Arizona Football: Wildcats Defense ranks No. 3 in the nation, No. 1 in the Pac-12 in Interceptions

Arizona Football has some fun things to celebrate as they work on fixing the issues evident from the USC Game last Saturday. One of those things to celebrate is interceptions.

According to the Pac-12 press release, Arizona Football still has a chance to win the Pac-12 South. It may come down to the Territorial Cup game against Arizona State. If Arizona (or ASU) ‘wins out, and USC drops its final two games, then the victor of the Territorial Cup would be the South Division participant in the Pac-12 Championship Game.’ I think Arizona has been in this position before, no?

Everyone is hyped about the Arizona Football team and their offense as of late and for a good reason. Arizona’s defense allowed the USC Trojans to score 49 points and rack up 642 yards of offense last Saturday night in Los Angeles.

Arizona Wildcats Football

Both the offense and the defense have things to work on, but one thing is for darn sure, the Arizona defense can catch! So far this season seven different players, not all cornerbacks and safeties mind you, have grabbed an interception. Two, Colin Schooler (66 yards against Washington State) and Jace Whittaker (42 yards against UCLA), caught a touchdown pass, or a pick six as one would call it.

Other than Schooler (2 total) and Whittaker (3 total), five other Wildcats have caught interceptions. Junior safety Demetrius Flannagan-Fowles started off the season with his first of three interceptions. One got the feeling that what the leaders on defense had promised was going to come true from his first interception. Flannagan-Fowles was the spark plug who got things going on defense with two interceptions against Houston and one against Northern Arizona University. Add 59 tackles including 40 solo tackles to this Wildcats stats, and you should be impressed.

Freshman Lorenzo Burns, a cornerback out of Murrietta, Ca., also has racked up three interceptions. One against Houston, then Cal, then No. 15 ranked Washington State. Burns has also made 58 tackles, and 41 of those were solo tackles.

Dane Cruikshank’s first interception was against UCLA’s quarterback Josh Rosen in the red zone. He saved a touchdown on Saturday night against USC, who knew he would be one of Sam Darnold’s favorite targets? It was beautiful! The last interception he made landed Dane on the list of PFF College Football’s Pac-12 team of the week. He told us before the season that he would lead his defense and he is, promise kept!

Junior cornerback Jace Whittaker is having himself a season in 2017. He caught two interceptions against UCLA and one against Washington State. Whittaker has logged 25 total tackles and only had help with one of them. Here is the pick six for your enjoyment:

True Freshman Tony Fields II caught his first interception in the second half of the Washington State game. Tony has made 69 total tackles in his first season as a Wildcat, 41 of those were made all by himself.

Yet another true freshman, safety Jarrius Wallace, in just three games, has accumulated 20 tackles, ten of which he made by himself. Jarrius added an interception in his first game against Cal! Then in just the next game against Washington State, earned a starting position. He went from third to first on the depth chart.

True freshman linebacker Colin Schooler may have stolen the show though when he ran for 66 yards on his second interception of his first season as a Wildcat evading the Wazzu defense all, the, way.

Add all these interceptions up, and they total 15. Fifteen interceptions in just nine games. That’s good enough to rank No. 3 in the NCAA in Interceptions. Only South Florida and Florida Atlantic rank higher both earning 18 interceptions total. Not only do the Cats own the third spot in the nation, but they are also No. 1 by far in the Pac-12 with the next highest stat belonging to USC, Cal and Stanford tied at 13.

The defense is playing TEAM ball. They never seem to want any credit, they are always talking about the team. Check out Schooler talking about his interception, or not.

Let’s not forget this huge play by Schooler to win the game against Cal in double-overtime.

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Arizona (6-3, 4-3) will take on the Oregon State Beavers at home for Senior Night and Military Appreciation Night on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 7:15 (ESPN2). YOU HAVE TO GO! Especially if you are in Tucson, find a way to show the team that you appreciate all their hard work and that you know they are doing everything they can to fulfill their promises to Wildcats fans.