Matt Scott has fond memories of playing UCLA on the road.
Photo by Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE

All season long Rich Rodriguez has talked to his team about becoming relevant. To do that, he preached, you have to beat ranked teams. You have to become a ranked team.

By defeating USC the Arizona Wildcats jumped beyond relevant. This week the UA plays as a contender.

RichRod and his fightin’ Cats are working hard to change the way UA football fans view their program. This is a week to embrace that change.

TWit-Pac is stepping past bowl projections and going all-in with a breakdown of who to root for to give the Cats a shot at reaching the Promised Land without even having to beat Oregon.

But first, the initial TV schedule of November (all times Arizona/Pacific):

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A quick look at the bowl bubble:

Look who has moved up to the Bubble In line. Funny what beating USC does for your outlook. On the other end of the spectrum, Cal’s bowl chances are on life support after losing to Utah, and Colorado is officially flat-lining.

Now for your pro-Arizona rooting guide:

Washington (4-4 / 2-3) at Cal (3-6 / 2-4)
The Huskies got a much-needed win last week but they have only scored 89 points in five conference games. How bad is that? It’s just three points better than Colorado.

Who do Wildcat fans want to win?
Washington. Go Strength of Schedule!

Stanford (6-2 / 4-1) at Colorado (1-7 / 1-4)
The Cardinal isn’t nearly as strong as last year but Stanford eeked out its fourth one-score win last week (and both its losses were by one score). This will not be a one-score game.

Who do Wildcat fans want to win?
Colorado. A loss to the Buffs would torpedo Stanford’s computer rankings and give Arizona a better chance to leapfrog the Cardinal. But don’t waste a lot of your rooting power on this one.

WSU (2-6 / 0-5) at Utah (3-5 / 1-4)
With a big win against Cal, Utah snapped its losing streak to enhance its chances of extending its Pac-12-best bowl streak to ten years.

Who do Wildcat fans want to win?
WSU. When the Cats travel to Salt Lake City in two weeks it would be preferable to face a group of demoralized Utes.

Oregon (8-0 / 5-0) at USC (6-2 / 4-2)
If you want a reason to pick against the Ducks there’s the note from last week that still holds true: Thrashing Colorado doesn’t prepare you to beat anyone else.

Who do Wildcat fans want to win?
Oregon. This is the biggest one besides Arizona’s own game. The UA needs USC to lose once more and it needs to happen now because the Trojans’ remaining conference games are against ASU and UCLA. Both L.A. teams need to lose at home this weekend to keep the Cats’ dream alive.

ARIZONA (5-3 / 2-3) at UCLA (6-2 / 3-2)
The Bruins’ Pac-12 wins are against Colorado, Utah and ASU, and UCLA lost to Cal. The Bruins’ best win remains the non-conference victory over a Nebraska team that has gone 5-1 since losing in Pasadena.

ASU (5-3 / 3-2) at OSU (6-1 / 4-1)
The Beavers went from undefeated media darlings to a team suddenly trying to navigate through a quarterback controversy. ASU is trying to avoid another autumn fall.

Who do Wildcat fans want to win?
OSU. If you follow the script, you want the Beavers to lose a couple more games to ensure dropping behind Arizona in the BCS standings. However, Oregon State still plays Stanford and Oregon so it’s safe to root for them to continue ASU’s tailspin this week.

* * *

There’s this one chart that needs updating:

Arizona’s Most Recent Home Win Against Pac-10 Opponents

Much better.

I won’t post all the numbers because it’s a broken record at this point, but Arizona has now put up the most yards and points against the 2012 defenses of Oregon State, Stanford, Washington and USC.

* * *

UCLA will be debuting new uniforms Saturday night. Maybe they’ll work out as well as Arizona’s copper helmets.

* * *

I know some will say What are you doing? Pac-12 South championship scenarios?? Are you trying to douse the hot streak?!?

This is part of the rehabilitation process. Haven’t we been told to Think Arizona all season? Didn’t RichRod say, “Why not Arizona?” the minute he got here?

UCLA is a dangerous team and Arizona still doesn’t have any road wins so, yes, the Nose Hole dream could easily vanish this Saturday. But it’s been three years since the Cats had a dream this late in the season. Enjoy it.

Why Not Think Arizona?

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Scott Terrell is wearing his optimistic red hat. Get positive on Twitter and Facebook.

Ducks Ducks Ducks Ducks Ducks…
Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

USC does not play Oregon this week.

As much as everyone associated with college football would love to fast-forward seven days, that game will have to wait, and that suits the Arizona Wildcats just fine.

TWit-Pac isn’t leaving anybody out this week. Here is the TV schedule (all times Arizona/Pacific):

No byes! This is the first of only three weekends when all 12 teams will be playing on the same day.

