Arizona football countdown: 13 days, The Wildcats picked off 13 passes in 2014

Not a ton, but pretty good for the Pac-12

The defense of the Arizona Wildcats ended up generating 13 interceptions in 14 games last year, which was good for third-best in the Pac-12, trailing only USC and ASU, who had 14 picks each. It was only half as much as the nation's leaders (Louisville, TCU and Louisiana Tech) and was 35th overall in the FBS.

While most people would probably guess that Tra'Mayne Bondurant had the most INTs last year, that's not exactly true. Jourdon Grandon ended up leading the team with three, while Bondurant, William Parks, Jared Tevis, and... Cam Denson, had a pair apiece. Denson having two is impressive considering he only started two games.

Bondurant's were the flashiest of course, bringing one back for a touchdown from 39 yards out, and picking up another 24 return yards on the other.

If you need to know how crazy Chuck Cecil was back in his day, he picked off four passes in one game against Stanford in 1987, and had 21 in his career, which was a Pac-10 record at the time. He also holds the school record for the longest INT return, scoring a 100-yard touchdown against ASU in 1986. Arizona has five interception returns of longer than 90 yards, with the most recent being Robert Golden in 2011 at Washington.

The greatest pass-intercepting season in school history came well before that though. In 1940, the team picked off 31 balls in nine games. That generated 41 yards of interception returns per game, which is another one of those crazy, old-timey stats that I can't even imagine in this day and age. Jackie Wallace owns the individual single season record, picking off the quarterback 11 times in 1971.

With two former receivers likely starting at corner this year (DaVonte' Neal and Cam Denson) along with a proven commodity like Will Parks, Arizona could see a few more picks this season, which would go a long way towards that ten-win season everyone so desires.

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