Cat fans, raise your hand if you think it’s time.
Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

They say if you want to accomplish things in life you need to write them down and set deadlines. Often those deadlines are just pulled out of thin air. But sometimes your self-imposed due date is based on a narrow window of opportunity.

Mike Stoops, this is your window.

The 2010 Arizona Wildcats absolutely need to have a peak football season. Not from a “Win or else” standpoint but more like: “If not now, when?”

It starts with the depth chart. If you scan the two-deep a couple things jump up and scream at you. Of the top ten guys listed on the offensive line seven are seniors. It’s very possible the Cats will be starting seniors at all five O-line positions against Toledo. You can’t get any more now-or-never than that.

Nic Grigsby will be gone after this year and he could be taking some 3,500 yards and 30 touchdowns with him. Nick Foles and Juron Criner are juniors but there’s no guarantee one or both of them don’t absolutely dominate this year and go pro early.

Foles’ backup is also significant. Matt Scott surprisingly didn’t transfer so he gives the UA the rare luxury of two upperclassman signal-callers with starting experience. Obviously you never want your #1 guy to get hurt but this wouldn’t be like the Willie-Tuitama-to-Adam-Austin drop-off in 2006.

So the 2011 Arizona offense could be doing a sizable chunk of rebuilding. But that’s OK because the defense is so young, right?

I know it hurts but… Not exactly.

When you look at the defensive line you find another three seniors. Ricky Elmore and Brooks Reed have 25 sacks between them and the pass-rushing pair will be very hard to replace.

But wait, you say, what about the five new defensive starters behind them? That has to lower this year’s expectations a bit. Good point. In order to find a Pac-10 champion with an average defense we have to go all the way back to…2009. Oregon was only 4th in the Pac-10 in both scoring defense and total defense last year.

If you’re elite on one side of the ball you can get away with being merely decent on the other side. And if you believe strength along both lines is crucial (and you should) then this is the season you have been waiting for.

Then there’s the rest of the league. It doesn’t do you much good to peak if somebody else peaks higher. The good news is everybody has some question marks.

Oregon’s question mark was visited by the police one too many times and got kicked off the team. With Jeremiah Masoli at quarterback the Ducks wouldn’t just be the runaway pick to repeat as Pac-10 champs, they would be on the short list of national title contenders. Can one guy make that much of a difference? How did Oregon fare after Dennis Dixon went down in 2007? How does the 2009 game in Tucson end with anybody other than Masoli at QB?

Next up is the fall of Troy. Two years ago, after yet another 12-1 season, the question was if anyone else in the league would ever get within shouting distance of USC. But then the Reggie Bush investigation started heating up, Pete Carroll escaped to the NFL, and the NCAA dropped a bomb on Heritage Hall.

USC is a very interesting case from a rooting perspective this year. Every team obviously wants to beat the Trojans but after that you want them to win the rest of their games. They can hang losses on your competition without passing you in the standings or bowl pecking order. How many times do you get to play a season with a really talented team potentially assassinating your rivals without hurting you?

The schedule also works in Arizona’s favor in 2010. The 9th Pac-10 game is at home as are the games against USC and bowl regulars Oregon State and Cal. Iowa represents the highest profile non-conference home game since LSU came to town in 2003. There are going to be a lot of people in the stands which will help keep the big-game atmosphere at Arizona Stadium all season long.

Oh, and there’s the simple math. This is the last year a Pac-10 team only has to be better than nine other teams, since Utah and Colorado are already packing their bags.

It all adds up to tip the scales in the direction of the Wildcats. None of this guarantees anything, but if Mike Stoops has been waiting for the perfect opportunity to put it all together, that opportunity is here.

For Arizona Football, this has to be 1998 because next year could very well be 1999.

So. What exactly does a peak year look like?

Stay tuned…

Thu. Jan. 28
Stanford (10-9 / 4-3) at ARIZONA (10-9 / 4-3) – 6 p.m. (all times Arizona/Mountain), Fox College Sports
Playing at home against an average opponent, coming off the high of the ASU win. This is the game where we find out if the Cats are truly getting better.

Cal (13-6 / 5-2) at ASU (14-6 / 4-3) – 6:30 p.m., FSAZ
The Devils did not take care of business last week but they can still get back into first place.

USC (12-7 / 4-3) at OSU (8-11 / 2-5) – 6:30 p.m., FSNW
The Beavers haven’t won since beating Arizona.

UCLA (9-10 / 4-3) at Oregon (10-9 / 2-5) – 8:30 p.m., FSN
Three of the Bruins’ four league wins have come by two points or less.

Sat. Jan. 30
WSU at Washington – 1:30 p.m., FSN
The Pac-10 beat Seattle U! The Pac-10 beat Seattle U! Hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.

Stanford at ASU – 2 p.m.
The Cardinal is 4-0 at home and 0-3 on the road. If they played Washington at a neutral site, would anybody win?

USC at Oregon – 4 p.m.
After winning six straight, the Ducks have dropped five in a row. There’s no truth to the rumor they’re adding Jeremiah Masoli to the roster to try and get more steals.

UCLA at OSU – 5:30 p.m., FSNW
The last two Pac teams with overall losing records finally meet. Instead of an opening tip they should start with a group hug.

Sun. Jan. 31
Cal at ARIZONA – 1:30 p.m., FSN
No NFL playoff games? No problem. How about The Battle For First Place In The Pac-10 If The Bears And Wildcats Both Win On Thursday?!

Did you do it? Did you last this long without peeking? I won’t tease you any longer. It’s power rankings time (last week’s rank in parentheses!)!

