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TEMPE — Antoine Cason took off his pads and shoved his gear into an oversized bag. Like that, his UA football career was over.

"It's like, that's it. Never putting on an Arizona helmet again," Cason said moments after Arizona's 20-17 loss to Arizona State on Saturday in Tempe. "It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, but it just, you know, happens."

For Cason and Arizona's other seniors, Saturday's "Duel in the Desert" flop was a familiar — and heartbreaking — way to go out. Players who started their college careers in 2004 leave the UA with a 17-29 record and no bowl appearances. Arizona's seniors will depart with losing records against five Pac-10 opponents: USC (0-4), Oregon State (1-3), Cal (1-3), Stanford (1-2) and Arizona State (1-3).

The Wildcats have a winning mark against just one conference school — Washington State — since 2004.

"As a team, I know we could have accomplished a lot more," senior linebacker Spencer Larsen said Saturday night. "Some of those things are out of your hands; there's nothing you can do about it."

Arizona's recent ineptitude is magnified by the Sun Devils' success. On Sunday, ASU accepted a bid to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, its fourth postseason appearance in as many years. The Sun Devils will play Texas.

"That's a great program, a historic program, and a great opportunity for us," ASU coach Dennis Erickson said.

The postseason is so much of a given in Tempe that simply qualifying for a bowl isn't enough. Erickson was hired a year ago because former coach Dirk Koetter couldn't rise above the Sun, Insight or Hawaii bowls.

Arizona, meanwhile, had to play lights-out in November just to have a chance to qualify for a lower-tier game.

The Wildcats won three of their final four games in 2006 and 2007, but couldn't muster enough final-game magic to earn bowl a bid in the finale of either season. Saturday's game was marred by poor offensive execution and a number of key turnovers. Quarterback Willie Tuitama was intercepted twice and fumbled once, leading to six ASU points. Arizona scored with fewer than 26 seconds remaining to cut the Devils' lead to three, but could not recover the ensuing onside kick.

Arizona's mantra of so-close-yet-so-far will continue into another off-season. The Wildcats haven't played in a bowl game since 1998.

"This year, we lost to a number of teams — I don't want to mention them — that are mediocre at best," Larsen said. "We could have been a Rose Bowl team. If you look at the games we lost and the teams we beat, we could have had it.

"There are a lot of coulda-woulda-shouldas."