Next is a very balanced bowl bubble:

Oregon State and USC clinched postseason eligibility with win #6 last week. Stanford has the easiest remaining schedule of the five-win teams. Cal drops down to the Bubble Out line because the Bears need to win three of their final four and two of them are against the Oregon schools. Colorado is 60 minutes away from being officially Out.

Your stacked Pac-12 Saturday:

UCLA (5-2 / 2-2) at ASU (5-2 / 3-1)
Not only are there no battles between ranked teams in the Pac this week but there are only two games between teams with winning records, and both are in the Grand Canyon State. The Devils have to shake off the embarrassment of the Oregon game quick because road trips to OSU and USC are next.

Colorado (1-6 / 1-3) at Oregon (7-0 / 4-0)
Worst visits First. The Ducks beat ASU by 22 last week and dropped from third to fourth in the BCS standings. They could beat the Buffs by 100 and still lower their computer ranking.

USC (6-1 / 4-1) at ARIZONA (4-3 / 1-3)
USC is the third-highest ranked one-loss team behind LSU and Oklahoma, giving the SEC and Pac-12 a combined six of the top nine teams according to the BCS.

WSU (2-5 / 0-4) at Stanford (5-2 / 3-1)
Good news, Cougars! Next week is a game against the other team without a conference win!

Cal (3-5 / 2-3) at Utah (2-5 / 0-4)
Of course, the Utes are facing their first Pac-12 team with a losing record so they’re planning on not being a team without a conference win for long.

OSU (6-0 / 4-0) at Washington (3-4 / 1-3)
This game looked like it had some upset potential but there’s no way Washington expected to do worse against Arizona than it did against Stanford, Oregon or USC. Can the Huskies get back up or are they down for the count?

* * *

Quick, when was the last time you saw the Wildcats beat USC at Arizona Stadium?

No, it hasn’t been quite as long as the last home win against Oregon State but it’s been a while. If you count interims you have to go back six UA coaches to when Dick Tomey bested Paul Hackett in 1999.

The Trojans and Beavers were the two teams Mike Stoops wasn’t able to beat at home:

Arizona’s Most Recent Home Win Against Pac-10 Opponents

Speaking of historical beatings, this is the first season in which Arizona has scored at least 50 points three times since Art Luppino and the 1954 team.

The last UA team to break 50 four times? Pop McKale’s 1921 squad, Arizona’s first bowl team. Those Wildcats beat Bisbee Legion, 84-13, defeated Phoenix Indian School, 75-0, walloped Texas Mines (UTEP), 74-0, and squeaked by New Mexico Military Institute by a score of…(dramatic pause)…110-0.

So RichRod still has some work to do.

Back to the future, this is the ultimate free game for the Wildcats. You don’t want another 49-0 spanking, and you certainly don’t want to blow a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, but if the Cats play well and the Trojans play better on Saturday, so be it.

However…

You couldn’t draw up a better trap game if you tried. Let us count the ways:

• After the Trojans’ record-setting performance against Colorado people have been patting Matt Barkley on the back so much he’s probably bruised.

• Thrashing Colorado doesn’t prepare you to beat anyone else.

• As soon as the Colorado game ended people started asking the Trojans about next week’s clash with Oregon.

• USC hasn’t dominated any Pac-12 teams on the road, losing to Stanford and beating Washington and Utah by ten points each.

• The USC offense isn’t the juggernaut that was expected when Barkley came back. The Trojans are just 5th in the Pac-12 in total offense, 6th in passing offense and 7th in rushing offense (Arizona is 1st, 1st and 3rd in those categories). And that’s after USC got to run 7-on-7s against Colorado.

• USC is the biggest name coming to Arizona Stadium this year. ASU is the biggest rival but this is Arizona’s Pac-12 Championship Game. The Trojans (and the rest of the sporting world) have been counting down to the Oregon game since day one.

• Arizona has increased its offensive output in each Pac-12 game, scoring five touchdowns against Oregon State, six TDs versus Stanford and seven against Washington.

• Did I mention the USC/Oregon game is next week?

Maybe my Red-and-Blue glasses are on too tight but I think UA fans will fill the stadium. I think the ZonaZoo will be at capacity and loud before kickoff. I know the Wildcats will be ready to play and I expect Rich Rodriguez to have a couple tricks up his sleeve.

Will it be enough to win? USC’s going to score more points than Washington. Probably a lot more. I don’t know if the Cats have the weapons yet to take down a top-10 team but I believe Lane Kiffin will be sweating in his visor and it won’t be because of the Arizona sun.

