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. 4 as the kickoff to the Wildcats’ season — and the start of the Rich Rodriguez era — is only four days away.

SCORE: No. 14 Arizona Wildcats 34, No. 4 ASU Sun Devils 17

DATE: Nov. 22, 1986

SITE: Arizona Stadium, 58,267 in attendance

WHY IT MADE THE LIST: “You Can’t Smell Roses With A Broken Nose”

The scoreboard at Arizona Stadium reflects Chuck Cecil’s achievement as the UA took a commanding lead in its upset win over No. 4 ASU in 1986 (fan photo)

An Arizona fan lofted that sign high in Arizona Stadium as the Wildcats were delivering a knockout blow of historical proportions.

The punch that put an exclamation point on the victory was Chuck Cecil’s 106-yard interception for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The play, officially listed at 100 yards, is the greatest play in the history of the program.

The Sun Devils were 9-0-1 entering the game, already clinching a spot in their first Rose Bowl, and were challenging for a national championship. The Wildcats (7-2) had not beaten their arch-rivals this convincingly since 1964 when Jim LaRue’s team pounded Frank Kush’s 8-1 team 30-6 in Tucson.

The victory was the fifth straight by the Wildcats over their archrival during “The Streak” and earned them a berth in the Aloha Bowl against North Carolina, in which they won to notch their first bowl victory in school history.

The Sun Devils failed to notch their first undefeated regular season since 1975, when they went 11-0.

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This is the second of a three-part recap of Arizona’s nine victories against AP Top 10 teams who have traveled to Tucson. The 24th-ranked Wildcats host No. 9 Iowa on Saturday, marking the first non-conference top 10 team to play in Tucson since No. 2 Miami, Fla., beat the Cats 36-9 on Oct. 26, 1991.

No. 14 Arizona 34, No. 4 ASU 17 (Nov. 22, 1986 — 58,267 attendance)

The highest ranking for ASU against Arizona in Tucson did nothing for the Sun Devils.

The UA’s defense, led by Chuck Cecil and James De Bow, effectively thwarted any comeback attempt by ASU. DeBow’s goal-line tackle against ASU fullback Channing Williams on fourth-and-goal from the 1 and the 100-yard interception return for a touchdown by Cecil are moments to cherish for Arizona followers.

Arizona’s defensive play is the theme of the three victories listed today in our recap.

Arizona 6, No. 6 Oklahoma 3 (Sept. 16, 1989 — 50,931)

In the dark, the night before the Cats’ upset win, Doug Pfaff walked back and forth across the turf of an empty Arizona Stadium, kicking make-believe field goals. Before almost 51,000 people, Pfaff kicked two field goals. His 40-yarder with two seconds left gave Arizona the upset victory.

“It’s a little visualization that I do every Friday night before a game,” Pfaff told reporters after the game.

Oklahoma came into the game averaging 428 yards rushing, but Arizona limited the Sooners to 222 yards on the ground. That was the extent of the Sooners’ offense since they didn’t have any passing yardage in the game.

The win over the Sooners is the UA’s last against a non-conference top 10 team at Arizona Stadium.

No. 12 Arizona 16, No. 1 Washington 3 (Nov. 7, 1992 — 58,510)

The UA’s defense against Oklahoma was the difference in the 1989 thriller. The Wildcats played perhaps their best defensive game against top-ranked Washington in 1992.

The victory stands as the only win over a top-ranked team in Tucson for the Wildcats.

Washington, averaging 29 points a game and winners of 22 straight games, never reached the end zone against the Desert Swarm defense. The Wildcats held the Huskies to 90 yards rushing, less than half their average, and limited them to their lowest scoring output in seven years. The loss also snapped a 15-game Pac-10 winning streak for Washington.

In the Understatement of the Year, Washington quarterback Mark Brunell told reporters afterward: “I would say they’re undoubtedly the best defense that we have faced this year.”

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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