2013 Arizona Wildcats football team
The 2013 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats played their home games at Arizona Stadium in Tucson for the 85th straight year. The 2013 season was Arizona's third in the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference and the second for head coach Rich Rodriguez.

Before the season

Previous season
In the 2012 season, head coach Rich Rodriguez's first at Arizona, the Wildcats went 8–5 overall and 4–5 in Pac-12 play.  The team defeated Nevada 49–48 in the 2012 New Mexico Bowl after trailing 48–35 with 1:48 remaining in the game.

No Arizona player was taken in the NFL draft for the first time since 2005, although three signed with teams as free agents.  Quarterback Matt Scott signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, center Kyle Quinn signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, and wide receiver Dan Bucker signed with the Arizona Cardinals.

Spring practice
Arizona held fifteen spring practices from March 12 through April 13 including an hour-long scrimmage at Phoenix College on March 29.  The team's defense won the scrimmage by one point after stopping the offense on its final drive.  Quarterback B.J. Denker threw for four touchdowns and 176 yards.  Javelle Allen had 57 yards passing and 50 through the air.  Coach Rodriguez rested all-American running back Ka'Deem Carey, who appeared for only one series.  Several key defensive players were held out entirely, including Jake Fischer, Marquis Flowers, Jonathan McKnight, Shaquille Richardson, C.J. Dozier, Jourdon Grandon and Dan Pettinato.

Arizona's offense won the 2013 spring game, held on April 13 in front of 4,095 at the program's practice facility, Kindall/Sancet Stadium, and televised on Pac-12 Arizona.  Carey and Fischer again sat out, among others.  Denker went 13–20, 246 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 interception; Jesse Scroggins went 6–14, 44 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception; and Jack Nykaza went 8–12, 89 yards, and 2 touchdowns.  Dakota Conwell and Shane Wilson led the defense with 5 tackles apiece. Dame Ndiaye had 4 tackles, 1 sack (−10 yards), 1 tackle-for-loss (−1), a pass-broken-up, and a forced-fumble.  William Parks and Tra'mayne Bondurant each made an interception.

Recruiting class

Schedule
Arizona played six of twelve regular season games at home: two of three non-conference games and four of nine Pac-12 games. The Cats played neither Oregon State nor Stanford in both 2013 and 2014. They played the Boston College Eagles in the 2013 AdvoCare V100 Bowl to conclude the season, which they won 42–19.

Roster

Top returners

Offense

Defense

Special teams

Depth chart

Departures

Arrivals

Coaching staff

Game summaries

vs Northern Arizona

at UNLV

Junior RB Ka’Deem Carey, the nation’s leading rusher and a consensus All-American in 2012,  saw his first action of the season after serving a one-game suspension related to offseason off-the-field issues.

In their previous meeting in 2001, Arizona defeated the Rebels 38–21 and Arizona leads the all-time series 2–0.

vs UTSA

at No. 16 Washington

at USC

vs Utah

at Colorado

at California

vs No. 16 UCLA

vs Washington State

vs No. 5 Oregon

Ka'Deem Carey ran for 206 yards and four touchdowns, becoming Arizona's all-time leading rusher, and the Wildcats pulled off a monumental upset by taking advantage of numerous miscues, shocking the fifth-ranked Oregon Ducks 42–16 in Tucson.

The Wildcats achieved their first win over a top-five team since knocking off #2 Oregon in 2007.

Carey carried a school-record 48 times while scoring on runs of 6, 1, 9 and 2 yards to break Art Luppino's career record of 48 total touchdowns set from 1953–1956. Carey also reached 3,913 career yards rushing, breaking the mark of 3,824 set by Trung Canidate from 1996–1999.

at Arizona State

vs Boston College (AdvoCare V100 Bowl)

Quarterback B.J. Denker was named Offensive MVP.

Safety Will Parks was named Defensive MVP.

Statistics

Scores by quarter (non-conference opponents)

Scores by quarter (Pac-12 opponents)

After the season

Notes
January 13, 2014, Ka'Deem Carey will declare going to the 2014 NFL draft.

Awards
Tra’Mayne Bondurant
Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week (September 2, 2013)
Ka'Deem Carey
Consensus NCAA All-American (AFCA, FWAA, WCFF, AP)
USA Today First-Team All-American
CBSSports.com First-Team All-American
ESPN.com All-America Team
Sports Illustrated All-America Team
Athlon All-America Team
Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year
Pac-12 First-Team All-Conference (unanimous)
Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week (October 21, 2013; November 25, 2013)
B.J. Denker
Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week (October 28, 2013)
Jake Smith
Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week (September 9, 2013)
Nate Phillips
FWAA Freshman All American (January 6, 2014)

Team records broken
Team total offense

Rushing yards – career

Players drafted
The following Arizona players were selected in the 2014 NFL draft.

Rankings

Media affiliates

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)

References

Arizona
Arizona Wildcats football seasons
Independence Bowl champion seasons
Arizona Wildcats football