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Scott Terrell is ready to tailgate for breakfast. Rise and shine on Twitter and Facebook.

Matt Scott has fond memories of playing Washington at home in October.
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

The Pac-12 football action gets heavy early as the game of the week is tonight and the first archrival showdown of the year is the early contest on Saturday.

At the tail end of the conference’s weekend slate, two teams with mediocre marks try to rediscover winning ways under the Tucson lights.

TWit-Pac welcomes the Arizona Wildcats back to the TV schedule (all times Arizona/Pacific):

Three Pac-12 teams are looking to clinch bowl eligibility this week. An updated look at the bubble:

Oregon State is undefeated. Each of the other five-win teams still gets to play WSU or Colorado. Stanford only has four wins but gets to play both. Nothing has changed on the Bubble In line.

Cal moves up into the Middle after two straight wins but with games left against Stanford, Oregon and OSU it’s going to take some upsets to get all the way to six victories.

You ready for some games?

Oregon (6-0 / 3-0) at ASU (5-1 / 3-0)
This is I Told You So week in the Territorial Cup rivalry. Either Arizona fans will be able to say, “I told you ASU’s great start was only because of a weak schedule,” or ASU fans will get to say, “I told you Dennis Erickson was holding us back.” As for the Ducks? They’re trying to say, “I told you we’re better than No. 3 in the nation.”

Stanford (4-2 / 2-1) at Cal (3-4 / 2-2)
Last year the Big Game was played a week early because Stanford had Notre Dame scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend. This year USC is the one ending the regular season with the Irish, so why is the Cal/Stanford rivalry game being played in October and not the USC/UCLA tilt?

Colorado (1-5 / 1-2) at USC (5-1 / 3-1)
Root for USC to just annihilate Colorado. You want the Trojans going into next week feeling good about themselves and thinking, Hey, we can beat Oregon! even though they play at Arizona first.

Washington (3-3 / 1-2) at ARIZONA (3-3 / 0-3)
Both teams have a win over a ranked team. Both teams have all three of their losses against ranked teams. Both teams are very glad not to be a playing a ranked team.

Utah (2-4 / 0-3) at OSU (5-0 / 3-0)
You know you’re running good when you lose your starting quarterback and you go out and set a season high for points in the next game. The question now is how long can the Beavers go without losing? The first loss won’t happen this week.

UCLA (5-2 / 2-2) – bye
The Bruins bounced back from the surprise loss to Cal by beating Utah. Last year’s UCLA team didn’t get to five wins until the first week of November.

WSU (2-5 / 0-4) – bye
With the home loss to Cal the Cougars’ chances of getting a conference win this year have gone way down. A trip to Stanford after the bye isn’t going to help matters.

* * *

Are you feeling refreshed? Not only was last week a bye for Arizona but we just completed the only two-week span of the season without a home game.

Are the Cats refreshed enough to get a win?

As we mentioned above, the UA and Washington have had very similar seasons thus far, so it makes sense they share 3-3 records. The difference is the Huskies were hoping to be closer to where Oregon State is, while Arizona’s record is exactly where it was expected to be.

We’ll soon find out if Washington has gotten over the disappointment of losing to Oregon and USC by a combined 41 points. Whatever you do, don’t get lulled to sleep by UW’s 11th-in-the-Pac-12 offense. Three different quarterbacks have thrown for career highs against Arizona this year and I expect that trend to continue.

(FYI, Keith Price‘s current career high is 438 passing yards, set in that Xbox-esque Alamo Bowl last year.)

The Wildcats’ game against Stanford felt like the first team to get a stop in the second half and go up two scores would win. Arizona got the stop and the two-touchdown lead but then stopped scoring and didn’t win.

The goal this week is a three-score lead in the fourth quarter. And at least 50 points.

Now that would be refreshing.

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Scott Terrell will see you at The Stadium. Get back in the game on Twitter and Facebook.

If you can’t root for Arizona you can always root against ASU.
Photo by Dak Dillon-US PRESSWIRE

The Pac-12′s most dynamic, prolific, yard-generating offense does not play this week.

Oregon doesn’t play either.

You will have to get through the weekend without the drama (trauma?) of Arizona Wildcats football. We’re here to help.

This Week in the Pac-12 (TWit-Pac) has you covered with the TV schedule, a colorful look at the conference’s bowl situation and rapid-fire previews of the games. We begin with who, when and where to watch (all times Arizona/Pacific):

Up until now the glut of games each week has been at night but this week your remote trigger thumb will get the biggest workout in the early afternoon.

