Mana Mikaele proudly displays the Cats’ new win total.
Photo by Rick Osentoski/US Presswire

Pile on the optimism, Wildcat fans.

The potential for greatness is there.

Yes, it was only Toledo. The same Toledo team a five-loss Arizona squad scored an identical 41 points against in 2008. But a game like this can only produce two types of feelings. Either…

Does that mean it’s a really good sign when our easy game actually is easy? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

…or…

We’re way beyond wake-up calls. Either you wake up, or you’re dead. After every single one of these bad losses we thought the lesson was learned. Yet here we are again. They only let you re-take a test so many times. After a while you just flunk out.

The first quote was after the 2008 Idaho game. The second is after the New Mexico game two weeks later. “Wait and see” is a great place to be.

When you play an inferior opponent you can’t confirm what you hope to see but you can confirm what you’re afraid of seeing. It’s fine to have lingering doubt about this year’s Arizona team, but it will have nothing to do with Friday’s performance.

The majority of the preseason hand-wringing was because of the defense. The UA D didn’t produce a single-digit-rushing-yard performance a la the Desert Swarm era but there was more than enough athleticism on display to believe this defense has the potential to be good enough so the offense doesn’t need to score six touchdowns every game.

There’s that word again: potential. The defensive end firm of Reed, Reed and Elmore were pressuring the quarterback, knocking down passes and making plays in the run game. At D-tackle redshirt freshman Justin Washington introduced himself as a player. New cornerback Robert Golden had enough speed to blitz from the edge and stop a 3rd-down run in the backfield.

Then there were the linebackers. The fear was three guys out of position, too small and too slow to do anything about the ball carriers zipping past them. Instead there was Derek Earls using his 6-3 frame to break up passes and haul in an impressive interception. Paul Vassallo recorded a game-high 10 tackles. Jake Fischer contributed six stops and a 2nd-half sack. The early results are in and the polls indicate “just inexperienced” as opposed to “really bad.”

On offense you have to go out of your way to find fault with a game that includes 187 yards and multiple highlight-reel contributions from your go-to receiver. Then there’s this factoid: Nick Foles completed 85.7% of his passes in the 1st half, and it actually brought his game average down. 18 of 21 in the 1st half, 14 of 16 (87.5%) in the 2nd half, 32 of 37 (86.5%) for the game. That’s like Salim Stoudamire shooting free throws, only if the basket was 45 yards away.

Nitpickers will point to the offensive slump after the first touchdown, when the Cats couldn’t pick up a first down on three straight possessions. On the first unsuccessful drive Foles missed an open Juron Criner on a deep out. The next drive was doomed after the ball was knocked out of Foles’ hand resulting in a 2nd-and-20. Then you had the safety that came after a good punt and curious timing for a quarterback change.

So correct two plays and maybe you have two bad possessions the entire game. I’m going to say the Wildcat offense passed this initial test.

Now, if you do want to complain about something I give full permission to grumble about the new pants. The stripes are too thick and I don’t understand why the blue on the inside of the stripe doesn’t match the rest of the pant. I also sympathize with those who aren’t pleased with the smaller A on the white helmets. Maybe it’s supposed to make the players’ brains look bigger.

Speaking of brains, I do like the new double halfback formation with Foles in the shotgun and Nic Grigsby and Keola Antolin on either side of him. It gives you a runner and an outlet receiver on every play, or you can attack both flats simultaneously. Considering Grigs and Ant only combined for 30 receptions all last year the eight for the pair on Friday signaled a shift in strategy. Not a surprise when you remember the new play-caller is the running backs coach.

The bottom line is the Cats have three primary touchdown-scorers in Criner, Grigsby and Antolin. The trio now has 50 combined TDs so it makes perfect sense to get them on the field at the same time and find ways to get them the ball.

A quarterback in complete command, offensive playmakers making plays, and the new defense looking athletic and fast. Not a bad start to a season at all.

A potentially great season.

Can Juron Criner do a lot of this in 2010?
Photo by Brad Allis/WildcatSportsReport.com

We are just one work week away from the return of Arizona Wildcat football.

The goal is at least nine wins in 2010. Here are the questions that need to be answered in order to get there:

Can Mike Stoops find happiness in a stranger’s house?

Toledo isn’t expected to do much this year but a victory over the Rockets would be Mike Stoops’ best non-conference road win since, well…ever.

It’s true. Stoops and the Cats have gone oh-for-the-road in non-league match-ups. 2005 Utah, 2006 LSU, 2007 BYU, 2008 New Mexico and 2009 Iowa. Three of those teams went on to win 11 games. Four of them won bowl games. I’ll bet you can guess which one of these things is not like the others.

