2014 Arizona Wildcats football team

The 2014 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season was the Wildcats's 115th overall, 37th as a member of the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12) and its fourth within the Pac-12 South Division. The team was led by head coach Rich Rodriguez, in his third year, and played its home games at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona for the 86th straight year.

They ultimately finished 10–4, achieving the third 10-win regular season in program history. The Wildcats won the Pac-12 South Division for the first time, advancing to the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where they faced the Oregon Ducks. The Wildcats played in the first year of the New Year's Six bowls, netting a berth in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl, the school's third major-bowl appearance, where they faced the Boise State Broncos. Arizona lost the game to Boise State, 38–30.

Top returning players
Offense

Defense

Special teams

Spring football
On April 12, 2014, Arizona capped off its spring football camp with a scrimmage at Arizona Stadium which was open to the public.

Overall awards
Offensive

Maxwell Award – College Football Player of the Year *Austin Hill

Walter Camp Award – Player of the Year *Austin Hill

Biletnikoff Award – College Football Player of the Year *Austin Hill

Defensive awards
Defensive

Bronko Nagurski Trophy – Most Outstanding Defensive Player *Jared Tevis

Depth chart
Source:

On April 12, 2014, the Wildcats will play the White and Navy Blue game, the program's annual spring game. Arizona plays seven of twelve regular season games at home: two of three non-conference games and five of nine in Pac-12 play. For the second-straight year the Cats face neither Stanford nor Oregon State.

vs No. 2 Oregon (Pac-12 Championship Game)
Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota was named MVP.

vs No. 20 Boise State (Fiesta Bowl)
Boise State wide receiver Thomas Sperbeck was named Offensive MVP.

Boise State linebacker Tanner Vallejo was named Defensive MVP.

Pac-12 Conference awards

 * Defensive Player of the Year
 * Scooby Wright III


 * Coach of the Year
 * Rich Rodriguez

Reference:

Team awards

 * Chuck Bednarik Award : Scooby Wright III


 * Bronko Nagurski Trophy – Most Outstanding Defensive Player : Scooby Wright III


 * Lombardi Award : Scooby Wright III

Reference:

All-Americans
Scooby Wright III
 * SI.com 2014 Midseason All-American Team
 * 2014 College Football All American (Associated Press (AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Walter Camp Foundation (WCFF), The Sporting News (TSN), Sports Illustrated (SI), USA Today (USAT) ESPN, CBS Sports (CBS), College Football News (CFN), Scout.com, and Yahoo! Sports (Yahoo!))

Pac-12 All-Conference Team
The Wildcats saw 10 of its players honored as members of the 2014 Pac-12 All-Conference team. The first team had one such honoree, while the second team had two. Seven other Cats would land Honorable Mention status.


 * First team
 * Scooby Wright III, LB, So.


 * Second team
 * Steven Gurrola, OL, Sr.
 * Drew Riggleman, P, Jr.


 * Honorable mention
 * Austin Hill, WR, Sr.
 * Cayleb Jones, WR, So.
 * Jonathan McKnight, CB, Sr.
 * Dan Pettinato, DE, Sr.
 * Anu Solomon, QB, Fr.
 * Jared Tevis, S, Sr.
 * Nick Wilson, RB, Fr.

Pac-12 Conference All-Academic players
The Wildcats had six players selected to the Pac-12 Conference All-Academic Team. One player garnered first team honors, while two players landed on the second team, the Wildcats had 3 players granted honorable mention. In order to be eligible for the academic team a player must maintain a minimum 3.0 overall grade-point average and play in at least 50 percent of their team's games.
 * First team
 * Jared Tevis, S, Sr., 3.28 GPA


 * Second team
 * Jared Baker, RB, Jr., 3.30 GPA
 * Jake Matthews, LB, So., 3.55 GPA


 * Honorable mention
 * Calvin Allen, DE, Fr., 3.23 GPA
 * Abraham Mendivil, WR, Fr., 3.29 GPA
 * Casey Skowron, PK, Jr., 3.37 GPA

Reference:

Player of the Week
Anu Solomon
 * 2x Coaches Offensive Player of the Week
 * Manning Award of the Week, Sept. 2nd
 * Athlon Sports' National Freshman of the Week
 * Davey O'Brien QB of the Week, Sept. 23rd
 * Athlon Sports' Pac12 Player of the Week
 * Manning Award Star of the Week
 * Vegas Seven- Las Vegas Bowl Pac-12 Player of the Week, Sept. 24th
 * Maxwell Award Watchlist
 * Hard Edge Player of the Week

Cayleb Jones
 * Pac-12 Player of the Week, Sept. 22nd
 * Coaches Offensive Player of the Week
 * Co-CFPA Wide Receivers of the Week
 * Earl Campbell Award Week 4 Honorable mention
 * Biletnikoff Award Watch List

Terris Jones-Grigsby
 * Coaches Offensive Player of the Week

Austin Hill
 * Co-CFPA Wide Receivers of the Week

Samajie Grant
 * Coaches Offensive Player of the Week

Nate Phillips
 * Hard Edge Player of the Week

Nick Wilson
 * 4x Coaches Offensive Player of the Week
 * Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week

Steven Gurrola
 * Coaches Co-Hard Edge Player of the Week

Parker Zellers
 * Coaches Co-Hard Edge Player of the Week

Dan Pettinato
 * Coaches Defensive Player of the Week

Jared Tevis
 * 2x Coaches Defensive Player of the Week
 * 2x Hard Edge Player of the Week

Scooby Wright III
 * 3x Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
 * 5x Coaches Defensive Player of the Week
 * Hard Edge Player of the Week
 * Athlon Sports' National Defensive Player of the Week
 * National Defensive Performer of the Week
 * National Linebacker of the Week
 * 2x Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week
 * Bednarik Award watchlist

Davonte' Neal
 * Coaches Special Teams Player of the Week

Tyrell Johnson
 * Coaches Special Teams Player of the Week

Jourdon Grandon
 * Coaches Defensive Player of the Week

Drew Riggleman
 * 2x Coaches Special Teams Player of the Week
 * Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week

Casey Skowron
 * 3x Coaches Special Teams Player of the Week
 * Lou Groza Award Stars of the Week
 * National Specialist of the Week by CFPA, Sept. 8th

Radio

 * ESPN Radio – (ESPN Tucson 1490 AM & 104.09 FM) – Nationwide (Dish Network, Sirius XM, TuneIn radio and iHeartRadio)
 * KCUB 1290 AM – Football Radio Show – (Tucson, AZ)
 * KHYT – 107.5 FM (Tucson, AZ)
 * KTKT 990 AM – La Hora de Los Gatos (Spanish) – (Tucson, AZ)
 * KGME 910 AM – (IMG Sports Network) – (Phoenix, AZ)
 * KTAN 1420 AM – (Sierra Vista, AZ)
 * KDAP 96.5 FM (Douglas, Arizona)
 * KWRQ 102.3 FM – (Safford, AZ/Thatcher, AZ)
 * KIKO 1340 AM – (Globe, AZ)
 * KVWM 970 AM – (Show Low, AZ/Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ)
 * XENY 760 – (Nogales, Sonora) (Spanish)

TV

 * KOLD (CBS)
 * KGUN (ESPN College Football on ABC/ABC)
 * FOX (Fox Sports Media Group)
 * FS1 (Fox Sports Media Group)
 * ESPN (ESPN Family)
 * ESPN2 (ESPN Family)
 * ESPNU (ESPN Family)
 * CBS Sports Network
 * Pac-12 Network (Pac-12 Arizona)