Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama does not forget his own team's meltdowns but thinks the Cats have "definitely turned that corner."

KELLY PRESNELL / arizona daily star

Related articles:

Season on schedule so far for Wildcats

Other articles by Greg Hansen:

Opinion by Greg Hansen : In this month of giving, Wildcats need a gift: support of fans Opinion by Greg Hansen : Big Game Week, always, vs. ASU Opinion by Greg Hansen : Giving thanks for Vern Friedli, ESPN and rain in desert Opinion by Greg Hansen : New club for Match Play has major 'wow factor' Opinion by Greg Hansen : Tucson schools should leave AIA Greg Hansen: Practice made perfectOpinion by Greg Hansen : It's the same old heartbreak as UA fails to win big one Opinion by Greg Hansen : Beavers, armed with Pac-10's top player, will fire 'best shot' Opinion by Greg Hansen : Cats' success fails to fill seats, no butts about it Opinion by Greg Hansen : Cats testing fans' faith, loyalty early in season

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

I put the binoculars on Mike Stoops early in the fourth quarter Saturday night and he was pacing, back and forth, fidgety, his jaw firm, his game face on.

After four years of anguish, he is not accustomed to taking his foot off the accelerator to enjoy some in-game fun.

Perhaps he was thinking there, but for the grace of the football gods, go I. …

Stoops' team was leading 48-7 and if the opposing team's helmet wasn't adorned with a big purple W, you'd have sworn the Wildcats were playing Idaho or Toledo.

That's how bad the Huskies were. That's how bad the Huskies are.

Arizona won 48-14 and it is understandable if Stoops was preoccupied by an industrial-strength schedule that begins next week at Stanford and then goes from fearsome (Cal) to brutal (USC).

Between now and Nov. 8, when America will have elected a new president and Arizona will learn if it has a new (and legitimately powerful) football franchise.

Circle that date, Nov. 8, on your football calendar because neither sleet nor the fuel crisis nor a wrong turn in Moscow, Idaho, will keep the Arizona Wildcats from that day's scheduled football game at Washington State.

It is the only remaining softie on Arizona's football schedule. It might be the next time you see Mr. Stoops fidget-free.

In reality, the UA's football season starts now.

The first five games — we will kindly forget that slip-up in Albuquerque — have been such that most of the seats at Arizona Stadium on Saturday were empty with 10 minutes remaining.

But Saturday night, hallelujah, the old place emptied out not because of angst but because, well, it was celebration time.

As Stoops gathered with a media brigade outside his team's locker room, fireworks illuminated the night sky.

"It's nice to be on top of the Pac-10," he said.

Mark it down. On Oct. 5, 2008, the Arizona Wildcats are in first place in the Pac-10. Oh, my. For at least one week, the frog has become a prince.

"In previous years,'' said UA safety Nate Ness, "some people even thought that playing Arizona was a guaranteed win.''

Arizona is in first place because, as quarterback Willie Tuitama said, "we have so many weapons now,'' and because, as linebacker Sterling Lewis said "our defense is shutting people down."

But one cannot evaluate the first-place Wildcats without this blast of reality: It has whipped historically bad UCLA and Washington teams.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

In the 30 years of Pac-10 football, every team in the league has had a notably turbulent down cycle. In Stoops' fifth season, Arizona has escaped that awful place.

"Two things you start to see as you look at our players are depth and maturity,'' said Stoops. "We've never had this before.''

What goes around comes around.

That is true of USC, whose 3-8 team was waxed 31-14 here in 1991, and it is true of UCLA, whose 3-7-1 squad of 1989 was whipped here 42-7.

But the Huskies are so bad that you can legitimately make comparisons between them and those 1-10 Oregon State teams of yesteryear, the 1-11 Stanford team of 2006 and the 1-10 Cal team of 2001. And of course the 2-10 Arizona team of '03.

Tuitama admitted he looked across the field Saturday night and remembered when it was his team, not the Huskies, that were on the wrong side of a meltdown.

"Sometimes, yes, you do think that,'' he said. "But we've definitely turned that corner.''

In its two Pac-10 victories, Arizona's defense has faced a couple of rookie quarterbacks who aren't exactly Troy Aikman and Marques Tuiasosopo, those ex-Bruin and ex-Husky QBs who so often tormented the Wildcats.

But that's OK. You don't always have to play uphill. As tough as Stoops has had it through his first 50 Arizona games, he's due for some easier terrain.

He obviously did a thorough preaching job in the post-game locker room because, to the man, every Wildcat player who submitted to an interview said, almost word for word, "Stanford is the only team on our schedule.''

"We looked ahead too much last year,'' said safety Cam Nelson. "Right now we're 4-1 and next week the most we can be is 5-1 or 4-2.''

In walkovers against Idaho, Toledo, UCLA and Washington — combined record: 4-17 — the Wildcats have whetted our appetite for three reasons.

One, tight end Rob Gronkowski and receiver-returner Mike Thomas are capable of accomplishing wonderful things that few UA offensive players have ever attempted.

Two, when Tuitama and offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes are sharp and on their games, Arizona has a chance to outscore almost everyone on the schedule.

Three, it's only Oct. 5 and two more victories make Arizona bowl-eligible. Beyond that, it's gravy.