With the season half over it’s time to get serious about the Pac-12 bowl race. The last couple weeks we looked at which teams have the most favorable schedules. Armed with that knowledge and enough fingers to count to six, I’m proud to present the return of the bowl bubble:

Oregon is the only club sitting at 6-0 and no one has played enough to lose seven times so everyone is technically still alive. Realistically, no more than eight Pac-12 teams will finish with six wins this year. That’s a significant number because the league only has seven bowl tie-ins. Fans of teams on the bubble would be wise to root for the Ducks to run the table to enhance the conference’s chances of getting a second team into the BCS and dragging everyone else up a rung.

Yes, it’s true that due to all the winning programs under sanctions across the country every 6-6 team is almost assured of getting a bowl bid somewhere. But if you’re not high enough in the pecking order to land one of the Pac-12’s contracted slots you could end up like UCLA three years ago and get shipped to the East Coast to freeze and play Temple.

So as the final seven weeks of the season get underway it’s winning time for bowl-hungry teams. Here’s this weekend’s menu:

ASU (4-1 / 2-0) at Colorado (1-4 / 1-1)
(Psst… Are any Arizona State players or coaches looking? No? OK good.) Here’s the case for this being a trap game for the Sun Devils: A) It’s on the road. B) ASU has been looking ahead to next week’s Oregon game since last week. C) ESPN Thursday night upset magic (see Washington 17, Stanford 13 and Dixon, Dennis).

Utah (2-3 / 0-2) at UCLA (4-2 / 1-2)
The Bruins were looking like an eight- or nine-win team before getting steamrolled by Cal last week. Are the wheels starting to wobble a bit or will UCLA be able to pay the flattening forward against the struggling Utes?

Stanford (4-1 / 2-1) at Notre Dame (5-0)
Wildcat Universe may shed some tears if Josh Nunes looks completely overwhelmed again a week after looking like Andrew Luck II against the UA.

OSU (4-0 / 3-0) at BYU (4-2)
Oregon State took a big hit with quarterback Sean Mannion’s knee injury but the Beavers still have their defense and BYU has been held to six points twice in the last three weeks.

USC (4-1 / 2-1) at Washington (3-2 / 1-1)
Arizona’s next two opponents do battle in Seattle. How about a nice seven-overtime slugfest?

Cal (2-4 / 1-2) at WSU (2-4 / 0-3)
The Bears are looking for their first road win while Mike Leach (like Rich Rodriguez) is looking for his first Pac-12 win.

ARIZONA (3-3 / 0-3) – bye
Great news! There will be no last-minute heartbreaker this week!

Oregon (6-0 / 3-0) – bye
The Ducks are immune this week from the upset bug that struck Florida State but Oregon has to play four of its final six games on the road.

* * *

Part of me is itching to see the Cats get back on the field but part of me wants to bury my head in the sand and forget football for a week.

If you do plan on observing gridiron contests, here’s a list of games that may pique your interest:

Thursday, October 11

6 p.m. – ASU at Colorado – ESPN
Root for Whoever’s Playing ASU!

Saturday, October 13

9 a.m. – Oklahoma vs. Texas – ABC
See if Mike Stoops’ visor catches fire as his defense faces a Longhorn team averaging 47 points a game.

12:30 p.m. – Stanford at Notre Dame – NBC
Tune in for conference pride. Look away if they show any highlights from Stanford’s previous game.

4 p.m. – USC at Washington – FOX
Two reasons to root for USC: Wipe out Washington’s remaining momentum from the Stanford win, and get the Trojans looking ahead to the Oregon game which is one week after they come to Tucson.

6 p.m. – Texas A&M at Louisiana Tech – ESPNU
Sonny Dykes takes his ranked Bulldog team and his 53 points per game into Shreveport, Louisiana, to face a ranked SEC foe. A win and La Tech becomes a serious threat to run the table and get into a BCS bowl.

10 p.m. – Watch the news! Check out a movie! Get some extra sleep! This week there will be no late-night grumbling and remote-throwing for you, my friend.

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Scott Terrell thinks everyone could use a week off now and then. Enjoy the nothing on Twitter and Facebook.

Does Rich Rodriguez’s past leave you smiling?
Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

The University of Arizona has its new head football coach in Richard A. Rodriguez. Is Rich Rod the long awaited answer for the Zona Cats?

The response from the national media has been positive but the majority of the fan base was surprised. You’re not going to hire everybody’s first choice in any coaching search but many thought the same reasons that made former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach an unlikely candidate would also eliminate Rodriguez from serious consideration.

Those reasons? Stuff like getting fired, a lawsuit, player discontent, and those pesky NCAA violations.

The violations took place during both of Rodriguez’s high-profile jobs and can’t be ignored. You can read about what happened at West Virginia here and here. The Michigan summary is here and the full NCAA report is here.

