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Saturday in the Sun Devil Stadium press box, I overheard a man ask if any of the lower-tier bowl games had sent representatives to watch Arizona.

"They're sitting in the fourth row,'' he was told.

I naively went to see which bowl committee had enough faith to buy some airline tickets, and pay for hotel rooms, to watch the Wildcats.

Alas, the press box has but three rows of seats.

The only real show the Wildcats staged Saturday night was the weekly Mike Stoops Stompathon and Sideline Shoutfest.

And this came a week after he declared himself "relaxed.''

With embarrassing regularity Saturday, Stoops would stomp 10 yards onto the playing surface, bellowing at a side judge, or a back judge, demanding justice.

It was the snapshot of his UA coaching career. His team watched awkwardly, idly, as their coach raised holy terror with the referees. Ultimately, the message to his team was we're getting ripped off, and there's nothing I can do about it.

And that is what the Wildcats did. Nothing.

As in earlier UA games, several of Stoops' players helped to restrain their coach. Rather than game management, UA football became crisis management. Week after week, year after year, the coach is consumed by the officiating.

His team watches and thinks: It's all uphill from here, guys. And so it was.

It might have been encouraging, periodically, had Stoops been as openly chafed by the listless play of his defensive line, or the inability of quarterback Willie Tuitama to find open receivers.

Unfortunately, Mr. Sideline Warning has become the Bob Knight of his coaching generation. Veins bulging in his neck. Face red with anger. Wildcats against the world.

In 2007, there was no perceptible growth in Stoops' program. The veteran defense, which should have been the strength of the team, was average. The Wildcats did not awaken until November, which was strange. With all the shouting going on, you would think Stoops would have gained everyone's attention months earlier.

As he heads into Year 5 as Arizona's football coach, equipped with a contract that runs through 2010, Stoops' biggest regret must be that he failed to take advantage of an overrated and flawed Pac-10 that all but imploded.

By year's end, only USC was upright and widely feared. Everybody else, including resourceful but talent-challenged Arizona State, was just hanging on.

And yet the Wildcats still did not get to the first division or to a bowl game.

Perhaps part of the reason UA athletics director Jim Livengood did not terminate Stoops' contract is because Arizona opens the '08 season against Idaho, Toledo and New Mexico. No dummy, Livengood understands that the Wildcats are apt to go 3-0 against that lineup of punchballs. He is betting that a victory-starved constituency will forgive Stoops' 17-29 career record and his game-day demeanor and be captivated by some early-season thunder.

Forget the strength of schedule; Arizona has not been 3-0 since 2001. Livengood is betting that Tucsonans will not be able to contain their enthusiasm; a 3-0 record would prompt a rush on the box office.

For the first time in the Stoops years, Arizona should have positive momentum when it is not November.

Isn't that the not-so-critical thinking at work here?

Although there will be no '08 off-season sales hook the way there was via the January hiring of offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes, Livengood and his marketing people will probably be able to sell at least 50,000 tickets to both the Idaho and Toledo games based strictly on the firepower of Dykes' offense.

The '08 home schedule includes USC, Oregon State and Arizona State, which, at the moment, figures to be the Holy Trinity of Pac-10 football in the preseason polls.

If you really want to get carried away, forgetting the many young and untested defensive replacements who will occupy starting roles in September, you can almost picture Arizona at 7-0 or 6-1 when the Trojans visit Tucson on Oct. 25. Here is how the early schedule breaks, followed by our optimistic projection:

Idaho: victory

Toledo: victory

At New Mexico: victory

At UCLA: tossup

Washington: victory

At Stanford: victory

Cal: victory

Indeed, none of the UA's first seven opponents figure to be Top 25 material.

There will be no room for excuses next year. There should be significantly less shouting.

Early in Saturday's third quarter, a call reviewed by instant-replay officials went Arizona's way. Stoops feigned surprise. Standing near the hash marks, he held a finger aloft, as if to alert the football gods. He then put his palms together in a prayerful gesture toward the heavens.

And wasn't that the unfulfilling story line to Arizona's troubled 2007 football season? The coach did not get fired.