More Photos (5):

Related articles:

Arizona Wildcats football: Arizona 70; Idaho 0

Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor

The last time

● Date: Sept. 7, 1985

● What went down: The Arizona Wildcats opened the season with a 23-10 victory over Toledo at Arizona Stadium. Safety Allan Durden intercepted Rockets quarterback A.J. Sager twice, part of a four-turnover effort for the Wildcats' defense. Arizona also blocked two punts.

Offensively, the Wildcats were carried by fullback Charles Webb, who scored two first-half touchdowns. Kicker Max Zendejas hit field goals from 22, 23 and 40 yards.

Arizona's first win was workmanlike.

"The fans wanted us to score 40 points. In fact, they probably expected it," Durden said. "But all I know is that if we get another 10 more of these, we go to the Rose Bowl."

● How it read: The Star's Greg Hansen wrote: There was a lot of everything in the game, including a lot of nothing. The fans may have shouted, "That's not entertainment," but what (coach Larry) Smith had in mind was more in sync with Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders — just win, baby. … The only thing the UA lacked last night was an old-fashioned uppercut, a knockout punch. But a unanimous decision will do.

● Turning point: Toledo punter Pete Cochran muffed a snap in the first quarter, and was tackled by Arizona's Gordon Bunch and Don Be'Ans at the Rockets' 2-yard line. Webb scored three plays later on a 1-yard run, giving the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.

Walk-on Jeremy Samoy has been a member of the UA football team for four years but had yet to see the field in a regular-season game. That changed last week, when Samoy — a UA linebacker and Sahuaro High School graduate — took the field in the fourth quarter of the Arizona Wildcats' 70-0 win over Idaho. He even registered a tackle. Samoy, 21, told the Star what it was like to finally play:

I was really happy that things worked out. I showed some patience, and I finally had a chance to get in there. It meant a lot. I grew up in Tucson — I remember sitting up in the nosebleed seats, watching the games when I was younger — and so it was awesome to be out there on the field.

How did I find out? I was on the sidelines and coach (Tim) Kish was in the box, so his assistant, James Alford, told me to get ready because I might get in on the next series. Coach Mark (Stoops) gave me a debriefing of the plays we were going to be running, so that was helpful. Then he gave me the official word. I ran in there and that was that.

It was late in the fourth quarter, but it was such a great experience. I couldn't have been happier. It seems so fresh in my memory right now.

I definitely think it helped rejuvenate me. I've been here four years, and playing has always been one of those goals. To finally have that happen … it's an awesome experience.

Arizona and Toledo match up well at a number of positions, but none more than — would you believe? — place-kicker.

The Wildcats' Jason Bondzio will take on the Rockets' Alex Steigerwald tonight in a showdown pitting two of the nation's top kickers.

"(Steigerwald) didn't attempt too many field goals this year, but he's pretty accurate," Bondzio said. "I'm going to try to go out there and win the special teams."

Bondzio hit 21 of 26 field goals in 2007, his first full season as the Wildcats kicker.

Steigerwald, meanwhile, was 13 of 13 for a Toledo team that finished 5-7.

Steigerwald is 20 for 21 in his Rockets career; should he keep up that pace, he would be the most accurate kicker in NCAA history.

The NCAA lists two all-time leaders — UCLA's John Lee (1982-85) hit 79 of 92 attempts between 1982 and 1985, and Florida's Bobby Raymond hit 43 of 49 attempts in two seasons (1983-84).

As a student at Iowa in the early 1980s, Mike Stoops would frequently drive home on weekends to see his parents.

The sight of Toledo, an industrial, hardscrabble town in northwest Ohio, let Stoops know that he was 3 hours from Youngstown, Ohio — and a home-cooked meal.

"That's how I knew I was getting close to home," he said.

The UA football program's fascination with Ohioans dates back 35 years.

Five of the Arizona Wildcats' last six coaches — Jim Young, Tony Mason, Larry Smith, John Mackovic and Stoops — hail from the Buckeye State. Five members of the UA's current staff have Ohio roots.

"There's a lot of football tradition in the state of Ohio — the Canton hall of fame, high school football's huge there, all the colleges exist and obviously there's Woody Hayes and Ohio State," linebackers coach Tim Kish said.

"They used to give baby boys born in Ohio a little football — or at least they did years ago. That's how you grow up there."

Kish hails from Westerville, a 35,000-person suburb of Columbus. He attended Division III Otterbein College there, coached at Mariemont High School in Cincinnati, and got his master's degree at Bowling Green.

Kish returned to the state in 2001 as the defensive coordinator at Ohio University.

Dana Dimel, the Wildcats' tight ends and running backs coach, grew up in Columbus. Mark Stoops, the Wildcats' defensive coordinator, spent three years as the athletic director and defensive coordinator at Nordonia Hills High School in Northfield.

Graduate assistant Frank Buffano attended Youngstown State and coached at Cardinal Mooney High School, the same Youngstown school that produced all four Stoops brothers.

Mike Stoops doesn't believe it's a coincidence.

"(Football) has been kind of a way of life," Stoops said. "A lot of tradition, a lot of blue-collar people is what you get … going to the (football) field still is a big deal. It's still traditionally very, very good football."

Toledo coach Tom Amstutz believes Ohio's passion for football is the result of its surrounding.

"If you don't play football, you're looking at a flat cornfield. Football is something that's real important to players. I think Ohio football people like to compete against each other, town against town and team against team. It's something young men grow up with, something that's expected of them at a young age. It's something they like to do."

Bo Vanture stood inside Arizona Stadium on Friday and declared the once-muddy and ripped-up playing surface healed.

It's a miracle.

Vanture and his crew from the UA's facilities management department spent the entire week treating and mowing the field following last week's rain-soaked opener. Within days, Vanture said, the grass was thriving and healthy again.

"That's the thing about bermuda: You stay off it, give it the rest it needs, and it kind of restores itself," Vanture said.

The grass had help.

Vanture and his six-man crew spent Sunday afternoon "top-dressing" the muddy field, adding a light coating of sand and fertilizer made of liquid iron and nitrogen. They replaced divots — there weren't many — with a combination of sand and manure.

Sunday night's heavy rains helped kick-start the healing process. The turf grew so fast that the grounds crew had to mow daily to keep it between a half inch and three-quarters of an inch, short enough that thatch won't grow.

By week's end, Vanture said, the paint from last Saturday's game had grown out and been mowed away.

Some foresight helped Arizona avoid a turf disaster. Years ago, grounds crew installed a 10-inch "crown" between the hash marks, allowing rain to run off the center of the field and onto the sidelines. The natural barrier keeps the middle of the field dry — or at least drier — during storms.

"It can take the rain because of that crown," Vanture said. "It's a real dense turf. It can take that kind of abuse."

The University of Toledo takes this whole 'Rockets' thing seriously.

The school's unique nickname was adopted in 1923, when sports writers — aren't they always in the middle of this? — asked a Toledo student working in a Pittsburgh press box to come up with a nickname for his school's team.

James E. Neal selected Skyrockets, which the writers later shortened to Rockets.

The university embraced the nickname.

In 1961, school officials purchased a 1-ton rocket from the U.S. Army and mounted it outside the football stadium. The rocket is pointed directly at Bowling Green State University, located 25 miles due south of Toledo. If the rocket were launched, it would land directly at the 50-yard line of BGSU's Doyt Perry Stadium.

Bowling Green, as you might imagine, is Toledo's major rival.