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TEMPE — It took a year, but the UA football team is getting a do-over.

Arizona will take on No. 13 Arizona State tonight in Tempe with its season — and the trajectory of a program that's been rebuilt twice in the last decade — on the line.

Win, and the UA (5-6 overall, 4-4 Pac-10) will be bowl-eligible and likely headed to a postseason game in either Las Vegas or Fort Worth, Texas. Lose, and the Wildcats will remain home for the ninth straight season.

This week's feast-or-famine theme sounds familiar for a reason. ASU has ended Arizona's hopes for a winning season three times since 1996, including last year.

"If we look past ASU to a bowl game, then we're never going to get there," UA quarterback Willie Tuitama said. "That's just how you have to play it."

UA coach Mike Stoops said the Wildcats "have no chance if we don't win" tonight.

"If you win, a lot of opportunities will present themselves," he said.

Arizona has so far failed to take advantage of its chances.

The Wildcats entered the 2006 "Duel in the Desert" toting a 6-5 record and assurances that a victory would earn them a spot in a bowl game. For the first time in the Stoops era, the UA was favored to beat their rival — and expected to get over the hump.

Arizona instead played arguably its worst game in years.

The Wildcats allowed three first-quarter touchdowns, lost Tuitama following a helmet-to-helmet hit and fell 28-14 at Arizona Stadium. Last season's loss kept the Wildcats from qualifying for a bowl game with a 6-6 record, yet the same mark could land them in the postseason in 2007.

"We're trying to keep the season alive," defensive tackle Lionel Dotson said.

ASU (9-2, 6-2) won't be lacking for motivation, either. First-year coach Dennis Erickson said tonight's game "is way more important than any game we can go to, any bowl game we can play in," but the reality is the Sun Devils have appealing postseason options. Arizona State could backdoor its way into the Bowl Championship Series — and possibly garner an invitation to the hometown Fiesta Bowl — with a victory. ASU last posted a 10-win season in 1996.

That motivation is enough to turn up the heat on a rivalry that long ago reached a rolling boil.

UA quarterback Antoine Cason on Monday called out Rudy Carpenter after ASU's quarterback bragged in a radio interview that he "expects to throw five or six touchdowns against UA."

Players arrived at McKale Center this week to find inflammatory quotes from Carpenter and ASU tailback Keegan Herring tacked to cork boards throughout the arena.

Still, players say maturity — and not motivation — will be the key to winning tonight's game.

"The team that's able to handle the hype — handle the pressure of how much is riding on their last game — pretty much comes out on top," Larsen said.

Larsen would know. He and the UA came out overexcited two years ago in Tempe and lost on a late field goal. The Wildcats played it cool a year ago, and as a result could not find the spark needed to win a game in which they were favored.

"That stuff's good during the week. But once the kickoff starts, it gets down to understanding it's not hatred, it's not bitterness," Stoops said. "It gets down to being mentally and physically ready to play, and to go out and execute.

"That shows toughness."