Toledo will be a lot closer to New Mexico than LSU so if Stoops is going to break through on the road, the time is now. (That’s a definite theme this year.)

Are four heads better than two?

It has been well-documented that the UA will be breaking in two sets of co-coordinators. On defense any changes may be hard to spot (especially with Mike Stoops still calling the shots) but the play-calling on offense will be out there for everyone to see. Will Seth Littrell (also the running backs coach) and Bill Bedenbaugh (O-line coach) emphasize the run game more than Sonny Dykes?

In the first couple games what gets called might not be as important as how quickly it gets called. Wildcat fans will painfully recall the rough start to the Mike Canales era at the beginning of Stoops’ tenure. Arizona seemed to spend more time calling timeouts and accepting delay of game penalties than running actual plays. How long will it take Littrell to adjust to the speed of the game as a rookie play-caller?

Can the offense beat a full-court press?

In Nick Foles’ first three starts last year he completed 75% of his passes with averages of 35 completions and 351 yards a game. Over his final seven starts those numbers dropped to a 57% completion rate with 21 completions and 190 yards per game. What happened? Starting with UCLA the opposing defenses said, “You know what, Mr. Accurate Long-Haired Guy? We’re not going to let you pick us apart with short passes.” Defensive backs played press coverage and Foles and the Arizona receivers never could completely adjust.

The big need for 2010 is the emergence of a legitimate deep threat. What made Mike Thomas so dangerous was he could beat you on a quick throw but we would blow by you on the outside if you played him too close. The Cats need to find a receiver with a little Money in him.

Juron Criner beat USC with a long-ball. Can he do it on a consistent basis? Is either Bug Wright or Travis Cobb ready to do something with their speed other than terrorize the WSU special teams? The difference between a good offense and an elite one could depend on it.

Will Arizona see red in the zone?

If you aren’t going to be able to hit a home run on every possession you have to be able to convert in the red zone. In 2008 the Wildcats had GRONK! through the air (10 touchdowns) and the Grigsby/Antolin combo on the ground (23 rushing TDs). All three of those guys were injured in ’09 and the offense took a step backwards.

What will be this year’s strategy inside the opponent’s 20? Pound it behind the big offensive line to see if Grigs and Ant can recapture their paydirt-finding glory (with some Nwoko mixed in)? Throw the fade in the corner to Criner? Establish a new threat over the middle? Taimi Tutogi as a one-man wrecking crew was an option but he’s been out all of camp with an injury. Whatever the plan, the goal is to put Alex Zendejas to work on extra points instead of field goals.

Are the new linebackers just inexperienced or are they really bad?

Shifting to the defensive side of the ball all eyes will be on JC transfers Derek Earls and Paul Vassallo, and true sophomore (and local kid) Jake Fischer. Can the brand new linebacking corp cut it?

The good news is the new LBs don’t have to be stars. The three seniors on the D-line need to be stars. Trevin Wade needs to be a star. The linebackers don’t have to Ricky Hunley, Byron Evans and Lance Briggs. They just need to know their assignments, be in position, and make tackles.

If they can’t? It might be the “Kish of Death” for this year’s team.

Will the secondary produce Golden Flowers?

If you get past the veteran line and the rookie ‘backers you end up with Wade and the Question Marks. Robert Golden is playing a new position. Seniors Anthony Wilcox and Joe Perkins are listed as the safety starters but they have nary a start between them. Their backups are true freshman Marquis Flowers and true sophomore Adam Hall.

It’s understandable if Wildcat fans are having nightmares of receivers running free downfield while the guys in red and blue point fingers at each other. And that brings us too…

Are we in for shootouts at the UA Corral?

The Stanford and Oregon games last year were the best of times and the worst of times for the Arizona faithful. The offense looked like an unstoppable force. The defense looked unable to a force a stop.

In 2007 the Cats broke the 45-point barrier in three different games for the first time since 1983. Dykes did it again in 2008. The last time Arizona scored 45+ four times in the same season? 1954, when Art Luppino was running wild for Coach Warren Woodson.

If that record falls in 2010 Wildcat fans are in for a wild ride. If that record needs to fall in order to keep the games close Wildcat fans will be sick.

The answers are coming and you only have to survive one more week of work before we get there.

No question about it.

The good news is we lost a guy we didn’t have yet so we technically didn’t lose him.

Matt Brown, the only quarterback in Arizona’s 2010 recruiting class, recently announced that because Sonny Dykes left he will no longer be attending Arizona but will instead go to TCU. It’s all part of the fun in the circus that is college football recruiting.

