The Weekly Wildcat
July 4, 2006

(The Weekly Wildcat will appear each week on Tuesdays as part of a running series, updating Wildcats supporters on the sports happenings at the University of Arizona)

Mark Your Calendars

For those of you who thought last year’s trouncing of the UCLA Bruins was exciting just wait until we play mighty USC on September 23rd. I’ve been saying it for two years and now as our team partakes in voluntary summer workouts let me be the first to officially predict that we will beat USC at home this year. My gut tells me the final score will be 24-23 but since our defense will be much improved and our relatively strong kicking game has produced results under the Stoops regime, let’s toss in a downed punt on the two and a safety to make the end result 26-23. How can this happen you ask? Let me tell you.

First, scheduling is always critical in sports and the schedule gods could not have mapped this one out any better for Arizona. USC opens the season at Arkansas; a team the Trojans pasted 70-17 last year at home. Now, I don’t think the Hogs have much of a chance here but it is their season home opener and they will play well enough to make the Trojans work a bit harder this time around. Next, USC plays a feisty and vastly improved Nebraska squad with a high octane offense and a ton of motivation to prove to the rest of college football that the Cornhuskers are back in business after a five year hiatus from the national scene. By the time USC rolls into Tucson the following week, it may be letdown city for the Spirit of Troy who’ll be coming off two emotional games and the additional red flag in that they may be overlooking the Cats in anticipation for their difficult showdown against Wazzou in Pullman a week later. For Arizona, we should be 2-1 heading into the game with home victories over BYU and Stephen F. Austin and a road loss at LSU. Despite the outcome of the LSU game, our team by week four will be battle tested and probably fuming off the mistakes they made that cost them an opportunity to compete against the Tigers. With a “get healthy” game wedged between LSU and USC, Arizona will be ready for the Trojans.

Second, if you closely watched our games at USC the past two years, 41-9 and 42-21 losses, respectively, you’ll have realized that we weren’t exactly pushed around by the bigger, more athletic Trojans. In fact, in that 41-9 loss, we were trailing 21-9 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter AND we had the ball. In the other game, it was 28-21 in the third quarter and we were driving inside the 20 when Vanderbilt’s newest nightmare transfer, Kovalcheck, threw an interception at the five-yard line. If Louis Holmes makes grades and becomes the run stopping defensive end he’s supposed to be, our improved linebacking core and seasoned secondary may have a field day in disguising defenses against either of USC’s inexperienced quarterbacks.

Third, it’s just time. Stoops is the kind of coach who was born for situations like this. I can imagine he, like me, has had this game circled on his calendar since the day he arrived on campus. Stoops has had to put up with consecutive road games at USC in his first two seasons and although we competed well, had no realistic chance of beating the Pac-10 powerhouse. But now, the tide has turned and it’s USC who has to come into our house to play a team who is absolutely chomping at the bit to make a statement to the college world. USC will have overcome two early season hurdles against Arkansas and Nebraska and will be looking forward to getting a chance to beat up on a lesser opponent. The only thing is that USC will find itself kicking field goals against Arizona instead of scoring touchdowns and once Tuitama connects with Mike Thomas on a post route over USC’s inexperienced safeties and the Cats go up 14-6 at halftime, our stadium will be rocking as loud as it did in 1992 when we beat the then #1 Washington Huskies.

There will be much more analysis to follow on this game and others but for now let me just say, mark your calendars because 9/23/06 will be a day to remember.

In the News

Annika Sorenstam reminded the world on Monday that you can’t keep a good Wildcat down by winning her third U.S. Open Championship. The ex-UA golfer and NCAA Individual National Champion outplayed the field at a time when analysts were beginning to doubt her ability to win against today’s younger talent. In winning, Annika claimed her 10th major title and proved yet again that she is the greatest female golfer of her era and possibly of all time.

Mike Stoops was featured in Fox Sports’ “In My Own Words” on Monday. The show aired at 9:30 PST. The 30 minute show highlighted Stoops’ relationship with his father and brothers, the love he has for his wife and children, and the passion he has for Arizona football. Coach definitely has our program on the right track. Let’s hope that his vision, ability and commitment begin to translate into a string of winning seasons.

Thursday, the Arizona football team will be featured on the Fox Sports Internet site as they continue their rundown of 119 Teams in 119 Days. They will preview Arizona’s season, evaluate personnel and make predictions. So far, their analysis of other teams has been very in depth and astute. So, you should be able to get a fair assessment of our team’s season ahead by catching the article.

Until next week, Bear Down!