TUCSON, Ariz. -- Nick Wilson had no idea how close the Arizona State pursuit was to catching him. To make sure, he pulled a page from Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald's Super Bowl XLIII playbook.
"I was looking up at the screen while I was running down, but I forgot there was a little delay to it," the Arizona running back said. "So I picked up a little more speed as I went."
Wilson had more than enough pace to reach the end zone on a 72-yard, third-quarter touchdown run. It was one of three times the freshman scored in No. 11 Arizona's 42-35 win over the No. 13 Sun Devils on Friday at Arizona Stadium.
The Wildcats thought they might be able to hurt the Sun Devils in the run game. ASU has had trouble with elite backs this season. Entering the game, its rush defense ranked ninth in the Pac-12, allowing 159.6 yards per game. Given the Sun Devils' penchant for bringing pressure off the edge, Arizona thought it might be able to hurt ASU up the gut.
But it got off to a sluggish start. Wilson had just 12 yards after the first quarter.
"We didn't block well and we were outnumbered so they got us a few times," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said. "They did a nice job. We weren't executing at all in the run game in the first half. But the big [72]-yard run was a big boost for us."
The same can be said for Wilson. Arizona lost one of the best backs in the country when Ka'Deem Carey graduated last season. Carey was a consensus All-American his final two seasons, rushing for 3,814 yards those two seasons while scoring 44 touchdowns.
Wilson never expected to replace Carey so fast.
"Truthfully, I expected to probably come in, just get some reps and probably be in a rotation or possibly redshirt," he said. "I got the chance and I had the opportunity to make the best of it."
He did it immediately. He carried seven times for 104 yards and a TD in the season-opener against UNLV then ran for 174 yards and a TD against Texas-San Antonio and 171 yards and two TDs against Nevada.
He was on his way to another 100-yard game against Oregon when he suffered an ankle injury that limited him for four weeks, but he topped the 100-yard mark against Colorado on Nov. 8 (154) and saved his best two games for the final two of the regular season.
Wilson carried 20 times for 218 yards and three TDs last week in a blowout of Utah to become the first Arizona freshman to top the 1,000-yard mark in a season. He gained 178 yards against ASU to win the Territorial Cup Bob Moran MVP award and push Arizona to its highest point in the Rodriguez era.
"Everybody we sign, we think, in our opinion is a really good player," Rodriguez said. "With Ka'Deem graduating, we thought Nick would have an opportunity to play maybe some as a freshman.
"The fact that's he's learned it so quickly and been able to do well as a true freshman is a credit not only to him but also to Calvin Magee who I think is the best running back coach in the country."
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