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Dear Mr. Football: Was the UA's football training camp a worst-case scenario?

It was. No starting quarterback was identified and the team's franchise player, tight end Rob Gronkowski, of all people, has a back injury that has put a hush on expectations.

Those are the two most important positions on the team. Name a worse scenario.

But in all other areas, Arizona's off-season was superb. There were no known arrests or academic ineligibilities, all of the recruits were immediately cleared to play by the NCAA and the school avoided awkward nightclub incidents (Bobby Wade, anyone? Louis Holmes?) that marred training camps earlier this decade.

Mike Stoops is responsible for 85 spirited young men — imagine the possibilities for mischief — yet his system of discipline and behavior is working. As junior starting guard Conan Amituanai told me: "I'm a lot more mature. I'm a lot more accepting of things." It seems to be contagious.

The UA hasn't played a game yet, but it is working on an eight-month winning streak.

Dear Mr. Football: What's worse for Arizona on opening night: the threat of rain or Labor Day weekend?

The UA athletic department's money man, John Perrin estimates that the Wildcats often sell 3,000 walk-up tickets on game day, unless it rains. It rained on opening night in 1982, 1994, 1997 and 2008. Average attendance on those games: 43,934, which is down roughly 6,000 from the opening night average of the Pac-10 era.

But Labor Day weekend is a significant negative factor. Mike Morales, owner of a Green Valley printing company and a season ticket holder "forever" says he is spending the weekend in Pinetop because "most of us have more brains than to attend tailgates when the temperature is 105 degrees." He gave his mall tailgate reservation to a cousin.

Ten years ago, Arizona planned to avoid the Labor Day weekend at home whenever possible, calculating that it could play Mountain West-level teams on the road, win, and let them worry about holiday attendance issues. Alas, after winning at Utah and San Diego State in 2000 and 2001, the Wildcats slumped and lost Labor Day weekend road games against Utah and BYU.

Next year the Wildcats will spend Labor Day weekend at Toledo. Gotta be better than 105 degrees at the tailgate, right?

Dear Mr. Football: What Pac-10 school has the worst game-day parking situation?

Start with Cal. You can't park there. Don't even think about it. Then comes USC because it's $50 to park anywhere close to the Coliseum and then you've got to worry that your car might be stolen, stripped or blown up.

That leaves Arizona in third place, parking-woes division. This season, the UA lost about 185 spaces immediately behind the west stands where two dormitories are being built in an old parking lot. It lost another 150 prime spaces across Sixth Street for expansion of the Rec center.

If you want guaranteed, in-close parking (with your name painted in red letters) you must join the Diamond Wildcat Club. Yearly fee: $50,000.

Dear Mr. Football: Does Mike Stoops exaggerate?

The coach's training camp line that most caught my attention was this: "Jake Fischer has a chance to be great."

Stoops knows linebackers. He knows the difference between good, really good and great. He rarely uses "great." So I'm assuming Fisher, the Ironwood Ridge High School grad, a true freshman, is on the fast track to the starting lineup, 2010 opener at Toledo. Best comparisons of the modern era: St. Johns' Marcus Bell, starting linebacker, 1997-99, Flowing Wells' Mark Jacobs, starting linebacker 1974-76. Both were first-team all-conference players.

Dear Mr. Football: Where did the Arizona Wildcats Sports Network (AWSN) go?

Born: July 2009. Died: September 2009.

There will be no AWSN for one reason: the Pac-10's deal with Fox Sports supersedes and essentially prohibits member schools from developing their own local TV network.

Oops.

This summer, the UA's in-house marketing firm, IMG College, took bold but prohibited steps toward creating the AWSN. It was not particularly happy with a significant decrease in revenue from Fox Sports Arizona for 2009-10 and did fast work to produce more local TV revenue in a dismal economy. You applaud them for hustling, but it was chaos. Then the lawyers got involved.

In the end, sensitivities between FSA and the UA (which took a financial hit) have been repaired and the average guy sitting in front of his TV — in Tucson or Chicago — won't have to worry about not having the right channel to watch the Wildcats.

Dear Mr. Football: Does it ever get hot in Mount Pleasant, Mich.?

In July, it was 100 degrees or more for seven consecutive days in the home of Central Michigan University. It was so hot that the Chippewa River dried up for two days. (Truthful disclosure: this happened in July 1936).

The Chippewas are probably more prepared for weather extremes than the Wildcats. For example, the swing between record hot and cold temperatures in Mount Pleasant is 138 degrees: high of 108, low of 30-below. The swing between extremes in Tucson is 111 degrees: high of 117 and low of 6.

Dear Mr. Football: Is Central Michigan any good?

Let's just say it wouldn't likely win at Boise State and it's a 20 to 1 shot to win in Tucson. In CMU's last three four games against BCS opponents, 2007-08, it lost 56-17 at Georgia, 70-14 at Clemson, 52-7 at Kansas and 32-25 at Purdue. That's a cumulative 210-63.

But I always think back when Fresno State, a MAC-level program in the '80s, beat Arizona 27-22 in the 1984 opener here. The Wildcats gave new QBs Alfred Jenkins and John Conner on-the-job tryouts that night, replacing record-setting Tom Tunnicliffe from a 7-3-1 team.

Sound familiar?

The UA was sloppy but in control. It had a seemingly safe 22-20 lead with 1:04 remaining. On a desperation, game-on-the-line play, Arizona's secondary broke a coverage and the Bulldogs scored on 78-yard pass play to win.

If CMU can hang tight until the fourth quarter, it can win because it has the edge in quarterbacking. Arizona's defense is the difference.

Arizona 28 (no field goals), CMU 17.