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Dear Mr. Football: Does Stanford have all the smart guys?

Smartest guy in the stadium today might be UA athletic director Jim Livengood. He has already been to an economics class this week. He knows that the UA has 5,000 unsold tickets remaining for next week's game against Cal.

Win today, improve to 5-1 and probably jump into the Top 25 for the first time since 2000, and the Wildcats will probably sell at least 4,000 of those tickets, creating about $100,000 in unbudgeted revenue.

The win-and-tickets-will-roll theory doesn't apply for the Oct. 25 homecoming game against USC. More than 56,000 tickets have been sold for that game.

Dear Mr. Football: Why does Stanford permit its players to wear John Elway's sacred jersey No. 7?

Unlike USC, which has seven retired football jerseys, and Arizona State, which has five off-limits numbers, Stanford is a bit more discriminating.

It didn't retire Elway's jersey — which is worn today by its remarkably talented tailback, Toby Gerhart — because Elway didn't win the Heisman Trophy or take them to the Rose Bowl (or any bowl game).

Stanford retired quarterback Jim Plunkett's No. 16 after he won the 1970 Heisman and led the Cardinal (then Indians) to the Rose Bowl where he beat Ohio State.

Elway didn't beat Arizona in his college career. In his final chance, 1982, Elway watched helplessly as the Wildcats rallied to win when UA quarterback Tom Tunnicliffe actually caught a touchdown pass in a furious fourth quarter comeback in a 41-27 victory.

Incredibly, the QB who succeeded Elway, John A. Paye, went 3-0 against Arizona, which included a shocking 1983 triumph when Stanford went 1-10 and Arizona opened the year ranked No. 3 in The Associated Press poll.

Dear Mr. Football: How come nobody ever talks about Mike Diaz?

Arizona quietly recruited Diaz, a guard from Cerritos (Calif.) College, at a time it had a surplus of capable guards: Daniel Borg, Colin Baxter, Joe Longacre and two top young prospects, Conan Amituanai and Jovon Hayes.

Diaz seemed to be insurance on the depth chart and that insurance kicked in after Borg quit football, center Blake Kerley ripped up a knee at UCLA and both Amituanai and Hayes struggled to earn playing time.

Diaz started and played his first full college game against Washington, which, he says, seemed perfectly normal.

"I had never sat on the bench anywhere,'' he said. "I was a little nervous, but after a few snaps I was comfortable.''

Diaz is a load; he is 6 feet 5 inches and about 320 pounds. He was on everybody's recruiting radar; Diaz took a recruiting trip to Texas A&M and scheduled others for Kansas State, North Carolina State and South Florida. He stopped the recruiting process after visiting Tucson and has helped make the UA offensive line among the Pac-10's best.

The ability to have Diaz plug in and play ably is a cushion the UA hasn't had since the Dick Tomey years. It symbolizes the recruiting progress and growth made in the Stoops years. But remember this: Arizona's depth on the offensive line has now been compromised. It can't afford another personnel loss.

Dear Mr. Football: Does a 4-1 start mean much?

At Arizona, it often means you have played some awful opponents, such as the 4-17 record posted thus far by UA's victims.

The UA last started 4-1 in 1994 and 2000; the four teams it beat in those starts opened with cumulative records, in order, of 5-15 and 7-13.

Many of us got excited in 2000 when the Wildcats opened 4-1 but, in retrospect, the four teams they beat had dismal seasons: Utah at 4-7, San Diego State at 3-8, Stanford at 5-6 and USC at 5-7.

Arizona then went 1-5 down the stretch and everybody got fired. The season starts today.

Dear Mr. Football: How come this game isn't on TV?

Stanford told the Pac-10 six months ago it would not play any game that started after 3 p.m. It does not bow down to almighty TV, which is a nice change. Stanford holds to its holy homecoming plans.

By blowing off midafternoon and night starts for TV, it left only the 12:30 p.m. ABC telecast as an option for broadcast.

The UA-Stanford games of 2005 and 2006 weren't available on TV, either.

Since Arizona's football program went into a death spiral in 2001, today will be the 22nd game not televised in Tucson. That's what losing football does to your appeal. Nobody, in mass terms, cares to watch.

Amazingly, from November 1997 through early 2003, fans were treated to 53 consecutive UA games on television. Free!

Dear Mr. Football: Do you think Stanford is good enough to qualify for a bowl game?

Much like Arizona, the Cardinal has the scary part of its schedule remaining: USC, Oregon and Cal. Stanford should be a significant favorite to beat UCLA and Wazzu, which means this: Beat Arizona today and the six-win qualifying number becomes tantalizingly reachable.

Arizona's future is less attractive because the Wildcats have already played two of the league's three pushovers — UCLA and Washington. That's why beating Stanford is so imperative.

Until now, Arizona's record and its wonderful statistics are distorted. Today we will learn a great deal about the club's staying power in what is somewhat of a must game. Can an untested Arizona team win a must-game?

Why not? UA 31, Stanford 23.