, the best passing performance in school history, the biggest comeback in school history, the most points in one quarter (say it with me) in school history, and now the 2nd best road victory. Is it me, our could there be something happening here?

Despite all of the records I believe this offense is just getting started. They are improving every week and still putting all the pieces together.

The defense is the area that has me most concerned, but hopefully the Oregon performance inspires them for the rest of the year. One key could be if a career game by Pettinato can be just a new normal for him.

1. Don't overlook the contribution of Dan Pettinato. The Arizona senior defensive lineman had the game of his career, with seven tackles and a sack/forced fumble of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota. That stopped a potential scoring drive after the Ducks had reached the Arizona 33 late in the half. "We stayed together as a team," Pettinato said after the game. "I can't tell you how proud I am about our defense. We really stuck together."

Finally, here is the best game recap I found in my early morning search of the interweb.

[ANGCatFan]

Lots of Arizona relevant discussion in the Duck Hunter episode of ESPN's college football podcast. Just about every segment has some relevance to Arizona. Stay until the end for a short monologue on Coach Rod and Michigan.

[azthrillhouse]

Kind of lost me right away when this idiot Zuban described Matt Scott and BJ Denker as "plodding, drop-back passers" in contrast to the mobile Anu Solomon.

[MrBug708]

That didn't last very long

[azgreg]

That didn't last very long

Unranked over a #2 on the road is bigger than #11 over #1 at home.

[PieceOfMeat]

That didn't last very long

Unranked over a #2 on the road is bigger than #11 over #1 at home.

Yup.

[NYCat]

Alabama is #3

[azgreg]

Alabama is #3

In 1 poll, #1 in another.

[Chicat]

Coaches poll is useless.

[Chicat]

I've been racking my brain and I can't really think of a team with two better road wins than at Oregon and at Utah.

[Olsondogg]

I've been racking my brain and I can't really think of a team with two better road wins than at Oregon and at Utah.

Stop racking...there isn't one.

[ASUHATER!]

Yeah but any sec road win, even over unranked teams are better than any other road wins

[dc4azcats]

I've been racking my brain and I can't really think of a team with two better road wins than at Oregon and at Utah.

Stop racking...there isn't one.

It's not even close and it's why Bruce Feldman has us in his top 10 for that very reason. He tweeted it earlier today that no other team has 2 better road wins than Arizona.

[azpenguin]

I've felt since early last year that this team is almost better on the road than at home. They're 8-4 on the road dating to last season and two of those losses were Denker getting his "hello to the big leagues" moment. RR emphasizes the "business trip" aspect of road games and it seems like once these guys leave town they really feel like they've got something to prove. They circle the wagons and get it done.

[Harvey Specter]

I think expecting Stanford to beat UCLA is wishful thinking... they have not beaten a single ranked opponent this season (0-5) and I would expect the Rose Bowl to be as fired up as it is ever going to get for a Bruin regular season game.

Anything can happen, and the Bruins could have a letdown after a big win vs their rival. That said, if they can't get up for this game with what's at stake, they have some issues.

Obviously we still have a chance to win the conference... but short of that, our best bowl scenario is to beat ASU and have UCLA get throttled by UO. Despite our head-to-head loss vs UCLA, a 2-loss Arizona team with 3 marquee wins is likely a more attractive team to the Fiesta Bowl than a 3-loss UCLA team after getting stomped by UO. Oregon goes into the playoff, and we are arguably the most attractive P12 team to the rest of the bowls - almost assuredly the highest ranked, with the best record and the most momentum. The fact that the Fiesta Bowl is in AZ doesn't exactly hurt, either.

The Fiesta Bowl is our ceiling even if we were conference champions, because we are not making the playoff - short of several miracles in the next 2 weeks. Our worst case scenario is that UCLA beats Stanford and then Oregon.

Lots of different scenarios to consider... bottom line, beat ASU and we will likely be going to the best bowl game we have been to in the lifetimes of most college students. This is the biggest Territorial Cup for both UA & ASU in the PAC era - and quite possibly, ever. I can't wait...

[azpenguin]

They might need help, but RichRod will still hold this line and he's right: Everything they want is still in front of them.

[MrBug708]

Generally speaking, bowls don't want local teams if they can avoid it. They want the out of towners to bring in money

[3goggles]

Generally speaking, bowls don't want local teams if they can avoid it. They want the out of towners to bring in money

Yeah thats why the wanted ASSU before they lost to OSU!

[Harvey Specter]

Generally speaking, bowls don't want local teams if they can avoid it. They want the out of towners to bring in money

Between AZ alumni across the West and people who would travel up from Tucson for the game - I think AZ fans would "travel" better to the Fiesta Bowl than UCLA fans would. Either way, it's probably not different enough to be a deciding factor... it's not as if either team travels like Ohio State - but both fanbases will be fired up for the best bowl either program has seen in a long, long time.