Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Last season Scooby Wright had a season for the ages. ’Two Star’ Scooby won every national defensive award you can think of and the Pat Tillman Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Sun devil fans take great pride in Tillman, and they should, but I’m sure they are not very happy that a Wildcat is the reigning recipient of an award named after one of the greatest devils of all time. If I was a betting man I would say the devils fans will still be upset when the winner of the award is announced at the end of the season.
How good was Scooby’s second season in the Old Pueblo?
The guy finished ninth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
That’s pretty remarkable when you consider Scooby was a recruiting afterthought for most programs and Arizona is not considered a place people go to win Heisman’s or even place in the top ten in Heisman voting, unless your name is Ka’Deem Carey .
Let’s take a look at Scooby Wright‘s phenomenal career thus far in Tucson by looking back at his top 5 games at Arizona so far.
Next: Honorable Mention : Buckin' the Broncos
Dec 31, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats linebacker Scooby Wright III (33) defends Boise State Broncos offensive lineman Rees Odhiambo (71) during the third quarter in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl at Phoenix Stadium. The Broncos won 38-30. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Honorable Mention : Dec. 31, 2014
Boise State 38 Arizona 30
This game is still tough for some Arizona fans to swallow, but it really shouldn’t be.
The Broncos have been performing at a high level against power five conference schools for over a decade. Especially in what should be considered their own personal postseason event. The Fiesta Bowl.
Things looked bad when the Cats got down 21-0 early, but thanks to the Wildcats defense only giving up 74-yards of total offense in the second half, they were in it until the final play.
Scooby had ten tackles in this game. This was just below Scooby’s per game average during the 2014 season.
What made this performance impressive is of the ten tackles he had, they were all solo. Two of those tackles were also for a loss.
Scooby’s performance showed the nation in a high-profile game what they had been missing all year, while they were watching the SEC and Big-10.
Next: No. 5 : Eugene Euphoria
Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
5. Oct. 2, 2014
Arizona 31 Oregon 24
When Scooby faces the Oregon Ducks, he makes game defining plays.
In 2013 when the highly ranked Ducks came to Tucson on the first play from scrimmage, Shaquille Richardson showed off his best acrobatic skills by jumping out-of-bounds, but not before knocking a Marcus Mariota pass backwards to an alert Scooby Wright, who was standing just in bounds for an interception.
It was the first pick for the future Heisman winner in 343 pass attempts. The play defined the game and the Cats rolled to a 42-16 win over the No. 5 Ducks.
When the Cats went to Eugene to take on the No. 2 Ducks in 2014 Scooby had seven tackles and one sack, but one play Scooby pulled off late in the fourth quarter made it impossible to not be involved with this Top 5.
The Cats took a late fourth quarter touchdown lead and Oregon fans were hopeful that Mariota would be the hero to get the game to overtime.
Scooby Wright had other plans when he cleverly stripped the football out of Mariota’s hands and recovered it himself.
The Cats came into Eugene as 24-point underdogs and left with the biggest high-profile win, up to that point, of the Rich Rod era.
Next: No. 4 : Scooby Snacks on Wazzu
Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
4. Oct. 25, 2014
Arizona 59 Washington State 37
This game was one of the least stressful conference games to watch all year, but it helped that the Cats led 31-0 in the first half.
The Cougars got it going in the second half but they started their engines a little too late for it to be competitive.
On a side note, do you ever wonder in 2000 what have happened if Jim Livengood had hired the Cougars Mike Price instead of ‘He Who Must Not Be Named?’ That could have been pretty interesting.
Back to the game.
Special teams were big in this one. Davonte Neal had an 81-yard punt return for a touchdown early in the first quarter and on a fluke play Cayleb Jones ended the special teams great day by returning a Washington State onside kick all the way to the house, for the Cats last touchdown of the day.
Scooby made some noise in this Pac-12 road battle when he finished with eight tackles. This is a little low for Scooby standards, so he added three sacks and three forced fumbles to his daily routine.
Next: No. 3 : Pac-12 South Title Game
Nov 28, 2014; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats linebacker Scooby Wright III (33) walks on the field in between plays during the third quarter of the territorial cup against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Arizona Stadium. The Wildcats won 42-35. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
3. Nov. 28, 2014
Arizona 42 Arizona State 35
I have said it time and time again, but this game was the biggest win in program history.
When the Cats beat the devils last November they had never won a game that had the stakes of this one. With the win over the devils the Cats regained the beloved Territorial Cup and won the Pac-12 South Championship outright.
Thank you Stanford. I sure hate your tree mascot but I appreciate you taking out the Bruins for all of us Arizona fans.
Scooby didn’t take long to make a difference in this one. In Arizona State’s second play of the game, Taylor Kelly dropped back to pass before being rocked by a silent but deadly Scooby Wright. The ball popped loose and Junior safety Anthony Lopez picked up the loose ball and ran 25-yards for the Cats first touchdown of the game.
In 2013 Scooby had a quiet contest in his first game against the Cats hated rivals. He made up for it in a big way in the 2014 version of the Duel in the Desert. Wright finished with 13 tackles and two sacks in the Cats historic 42-35 win.
Next: No. 2 : Scooby Sacks Bears
Sep 20, 2014; Tucson, AZ, USA; California Golden Bears running back Daniel Lasco (2) is tackled by Arizona Wildcats linebacker Scooby Wright III (33) during the third quarter at Arizona Stadium. Arizona won 49-45. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
2. Sep. 13, 2014
Arizona 49 Cal 45
When Scooby Wright came on the scene for the 2013 season he quickly became a fan favorite. His best game his freshmen year was in Arizona’s 33-28 win at Cal. Scooby had a season high eleven tackles that day in the Bay area.
In year two with the Wildcats, Scooby let the Bears have it again, although you would not expect it, during a game in which both teams combined for nearly 100 points.
The Cats may have given up 45 points but their defense had ten tackles for loss and three sacks. Scooby was responsible for two of those sacks and he also added a then career high 18 tackles.
The last two seasons have given us great games and victories when the Cats take on the Bears, but the Pac-12 rivals will not meet this season in conference play.
It would have been a great treat to see two Heisman hopefuls in Scooby Wright and California quarterback Jared Goff face off in another classic between these schools.
Maybe it can happen in 2016, if Scooby stays for his senior year.
Next: No. 1 : Scooby Dominates in Pasadena
Nov 1, 2014; Pasadena, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley (17) dives to the 2 yard line as Arizona Wildcats linebacker Scooby Wright III (33) brings him down during the second quarter at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
1. Nov. 1, 2014
UCLA 17 Arizona 7
My brother and I were able to score some general admission tickets for this game at the iconic Rose Bowl, so we sat as close to the Arizona section as we could.
Arizona Wildcats
The first thing we noticed when we sat down was that Scooby had a big cheering section. I’m assuming lots of these great fans were members of the Wright family and lots of these folks we’re wearing some pretty sweet Scooby T-shirts with his name and number 33 on the back.
The game itself was pretty miserable and boring even though the Cats kept it close throughout the affair.
One thing that was not boring was Scooby Wright.
Statistically he had his most dominating game yet. Wright finished the game with 19 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.
Even with Scooby’s awesome game, the Cats didn’t have enough to beat the Bruins. This was the second loss in three games for the Cats and a potential Pac-12 South Title was looking less and less like a possibility.
When my brother and I got into the car to leave the Rose Bowl, Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ came on the radio (this really happened.)
Less than a month later, thanks to a crazy day in the Pac-12, the Cats were the Pac-12 South Champs.
Bear Down Scooby!
Next: Top 5 Anu Solomon Games at Arizona