The 1986 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona during the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. They were coached by Larry Smith in his seventh and final season. The Wildcats ended the season with a 9âÂÂ3 record (5âÂÂ3 in Pac-10) and won the Aloha Bowl against North Carolina for their first bowl win ever.
The season was best known for a 34âÂÂ17 upset victory over rival Arizona State in the regular season finale that denied ASU an unbeaten season and chance at a potential national championship. The game also was known for Arizona returning an interception for touchdown that broke the game open.
After the season, Smith was hired by Pac-10 foe USC as the head coach (see below). He was replaced by Hawaii coach Dick Tomey, who had a successful tenure with the Wildcats.
Arizona finished the 1985 season with a record of 8âÂÂ3âÂÂ1 (5âÂÂ2 in Pac-10) and tied with Georgia in the Sun Bowl. The team entered 1986 with high expectations, and had their live television ban lifted following sanctions against them from 1983. They were also eligible to be placed in the poll rankings in the season. In addition, the Wildcats began the year in contention for the Pac-10 title and Rose Bowl.
The Wildcats went on the road to face Oregon and was ranked 17th, which was the first time since 1983 that they were officially ranked in the polls. The Arizona offense would become too much for the Ducks and remain unbeaten.
Undefeated and eleventh-ranked Arizona visited UCLA at the Rose Bowl. The Wildcats led 18-0 earlier in the game and seemed like they would stay unbeaten before the Bruins bounced back to grab the lead before Arizona regained it the fourth quarter. With over a minute remaining, UCLA drove into Arizona territory and scored to retake the lead for good to hand the Wildcats their first loss of the season.
On homecoming day, the Wildcats hosted USC in a top-20 matchup. Although the Wildcats (ranked 14th) would hang tough with the Trojans (18th), their offense didnâÂÂt do enough and committed several turnovers, leading to a loss. Smith would become USC's coach after the season (see below).
In the regular season finale, Arizona hosted fourth-ranked and unbeaten Arizona State in the annual rivalry game. Entering the game, Arizona State had already clinched both the Pac-10 title and Rose Bowl berth. The Wildcatsâ offense got off to a good start early and their defense shut down the Sun Devilsâ offense for most of the game, including a goal-line stand in the third quarter.
The turning point of the game occurred in the fourth quarter when ASU, down 24âÂÂ10, threatened by driving down the field and cutting into Arizona's lead. However, the Wildcat defense came up big again by forcing ASU quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst to throw an interception in the end zone, with Arizona safety Chuck Cecil returning it back the other way down the sideline for a 100-yard touchdown to give Arizona a 31âÂÂ10 lead that sent Arizona Stadium (and Tucson) into a frenzy and shocking almost everybody in the state of Arizona. The play led to Arizona grabbing momentum and ASU would not recover from it for the rest of the game and the Wildcats went on to win by a score of 34-17 and gave the Sun Devils their first and only loss of the season and ended ASU's chances for a possible national championship. It was also ArizonaâÂÂs fifth straight victory over ASU, which was their longest winning streak in the rivalry since they won 11 in a row from 1932 to 1948.
In a postgame interview after the game, Smith remarked that the Wildcats were the âÂÂbig brotherâ team in the state due to ArizonaâÂÂs dominance against ASU at the time (a reference to when he called the team âÂÂASUâÂÂs little brotherâ after a loss in 1981). He also said that Arizona was the stateâÂÂs âÂÂNFL teamâ due to their performance (also echoing the remarks that he said after losing to ASU in his first season in 1980.
Arizona fans often declare Cecil's pick-six as the greatest moment in Wildcat football history and not just in the UAâÂÂASU rivalry.
Riding high on the momentum after its big victory over Arizona State, the Wildcats traveled out of the country to play Stanford in Tokyo in a special matchup. The Cardinal would narrowly get past Arizona, ending the regular season. This was the first and so far, only time in Wildcat history that the team played a game outside of the United States.
In the Aloha Bowl in Hawaii, Arizona faced North Carolina (whom, like Arizona, are best known for their prestigious men's basketball programs). The Wildcats played hard and defeated the Tar Heels to win their first-ever bowl game in program history (the Wildcats had been winless their previous bowl appearances, including a tie in the previous year). It turned out to be Smith's final game as Arizona's coach.
At the conclusion of the season, Smith left Arizona to accept the head coaching position at USC, due to the fact that the Trojansâ football tradition lasted longer than the Wildcats and that he would be offered more money since Los Angeles (where USC is located) is a much larger market than Tucson, and that Arizona didn't pay him as much money. Smith would be fired by USC after the 1992 season and would later become coach at Missouri from 1994 to 2000.
To replace Smith, the Wildcats hired Hawaii coach Dick Tomey, to take over the program (coincidentally, Arizona's Aloha Bowl victory occurred on Hawaii's home field). Arizona believed that Tomey would build a chemistry with the players and to help rebuild the team after Smith's departure. Tomey would build the Wildcats to greater heights, highlighted by a dominant defense in the early-to-mid 1990s. Tomey stepped down as coach after the 2000 season.
The 1986 season was a memorable one for the Wildcats and fans thanked Smith for turning the program around during the 1980s as well as the dominance over ASU. Although Smith died in 2008, his legacy as Arizona coach would live on in Wildcat memories.