Are they not that bad? There was nothing involving money to players or academic fraud. Can you live with them? Greg Byrne decided he could and the Rich Rod era is under way.

Now the bottom line is – as with any coaching hire – can he win football games at Arizona?

I look at it the same way I considered Leach. If Rodriguez was still at West Virginia he would be in the “tremendous hire but no chance he comes to Arizona” group. Alabama found out the same thing at the time.

When you look at the Michigan fiasco you certainly see the culture clash and can understand why generations of Wolverine fans would revolt after witnessing losing seasons for the first time in decades. But this wasn’t a John Mackovic situation where a guy followed up each season with a new low. Michigan’s record went from 3-9 to 5-7 to 7-6 in Rodriguez’s three years and his players (including the mesmerizing Denard Robinson) are 9-2 in Brady Hoke‘s first season.

If you’re going to gamble with a baggage-bearing coach you have to turn him loose (within the rules of course). Let Rodriguez hire his staff even if that means all the current coaches go elsewhere. If he wants to run a 3-3-5 defense – or a 2-2-7, or even a 1-10 – give him the budget to hire a coordinator who can run that defense. If he needs to cycle through the roster to get his type of players in place, give him the time to do so.

The big advantage to hiring an experienced head coach is he has a clear plan. For Rodriguez it’s not a matter of finding his way as the general of a program. Now it’s a matter of finding the officers and troops who can do what he wants and how he wants it. And then we wait and see (and hope) what he wants to do ends up being what he can do and that it works in the Pac-12.

I just happen to be in Michigan right now and the Wolverine fans have enjoyed giving me grief since the news broke. We’ll see who’s grieving the next time I pay a visit.

* * *

Quick, who has the third-best overall record among bowl eligible Pac-12 teams?

Surprise, surprise, it’s Utah at 7-4. Washington and ASU have lost a combined six straight while the Utes have won four in a row. As a result the adjusted Pac-12 bowl bubble looks like this:

What is IUTLCG? I had to create a new tier for UCLA and ASU because, while they’re bowl eligible now, either one could make the Pac-12 Championship Game with a 6-6 record and if they lost that they’d be 6-7 and not qualified for a bowl. In other words they could lose their way out of a bowl by winning the division. Therefore, the Bruins and Devils are currently In Unless They Lose Championship Game.

Transitioning to the hot seat, the big plus in Arizona hiring Rodriguez this week is the Cats got their man before any other Pac-12 job opened up. So UA fans are less concerned about which other coaches stay or go unless they really like the mediocre job a coach is doing for a rival school.

I think Mike Riley and Paul Wulff will be back for OSU and WSU. Cal put up a good fight against Stanford and unless the Bears get annihilated by ASU I believe Jeff Tedford will at least get a shot in the bowl game.

The two coaches in the most trouble are Arizona State’s Dennis Erickson and UCLA’s Rick Neuheisel. I don’t think they both can survive at this point. I expect whoever doesn’t win the Pac-12 South will be fired after this weekend. The “winner” of the South may still get canned.

So if you like to see ASU and UCLA stumbling around root for both schools to get a win to end the regular season.

* * *

Nick Foles put up a monster game against ASU putting him within striking distance of most of the Pac-12 records we’ve been tracking. Of course, he can’t break any records if he doesn’t play but here’s where he stands and what exactly he needs in the final game to hit each mark:

Bonus stat: Foles needs 341 passing yards to get to 10,000 for his Arizona career.

Another 10,000 reasons to buy a cheap ticket and say goodbye in person on Saturday.

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Scott Terrell hopes his violations aren’t that bad. Consider sanctions on Twitter and Facebook.

Dennis Erickson has been lacking upward-trajectory football games.
Photo Charlie Leight/The Arizona Republic

Arizona State has been the Pac-12 hot seat’s best friend the last couple weeks. Both Rick Neuheisel of UCLA and Washington State’s Paul Wulff got a boost by upsetting the Sun Devils.

Unfortunately for Dennis Erickson, in pushing his fellow coaches off the hot seat, he has fallen onto it himself.

It would be very interesting if both Arizona schools were coach hunting in the same offseason. It hasn’t happened since, well, two coaches ago. After the 2000 season both Dick Tomey and Bruce Snyder were let go. Arizona’s first hire lasted 2+ seasons and the second hire made it 7+. ASU’s first hire went six years and their second hire is in his fifth season.

The last time both positions were vacant at the same time ASU hired the Boise State coach. Is it the Wildcats’ turn?

Here is the best way to keep the Pac-12’s hottest seats cool:

Erickson isn’t needing an upset as much as he needs to prevent more upsets. I can’t see him getting fired if he makes the Pac-12 Championship Game. But if he loses to Arizona? If the Devils get absolutely destroyed by Oregon and whomever they play in their bowl game?