1. Cal (2) – With the next four on the road we’ll see if Cal is for real.
2. USC (3) – Four wins without playing the Oregons.
3. UCLA (4) – Same as USC, but lost to the Trojans.
4. WSU (6) – Road wins against UA and USC are strong.
5. ARIZONA (9) – UA > ASU.
6. ASU (1) – Just 1-3 against the top 5.
7. Washington (5) – Lucky the Cal and Stanford games were at home.
8. Stanford (7) – No road wins and half the home wins are against Oregons.
9. OSU (8) – Why did you lose to these guys, Cats? Why?
10. Oregon (10) – First in football, last in basketball.

That looks a little better, doesn’t it? The Cats can make another jump by beating Cal, or drop back down again by losing to Stanford. Such is life in a conference where 60% of the league has exactly four wins.

But we’re 1-1 against Seattle U!

It doesn’t matter who Arizona is playing, or how big an underdog the Cats are, once the ball goes in the air we start hoping for a win. When the team mounts a comeback to get it close before the half you begin to think it’s possible. When the defense pitches a shutout in the third quarter and the UA takes the lead you get sucked in. When the lead gets to ten in the fourth quarter you start to feel it. When you get a play-for-the-ages touchdown to retake the lead you know you’re THIS close.

And if you’re a fan of Arizona Football, you know you’re THIS close to losing it all.

That sinking feeling is what we’re fighting as a program. That woe-is-us fear that defeat is right around the corner. The problem is you could sense that fear at Arizona Stadium Saturday night. More specifically, you could hear it.

When Jeremiah Masoli found Ed Dickson for 23 yards down to the Arizona 2-yard line in the second overtime the building went silent. When LaMichael James was stopped short of the goal line it stayed silent. Even when the Ducks were stopped again on second down you could hear a rose petal drop.

That’s not normal. Remember, the Cats were winning at this point. If they get one more stop on third down they could force Oregon to go for the tie. If there’s a false start Arizona’s chances go way up. If there’s a turnover the Wildcats win. In any other stadium the crowd would have been deafening.

In any other stadium and they would have believed.

This is what Mike Stoops is up against. He’s not just trying to get better players to win more games. He has to save Arizona Football from itself.

This is our plea, Coach Stoops. Don’t become just another UA football coach. You have been a part of teams that won the big games. You have a national championship ring. Help us become like you. Please don’t become like us.

The red-and-blue lining is we still care and we keep coming back. As a fan, don’t ever let go of the pain. Do not give in to the numbness of apathy.

THIS will not always happen. Believe it.

. . . .

It was so close to being the perfect football day. The ESPN College GameDay experience lived up to the hype. In additional to the whole national-TV thing there was something about being out before dawn among like-minded people. It was like collecting left-footed platform shoes and finding out there’s a convention.

GameDay is so big it brings out fans of teams that aren’t even playing. There were supporters of Washington State (as always), Ohio State, Alabama, and…the Green Bay Packers? Apparently the NASCAR fans couldn’t make it.

After a day of anticipation the game got started with ESPN’s moving camera suspended above the field. The Stadium was packed and the atmosphere was electric. After spotting Oregon two touchdowns the Cats responded and the cycle of think-suck-fail began.

The Wildcats did make some really big plays. Nick Foles’ fade pass to Juron Criner in the corner of the end zone was a thing of beauty. Alex Zendejas’ 47-yarder to end the first half was huge. Xavier Kelley shutting down the fourth-down attempt with seven minutes left was a championship-level play. The 71-yard Criner catch-and-run had a chance to become this generation’s Chuck Cecil play.

But, alas, the list of Arizona Plays was longer. Fumbling at the one. Two Cats fighting for a fumble and kicking it back to Masoli. Missing a 24-yard field goal. Rushing the field too early. Hold on, that one deserves its own section…

Things Nobody Else Does

• Pour out of the stands in a one-score game while the other team has the ball

Aren’t you just asking to lose at that point? The only way it could have been worse is if they were on the phone buying Rose Bowl tickets.

Moving on. Who do we play this week?

Oh. Them.

This year’s Territorial Cup game is going to be a battle to see which team can best bounce back from having its dreams crushed. Arizona will finish short of the Rose Bowl for the 32nd consecutive year. ASU has locked up its second-straight losing season for the first time in 62 years. So all that national exposure associated with the Oregon game? This week will be the opposite.

But it’s still must-win for both teams.

With the Rose Bowl dream dying the question has been if the six-win Cats could end up going to the No Bowl. Could a 6-6 / 3-6 UCLA team get a bowl bid at the expense of a 6-6 / 4-5 Arizona team?

This explanation of the Pac-10 bowl selection process from the Emerald Bowl seems to indicate the conference standings take precedence. The Seattle Times says bowls will be able to pick any eligible Pac-10 team regardless of the final standings, but not until next year. So the Cats should be safe as long as the Bruins lose to USC.

But do we really want to find out? You know the Poinsettia Bowl would do everything possible to be able to take a team from the L.A. market that has won three of its final four games. The Cats need to win one more game to ensure they don’t get left out.

So we are playing for a bowl this week.

And did I mention it’s ASU? That should be all the motivation anybody needs.

. . . .

I know, I know, the basketball season is already two games old. We’ll preview (postview?) Miller Era, Year One soon. In the meantime the Maui Invitational starts Monday with the Cats tipping-off against Wisconsin at 10 p.m. Arizona time on ESPN2. Root for Arizona to play Gonzaga and either Maryland or Vanderbilt as the tournament progresses. The best scenario is beating good teams. The next-best scenario is losing to good teams.

Anyone know how to say “Bear Down” in Hawaiian?