PHOTOS BY DAVID SANDERS / arizona daily star

More Photos (1):

Other articles by Greg Hansen:

Greg Hansen Sunday Notebook : Black learns golf's secret Greg Hansen : Tubac's 'Triangle' a 'Wreck' for golfers Greg Hansen : First stop Indianapolis Greg Hansen : Historically, 44th draft picks have brief or no NBA history Greg Hansen Sunday Notebook : USC, O'Neill a good fit Greg Hansen : For Miller, hard work is a legacy from father Greg Hansen: El Rio's No. 8 tee shot is intimidating Greg Hansen : ASU's Tucson pipeline pumps as rich as ever Greg Hansen : Tucson's Tyler appears calm before the storm at Bethpage Greg Hansen : Friends for life reunite

Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Construction
West-Press
Printing Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President

Didn't see any anger. Didn't hear any vows to beat ASU. Didn't witness anyone, except some numb UA fans, show any visible sign of hurt.

Instead, I saw recognition of some old familiar foes: defeat and desperation.

It was Arizona football as we have always known it. Charlie Brown lines up to kick the winning field goal. Lucy tauntingly pulls it away at the last possible moment.

A decade of desperation rolls on. Oregon State 19, Arizona 17. Fifty-nine minutes of hope and anticipation. One minute to wash it away.

"It just slipped through our hands,'' said UA cornerback Devin Ross, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time with 39 seconds to play — beaten on a 47-yard pass to Oregon State's Sammie Stroughter — the way someone in a Wildcat football uniform always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"They all hit the heart the same way,'' said UA receiver Mike Thomas, who, after 47 games in an Arizona uniform, has become an authority on the art of identifying and processing pain.

I guess it would have looked better had Mike Stoops stormed into his press briefing and snorted some fire the way Larry Smith or Dick Tomey used to do it. It might have made better copy had Stoops said, with feeling "the losing stops here! I've had enough of this crap!''

But Stoops, his face pale, was more crestfallen than anything else. His tank was on empty. His job performance has not been an issue this year, but now, in a late-season twist of misfortune and misplays, he could be one loss to the Sun Devils from being relieved of employment.

"One more play,'' said UA tight end Rob Gronkowski the same way his Wildcat predecessors have been saying "one more play'' for 25 years. "We can't catch a break.''

Oregon State is all of the things Arizona hasn't been: Solid. Opportunistic. Error-free. And perhaps most of all, blessed. The Wildcats aren't cursed, there are no curses in sports, but in this game of football, they still haven't won an outright conference championship since 1936, which is never and forever.

All the Wildcats had to do Saturday was run the clock down to 1:28, which they did, punt and play defense, which they didn't. Without a timeout, the Beavers gained 72 yards in three plays with ease.

As it turns out, the only way Arizona could have won the game was to make a first down on a third-and-eight play with a bit less than two minutes on the clock. It didn't make sense to pass because an incompletion, stopping the clock, would have been suicide to a coaches' reputation.

"I wish we would've made it,'' said offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes. "I wish it would've gone for a first down. I wish we would've gotten the 2 extra yards.''

Alas, the football gods don't allow Arizona three wishes, or even one.

Wish for a victory over ASU, if you will, because that has historically been the great eraser, the last resort, of Arizona football.

For 59 minutes Saturday it was great theater played before 48,503 fans and 10,000 empty seats. The Beavers were playing to preserve an opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl for the first time since the Dark Ages, and the Wildcats were playing to prove that they had evolved from a scrambling mediocrity to a dead-on, prime-time bowl game TV slot against someone from the big leagues.

"I've got no problem with the way the kids played tonight," said Stoops. "But we're still in the process.''

It is the same sort of process shown by Rio Nuevo, isn't it? A lot of chatter. A very slow process.

I was waiting for the coach to brusquely shove the final statistics from the table, stand up, look into the TV cameras and say "we're going to beat the Sun Devils and go win a bowl game, and that's the minimum I expect, and it should be the minimum our fans expect.''

Then, after pushing all the chips to the middle of the table, he could have rallied this town around him and put it all — his job, for instance — on Game 12.

Dream on.

When Stoops walked from Arizona Stadium, carrying a brief case and wearing a dazed expression, the scoreboard at the ballpark said, in big lights BE THERE. Dec. 6, Arizona vs. Arizona State.

If the Wildcats win Dec. 6, the hurt will subside. Stoops will likely accept a contract extension and a raise before he takes his team to a bowl game.

Most of us will agree that the Wildcats have indeed shown progress and are moving in the direction of bigger and better days. We will forgive and forget.

There is one more chance to get it right.