Wildcat Universe may end up in a very awkward position. Obviously you want a UA win this Saturday but you may find yourself having to root for ASU to beat Cal and win their (lower level) bowl game to prevent your biggest rival from diving into the coaching pool.

We’ll jump off that bridge when we come to it.

* * *

How does a coaching job’s profile improve after someone turns it down? When that someone is former Florida coach Urban Meyer. If the report is true, Greg Byrne contacted Meyer, and Meyer didn’t laugh. He sat down with Byrne, “was intrigued,” and thought about it for a week before saying no.

That should make other coaches think, “Wow, Urban discussed the Arizona job? Mr. Two National Championships and a Perfect Season? Maybe I should hear what Greg Byrne is saying.”

At the very least it makes The List more interesting.

* * *

Another look at the Pac-12 bowl bubble:

Utah and Cal, welcome to the bowling alley! UCLA (5-5) needs to beat Colorado to get to In status and – whattaya know – look who moved back up to the Middle. Wazzu (4-6) broke its five-game losing streak and suddenly beating Utah at home and Washington on the road doesn’t seem as impossible as it looked last week.

* * *

Some of you may be tired of hearing about stats and records after ugly losses. Nick Foles himself isn’t happy about it. But there are only so many ways you can write “This team is really bad,” and “We have to wait for the new coach.”

Foles is falling further behind pace for the bulk yards records (Cody Pickett played in 13 games in 2002) but he’s still leading in per-game averages. The UA QB also remains ahead for the crown jewel, the Pac-12’s career completion percentage record.

I took a shot at Matt Leinart in this space last week and now he’s an NFL starting quarterback again. No truth to the rumor that Donovan McNabb has been texting me begging for an insult.

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Scott Terrell is here to help. Back up your QB on Twitter and Facebook.

Who wants to start a bowl streak?
Photo Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

So it ends.

With loss number seven against Utah last Saturday the Arizona Wildcats football team will not be setting a school record by going to a fourth consecutive bowl game.

The UA’s run had been the third longest active streak in the Pac-12 (and second longest among the old Pac-10 schools). That honor now belongs to Stanford.

Here are the streaks for each program:

Pac-12 Bowl Streaks

(This year is not included but USC’s vacated bowl is.)

Starting a new streak will be on the new Arizona coach’s to-do list.

* * *

Last week was horrible for the Wildcats on the field but there was some great news on the hot-seat/no-head-coaching-search-competition front.

Cal took care of business at home and then UCLA turned in the biggest Pac-12 upset of the season to date by taking down Arizona State. The best part is, I called it! OK, that’s not exactly what I said but I did tell you to root for it.

The cool-seat roadmap looks a lot better:

How do we get the Bruins into the Pac-12 Championship Game to ensure Rick Neuheisel gets another year? I don’t think they’ll win out with two road games left including USC but they can still get in if they go 2-1 down the stretch and ASU loses one more time.

If only there was a team with a lot of incentive to beat the Sun Devils, maybe someone like a 112-year rival…

* * *

All the four-win teams became five-win teams so the Pac-12 bowl bubble has just about popped:

The conference is just three more wins (and one national championship game snub) away from filling all seven of its bowl slots even with USC ineligible. If Stanford and Oregon both make BCS bowls and Washington State (3-6) loses one more time the New Mexico Bowl is going to have to go team shopping somewhere else.

* * *

Nick Foles, if it’s any consolation, John Elway didn’t win a bowl game either.

The Wildcat quarterback’s assault on the Pac-12 record book was slowed after his worst statistical performance of the year. Here are the current projections:

Everything on there is still within reach but he’s got some ground to make up. Tim Kish and Seth Littrell, if you’re out there and you happen to find yourself with a lead in Boulder, please let Foles continue to throw it around. Matt Barkley had six touchdown passes against the Buffs, for crying out loud. Besides, how often do you get a chance to knock Matt Leinart down?

(Nobody on the Houston Texans practice squad answer that.)

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Scott Terrell does enjoy html tables. Take a [br] on Twitter and Facebook.

The UA’s #8 is trying to become #1 in the Pac-12.
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

It turns out Nick Foles might be better than we thought.

It is common knowledge among fans of the Arizona Wildcats that the strong-armed senior quarterback is rewriting the school’s record book. As the numbers have continued to pile up Foles is now in position to topple some Pac-12 marks as well.

This was just going to be a short blurb. I was going to tell you about seats and bubbles when I read that Foles was on pace to break the Pac-12 record for passing yards per game in a season. I figured I’d pass the stat tidbit along to give UA fans something else to root for during the remainder of a difficult year.

