Oregon’s Marcus Mariota did something today against Arizona he hasn’t done in 353 pass attempts.
He threw an interception.
It was the first of the year for the Ducks quarterback and snapped his Pac-12 record. But what’s crazy about it is how it went down. It was almost as if it took an act of God for it to happen.
On a play you’ll see on highlights later tonight, Mariota’s first throw of the day hit his receiver in the numbers, but the ball bounced away out of bounds. Or so it seemed. It didn’t land incomplete. Instead, an Arizona defender deflected it back in bounds and into the hands of Scooby Wright at the Arizona 42-yard line.
Just like that, Mariota had his first pick and the Wildcats were in business. They would go on to score and forge an early 14-0 lead over the No. 6 Ducks.
Mariota still has a sterling 25-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He’s going to need to build on that if Oregon is going to survive against the Wildcats.