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How bad was it? It was Gila Bend in July. It was Tiny Tim playing a ukulele, singing "Tiptoe Through the Tulips.''

It was bad, boring and undisciplined football. It was Arizona getting pushed around, at home, by a middle-tier team from a middle-tier conference.

It was Willie Tuitama scrambling, of all things, running toward the goal line through all sorts of potential mayhem, fumbling at the 2-yard line. And, later, it was Tuitama — on the run again! — whistled for a safety while trying to avoid a sack.

Arizona was so bad it made the downtown Rio Nuevo project come off as a slick operation.

It was so bad that Mike Stoops unaccountably called a timeout moments before halftime — followed by some unsportsmanlike behavior that resulted in football's equivalent of a basketball technical foul — giving New Mexico time to gather itself and score again.

"In my three-plus years here, this is far and away our most undisciplined team,'' he said in a frank self-analysis in which he called himself "foolish.''

How bad was it? With 13 minutes remaining, the large video scoreboard displayed its weekly "Hit of the Game.'' It was a highlight from the little leaguers who scrimmaged at halftime.

It was Louis Holmes jumping offside twice in four plays. It was previously anonymous New Mexico quarterback Donovan Porterie taking so many liberties with Arizona's defense that you almost swore Hawaii's offense was disguised in Lobo uniforms.

It was BYU all over again — but worse. It was worse because BYU has since given up 50 points to Tulsa and lost. But no matter what happens to BYU, there is no way to examine the UA's performance through three games and honestly believe it is good enough to have a winning season.

Progress since last season? None. It has gone backward, way back to the Mackovic years.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is once again the start of heartache season at Arizona Stadium. At the start of the fourth quarter, no more than 30,000 of the original 51,996 were still in their seats. They beat the traffic, but the Wildcats could not beat the Lobos.

New Mexico won 29-27 on an anguishing night in which the Wildcats were one play away from winning so many times — a missed field goal, a dropped pass, a blown assignment, a fumble — that it was almost comical.

It was so bad that linebacker Spencer Larsen, the club's stand-up, go-to, put-it-in-perspective spokesman, blew through a crowd of media without comment.

Year 4 of the Mike Stoops project has turned so sour that just when the Wildcats appeared to have righted themselves, driving to New Mexico's 26 on a fourth-quarter bomb to Mike Thomas — a few yards from taking a 27-26 lead — tailback Chris Jennings ran into a pile of players and fumbled.

An Arizona tailback had not lost a fumble in 467 carries. The Lobos recovered. That is how bad it was.

"We just don't know how to win,'' said offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes. "I think right now that's our issue as much as anything else. I'm not sure we're able to do the little things it takes to win.''

As a football audience, Tucson is not naïve. We know losing football when we see it — and we see it. Every team remaining on Arizona's schedule, with the possible exception of Stanford, has better personnel than New Mexico.

At game's end, walking to the dressing room through a somewhat stunned crowd, Stoops grabbed a cup of Gatorade and sat by himself on a folding chair. Players filed into the dressing room. Stoops sat by himself.

What could he possibly have been thinking? Is my head coaching career all but done? Can we possibly win a few more games? Why did I ever put myself into this mess?

His job security now becomes a big story, perhaps the biggest story of the season. That is how it works in Year 4, and you cannot beat any of two Mountain West Conference teams, and he knows it more than anyone else.

"We just didn't have the discipline; that's probably the most disappointing part of it,'' Stoops said. His once-prized defense, stocked with 10 starters from last year's 6-6 club, has gone bust. Ineffective. Stunning.

"I don't know what the reason is we haven't played well (defensively) as a team,'' he said. And then he half-shrugged. "We kind of beat ourselves. … We can't put it all together for whatever reason.''

A long, angry road lies in wait. Arizona is scheduled to play nine Pac-10 games, five of them on the road. As bad as it was Saturday, you've got to think it's going to get worse.