Then I took a closer look at the Pac-12 record book. As I scanned the passing section and did some math I realized – holy forward pass, Batman – Foles has a shot at a bunch of these.

Take a look. All records are for a single season unless noted:

Some of Criner's 29 have been harder than others.
Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Members of the Wildcat Universe shouldn’t take this for granted. We have no idea what kind of offense the new coach will run or what kind of quarterbacks he’ll be able to recruit. Don’t forget, 20 touchdown passes (Foles’ 2011 total through eight games) was the Arizona single-season record for 41 years.

Also remember to save some love for Foles’ favorite target. With his next touchdown reception Juron Criner will tie the UA career record of 30 set by Theopolis “T” Bell in 1975.

Both current Cats would rather complete two passes and win than throw for 400 yards and lose but even as victories have been hard to come by, Foles-to-Criner continues to give Arizona fans something spectacular to look forward to on Saturdays.

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Elsewhere in the Pac-12…

Didn’t I tell you not to give up on Rick Neuheisel? OK, that’s not exactly what I said but I did give UCLA a chance at six wins and they got a big one against Cal.

Fear not, Jeff Tedford, it’s your turn now. You have two consecutive home games against teams with losing records. Win those and you go bowling.

(The key for Cal after that will be avoiding getting embarrassed on the road against Stanford and ASU so there isn’t an emotional firing Thanksgiving weekend. But let’s get Jeffy Ted bowl eligible first.)

Oregon State is the team that isn’t playing along at all. They win the games we want them to lose (vs. Arizona and WSU) and they lose the game we’re hoping they win (vs. Utah). All that’s left is for Mike Riley to beat Stanford this week and make the whole Pac-12 hate him.

The updated grid of hot seat optimism:

If this holds true it means Riley’s last four seasons will have gone 9-4, 8-5, 5-7 and 2-10. That’s not what ASU’s Lisa Love would call upward-trajectory football records. Is the potential of freshman quarterback Sean Mannion enough to offset Riley running out of Rodgers brothers? Don’t dam him, Beavers.

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Two more teams have been fitted with bowling shoes in the latest version of the bubble:

Arizona State and Washington each won its sixth game to secure postseason eligibility. Congrats, Alamo and Holiday Bowls, you’re officially getting Pac-12 teams. The other bowls? They’re going to have to wait a bit.

Utah (4-4) has moved ahead of Cal (4-4) on the Bubble In line since the Utes have twice as many remaining games against losing teams than the Bears.

UCLA (4-4) is hanging tight in the Middle. That’s what happens when you’ve played 2/3 of your schedule and you still don’t consecutive wins (or losses).

Washington State (3-5) falls down to Bubble Out as their losing streak has extended to four. That 3-1 start seems like a long time ago.

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Scott Terrell wishes he had some records to break. Make history on Twitter and Facebook.

Yes, Rick, we’re talking about you.
Photo Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

From the Arizona Wildcats’ perspective the only negative from the UCLA win – well, besides the fight and the mostly-naked guy – was pushing Bruin coach Rick Neuheisel to the edge of his increasingly hot seat.

Is it too late for Neuheisel to save his job or will UA athletic director Greg Byrne have competition in finding a football coach to work in the Pac-12?

You’ll notice in last week’s hot seat discussion that the Bruins didn’t need to beat Arizona to get to six wins. They still don’t.

Jeff Tedford and Cal got the win they needed against Utah (in convincing fashion, no less) but Mike Riley and the Beavers decided not to follow the Cheap Seats script. OSU dominated Washington State leaving the Cougars and Paul Wulff a long way from even five wins.

Here is the revised best-case scenario as well as each team’s best chance at an upset (that doesn’t detract from the best-case scenario). I even table-ified it for you (progress!):

Basically, when it comes to the hot seat squads, root for the home team unless Utah is involved.

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Everybody has played at least seven games so bowl tickets are starting to get punched. Behold, the bubble:

Oregon got win #6 and is officially In. Colorado became the first Pac-12 team to clinch a losing season so the Buffaloes are Out.

Cal slid ahead of Utah since the Bears now have four wins and the Utes don’t have any more non-conference games to win.

We just spelled out how UCLA can still go bowling but the rest of the world isn’t as confident about Slick Rick’s chances.

Does Arizona have a bowl pulse after routing UCLA? Check back with me Saturday night at about, oh, 11 p.m.

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Scott Terrell doesn’t want anyone to lose his job in these troubling times. Submit an application on Twitter and Facebook.

The goal is the make Thursday night look like this...
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

College sports fans love coaching searches but it’s a very passive process. Unless you have huge dollars to contribute directly to a new coach’s salary, there’s not a whole lot you can do.

