Austin Hill: Arizona WR Torches USC with 259-Yard Performance

While all the talk in the USC-Arizona matchup had been about the Trojan wide receivers, Austin Hill proved to be in the elite class with a 12 catch, 259-yard day. Hill ended up on the right side of the result as ‘Zona pulled off the 39-36 upset.

The sophomore wideout shredded the USC defense all afternoon, registering a maddening 25.9 yards per catch on the day.  The Trojan’s had no answer for Hill’s YAC-ability, as he churned off long gains with his legs regularly.

The game between the Wildcats and Trojans was a yardage-fest, with over 1200 yards and 850 of them coming from the quarterbacks. That’s nothing new for these two high-powered offenses though.

The surprise in this game was the gaudy receiving totals from both Hill and USC’s Marquis Lee, who had numbers that are usually reserved for quarterbacks: 16 catches, 345 yard and two touchdowns. The two Pac-12 wideouts combined for 26 catches and over 700 yards by themselves.

Hill and Lee came into the game as the top-two Pac-12 receiving leaders in yards. They’re likely to separate even more from the pack after both monster days.

The Wildcat’s upset should propel Hill into the All-Pac 12 first team at this point in the season. He leads Arizona’s vaunted attack that has reemerged under Rich Rodriguez’s tutelage.

With All-Conference teams striving for diversity, Hill will likely grab a spot instead of Trojans Lee and Robert Woods both winning spots.

Regardless of year-end accolades, Hill has one accomplishment to hang over the Trojan wideouts: an upset win in 2012. He had a lot to do with that result.