In the 50 days leading up to Arizona’s season-opener against Toledo, on Sept. 1 at Arizona Stadium, TucsonCitizen.com and its affiliate WildAboutAZCats.net will rank the Top 50 games in the history of the football program. The ranking is at No. 40 as the kickoff to the Wildcats’ season — and the start of the Rich Rodriguez era — is only 40 days away.

SCORE: Arizona Wildcats 35, USC Trojans 26

DATE: October 20, 1990

SITE: Los Angeles Coliseum, 68,212 in attendance

WHY IT MADE THE LIST: The “Fumblerooski Game” in which Arizona beat USC and its former coach Larry Smith, enabled the Wildcats to sweep USC and UCLA for the first and only time in Los Angeles in the same season. It was also the first time Arizona beat the Trojans at the Los Angeles Coliseum since the Wildcats upset the top-ranked Trojans in 1981. USC was 5-1 and ranked No. 15 at the time of the 1990 game. It was coming off three consecutive trips to the Rose Bowl under Smith, who coached Arizona from 1980-1986.

Arizona offensive guard Rick Warren, a walk-on transfer from Pittsburg State College in Kansas, ran 28 yards on a fumblerooski in the fourth quarter, setting up what proved to be the winning touchdown. On second down from the 31, center Paul Tofflemire intentionally left the ball on the ground for Warren, who had lined up at left guard. As quarterback Ron Veal faked a handoff into the line and the Trojan defenders looked on bewilderingly, Warren picked up the ball and carried it 28 yards. The fumblerooski took the ball to USC’s 3-yard line. One play later, Veal scored on a 1-yard run to make the score 28-17.

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This list was published in WildAboutAZCats.com as part of its countdown toward the 2010 Arizona football season, which begins Friday night at Toledo

The best play in University of Arizona football in the last 40 years is … Chuck Cecil‘s 100-yard interception return for a touchdown against ASU in 1986.

Arizona Stadium has never been more loud in my almost 35 years of experience attending games there. The legendary interception came with 8:56 remaining, as the fourth-ranked Sun Devils, unbeaten and heading to their first Rose Bowl, drove for a touchdown that could have narrowed Arizona’s lead to 24-17.

Cecil stepped in front of Jeff Van Raaphorst‘s pass 7 yards deep in the end zone. He eluded a few ASU tacklers, broke free to the right sideline, and then sprinted to the end zone in what is the most electrifying moment in UA football history, especially in Tucson. The Wildcats won 34-17 and afterward, Cecil remarked: “I hate ASU.”

Why is this play No. 1?: It is the signature play of “The Streak” which turned the tide in the modern era of the series following ASU’s dominance of Arizona in football in the 1960s and 1970s. How often does a former walk-on intercept a pass and run the entire length of the field for a touchdown? Answer: Practically once in a lifetime. Last-second kicks happen all the time — not to take anything away from Max Zendejas and his numerous, important clutch performances — but what Cecil did in 1986 may never happen again in our lifetime. It has not to this point.

Now on to the rest of the list of my Top Ten Plays in UA History (in my lifetime): …

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