Until now. Until this week in Tucson.

If you are a fan of the Arizona Wildcats you have one chance to have a direct impact on the search for a new football coach.

Thursday is the first game since the firing of Mike Stoops. It will be a main theme during the ESPN broadcast. Who is Tim Kish? Have the players quit? What is the overall state of the program?

...and not this.
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

The last time the ESPN cameras came to Arizona Stadium it wasn’t pretty. The score of the Oregon game was ugly and the empty seats were uglier. It was not a good promotional piece for Wildcat football.

Now it’s time for everyone to show signs of life. For the players that means energy and intensity. For the alumni and fans it means buying a ticket and using it. For the ZonaZoo it means making the night your own personal episode of ESPN GameDay.

Signs of life means actual signs!

Make some ESPN related, such as:

Every coach
Sees
Potential
National championship

…or…

Hey Jesse, Arizona is even better than Applebee’s!

We don’t want to be divisive so do not make signs about your favorite coaching candidate:

This Leach doesn’t suck!

…or…

Petersen is a beater, son!

Either make them pro-Kish:

Lou Holtz says, “Give me a Kish!”

…or…

Don’t be a bish. Back Kish!

Or just make them pro-Arizona:

(OK, I’ll stop. You can do much better than me.)

Zoo, we’re counting on you. I don’t want to hear any complaints about short notice. This is college. I know you have midterm papers that you won’t start until six hours before they’re due. Higher education is built on performance under self-induced pressure.

This game can’t wait. ESPN won’t be back this year. You never get a second chance to make a first post-Stoops impression.

If the potential coaching candidates aren’t able to tune in Thursday night you can be sure their agents are.

A big, loud crowd for one game in October by itself isn’t going to convince a top-flight coach to come here, but it is part of the package. If you aren’t an elite football power you have to sell your school’s potential to become a football power, and a key component is fan support (i.e., money) and an electric game day atmosphere (i.e., recruits).

Sign(s) up, Wildcat fans.

- – -

The bowl bubble isn’t that much fun anymore so we’re introducing something a lot more important to UA football: the Pac-12 coaching hot seat. As we discussed, the Cats want as few BCS-level job openings out west as possible. Who is in jeopardy of joining Mike Stoops in getting thrown off the coaching carousel?

Besides Arizona there are six Pac-12 teams at 3-3 or worse. Colorado just hired its coach so he gets a free pass. Utah’s coach has a .723 career winning percentage and an undefeated season under his belt. He’s not going anywhere.

The other four guys are feeling toasty. Here is my thermal analysis of the seats on which they sit, from hottest to not-as-hot:

Rick Neuheisel, UCLA (3-3)
Jeff Tedford, Cal (3-3)
Paul Wulff, WSU (3-3)
Mike Riley, OSU (1-5)

I think Neuheisel needs a bowl game to save his job so he’s halfway there. Also in his favor is the fact he hasn’t lost consecutive games this year so negative momentum hasn’t been building, and he’s coming off a win. Yes, the Cats would be indirectly hindering their coaching search by beating UCLA and driving Neuheisel closer to extinction, but he could bounce back next week with a home win against Cal.

Speaking of the Bears, I believe Tedford also needs a bowl game. That is, unless Cal can’t afford to fire him since Tedford has a sweet contract with no buyout clause. (Note to Greg Byrne: Don’t offer a contract with no buyout clause.)

Washington State has been so terrible the last few years that five wins shows great progress. Four might even be enough to keep Wulff around.

That leaves Oregon State to take the losses. We’re counting on Riley having built up enough goodwill with the three nine-plus win seasons and showing loyalty to OSU when USC came calling.

So the best case scenario the rest of the way looks like this:

UCLA beats Cal, Utah and Colorado to finish 6-6.
Cal beats Utah, WSU and OSU to finish 6-6.
WSU beats OSU and Utah to finish 5-7.
OSU beats Utah to finish 2-10.

Then you hope Arizona hires its coach before the bowl games begin so it doesn’t matter if UCLA and Cal end up with losing seasons. It sure would help if the Beavers could upset somebody (Washington at home?) but if you’re going to be competing with someone in the head coach market you’d rather it be Oregon State than UCLA.

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The updated bowl bubble because blog winners never quit:

With Stanford moving to 6-0 the Pac-12 officially has its first bowl team. The only other change is Utah jumping over Cal because the Utes got a solid road win last week and they don’t have any more ranked teams on their schedule.

And now you’re a blog winner too.

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Scott Terrell is trying to think of words that rhyme with Rece. Break out the poster board on Twitter and Facebook.