Other articles by Greg Hansen:

Opinion by Greg Hansen : In this month of giving, Wildcats need a gift: support of fans Opinion by Greg Hansen : Big Game Week, always, vs. ASU Opinion by Greg Hansen : Giving thanks for Vern Friedli, ESPN and rain in desert Opinion by Greg Hansen : New club for Match Play has major 'wow factor' Opinion by Greg Hansen : Tucson schools should leave AIA Greg Hansen: Practice made perfectOpinion by Greg Hansen : It's the same old heartbreak as UA fails to win big one Opinion by Greg Hansen : Beavers, armed with Pac-10's top player, will fire 'best shot' Opinion by Greg Hansen : Cats' success fails to fill seats, no butts about it Opinion by Greg Hansen : Cats testing fans' faith, loyalty early in season

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Dear Mr. Football: Who said that if you hang 70 on Idaho you are expected to score 100 a week later?

A: Whoa. Scoring 70 in successive weeks? That's crazy. Here's who hasn't done it: Hawaii, Boise State, BYU, Texas Tech or any of the passing circus programs. It hasn't happened at USC or Ohio State or Oklahoma or any of the juggernaut programs, although the Sooners won 72-3 and 63-0 on successive weekends in 1974.

Incredibly, it has happened just once since 1930 and the team that did so, the 1968 Houston Cougars, opened with a 77-3 victory over, yes, Idaho. A week later, Houston pummeled Tulsa 100-6. (I'm not saying Tulsa was bad, but future country and western singer Larry Gatlin scored a UH touchdown in that game.)

Dear Mr. Football: Does Arizona have a lot of Ohio players on its football roster?

A: It has zero from the Buckeye State. In fact, the only Midwesterner on the roster is tailback Nick Booth of Illinois.

The UA enrolled 173 students from Ohio in the 2007-08 school year, none of them football players. Four UA students came from Mississippi, the fewest of any state.

Dear Mr. Football: What happened to all those Ohio players who Arizona needed when it joined the Pac-10?

A: In 1979, Arizona had 16 Ohioans on its football roster. One of them, starting tight end Bill Nettling of Cuyahoga Falls, turned down scholarship offers from Michigan's Bo Schembechler and Ohio State's Woody Hayes to be a Wildcat.

"When I left Cleveland to fly to Tucson for a recruiting visit, the wind chill factor was 21 below,'' says Nettling, who has lived in Tucson almost exclusively since graduating in 1982. "I got off the plane here and it was 75 in January. Pretty easy decision for me.''

Actually, Nettling had an adventurous spirit. He had not flown in an airplane until his senior year in high school and wanted to become more worldly.

"I looked at the schedule and our first game was at Auburn and our last game was in Hawaii,'' he says now. "We went to California and to Washington, places I had only read about. As much as I respected Big Ten football, it all seemed the same to me. Arizona was like a new frontier.''

Dear Mr. Football: Did any of those 16 Ohioans from the '79 UA team become prominent Tucsonans?

A: How about Sam Giangardella, principal of Sahuaro High School. Sammy G, a terrific UA linebacker, was born in Mike Stoops' hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, and grew up in football-crazy Niles, Ohio.

"I had several options at the time to visit Clemson, Penn State, Cincinnati and Iowa,'' Giangardella remembers. "But Arizona was up-and-coming and moving into the Pac-10 and the possibility of playing baseball was also an attraction.''

Giangardella has lived in Tucson for 31 years but admits he remains an Ohio State fan "as long as they are not playing Arizona.''

Dear Mr. Football: What brother combination leads the NCAA in scoring?

A: With 126 points, that would be Arizona special teams coach Jeff Hammerschmidt and his older brother Dan Hammerschmidt, the receivers coach at Rice.

Rice whipped SMU 56-27 last week in Dan Hammerschmidt's first game at the school. He has also coached at Colorado State, his alma mater, Duke and VMI.

If you wish to adopt a second- favorite team this year, consider Rice. It can use your good vibes. Two years ago, Dan Hammerschmidt's 36-year-old wife, Karen, died of breast cancer, leaving Dan to raise their two young children.

Dear Mr. Football: Did Toledo coach Tom Amstutz get rich when his first five UT teams went 10-2, 9-5, 8-4, 9-4 and 9-3?

A: Amstutz's original contract paid him $208,000, which was ridiculously low in college football, especially for a man asked to play Kansas, Minnesota Fresno State, Purdue and Pitt.

Next month the Rockets play Michigan, and next year they play Ohio State.

So the school tore up his contract and gave Amstutz $305,000, threw in a membership to the Heather Downs Country Club and agreed to add $25,000 deferred each January, among other goodies.

His deal, through 2009, is now estimated at $380,000 annually, which can't touch that of conference rival Al Golden, head coach at Temple, who is paid $575,000 and has a lifetime record of 5-19.

Dear Mr. Football: How unusual is it for Arizona to be a 23-point favorite?

A: The Wildcats were 27-point favorites against Idaho and 23 today. In this decade, Arizona has been a 20-point favorite just one other time: 2003 against UTEP. (No odds were established in games against NAU and Stephen F. Austin.)

It is also rare territory for Toledo.

The Rockets were 25-point underdogs against Kansas last year (losing by 32), which, amazingly, is the only time Toledo has been a 20-point underdog this century.

Thus, don't expect 70-0 against a program as historically competitive as Toledo. But 50-0 is do-able.