If you don’t follow recruiting you might just be better off for it. It’s a world of deception and betrayal. It’s a system that leads to players who think they have scholarships being left out, and players who don’t have scholarships pretending they do.

As with anything involving sports they came up with a way to keep score so fans can brag when they win and sulk when they lose. There are more recruiting websites than you can shake a stopwatch at and they all come up with rankings based on a star system. If you’re a five-star player you’re supposed to be the next Tim Tebow. If you’re a one-star player you’d better get used to filling water bottles.

But how do you rank high school kids from around the country who attend schools of all sizes and play against varying competition? That’s the magic of recruiting rankings. Or, if you prefer, that’s the steaming pile of worthlessness of recruiting rankings.

Logic says the best indicator of a player’s potential is the level of programs recruiting him. If USC, Texas and Florida all want a guy he has to be really good, right? But it becomes a chicken-and-egg thing. Is the player rated highly because of the scholarship offers he’s getting, or is he getting scholarship offers because he’s rated highly?

Even after all that you’re still curious about college football recruiting. You’re interested in seeing what all the fuss is about. Besides, September is a long time from now.

So come on in. Fire up your search engine and see what’s going on with your favorite team. To assist you I proudly present the following Guide to College Football Recruiting, for the novice, by a novice.

1. “Commitment” doesn’t mean anything.
The way the system works is players can be recruited at a young age (nowadays I think it’s once they start crawling) but they can’t formally accept a scholarship offer until their senior year of high school, on National Signing Day which is the first Wednesday of every February. Any time up until Signing Day a player may “commit” to a school. In theory said student-athlete is announcing he has made his college decision and the recruiting process is over. In reality it means the coaching staffs at other schools begin recruiting even harder often leading the player to “de-commit” and say he’s going somewhere else.

In the modern world of college football a “commitment” simply means “the school I currently think I might attend…maybe.”

2. Everyone always likes their class.
No matter how fierce the recruiting battles, no matter how many recruits are gained or lost during the year, by the time Signing Day rolls around every team will claim victory. Official recruiting parties will be held across the country and all coaches will say they got the guys they wanted and there are future stars in the class. Hands will be shaken and backs will be patted and everyone goes home happy. Optimism is undefeated on Signing Day.

3. Highly rated players aren’t always great…unless they are.
If you’re going to follow recruiting you have to learn one thing: If your team’s class isn’t ranked very high you immediately shout, “Recruiting rankings don’t mean anything!” Then you list all the examples of highly rated players who failed and lowly rated guys who succeeded.

For example, in Arizona’s 2008 recruiting class Robert Golden was a five-star recruit and Juron Criner was a two-star recruit. Both are starters but who has had the better career thus far, and whose stock would you rather own? Doesn’t this make the star system meaningless?

But if you look at the Wildcats’ 2007 class you see The Man Who Would Become GRONK! listed as a four-star recruit. He certainly lived up to the hype even in two short seasons. In the same class you have QB Bryson Beirne as a two-star recruit. Not much was expected of him and, sure enough, he’s third string on the depth chart with little chance of moving up.

People who want to mock Arizona fans who follow recruiting will always point to the class of 2006. Perhaps the most exciting moment in the history of UA football recruiting was the day Louis Holmes announced he was coming the Tucson. The story was that even as Holmes was walking toward his press conference Pete Carroll was on his cell phone trying to get Holmes to come to USC. The all-world defensive end chose Arizona and we all thought we had the next Tedy Bruschi. After two full seasons Holmes barely had more sacks (six) than recruiting stars (5).

On the other hand Cat fans who live for recruiting can point to 2005 as a year it was all worth it. Willie Tuitama and Eben Britton were four-star recruits, Mike Thomas had three stars, Spencer Larsen had two stars, and all of them became stars. Sometimes you win all the way around.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping up with recruiting. It’s a great way to pass the time as you wait for spring practice. Just watch out for the roller coaster highs and lows and be sure to celebrate the student-athletes who ultimately decide to attend your favorite university.

Happy Signing Day!

–

Basketball Note – In the last ten Pac-10 games the home team is 8-2. Guess who has the two? I’ll give you a hint: It rhymes with Barizona Date Fun Levels.

The Cats are alone in second place and the game on Sunday is a chance to move into first. If Sean Miller was a football recruit he would get eleven stars.

I figured we were going to see Nick Foles in red for the first time but the team chose to attack the Cardinal in blue-on-blue uniforms. It turned out to be the right call as the Cats have now won eight straight games while wearing blue jerseys. Truth. Everyone loves the red but we haven’t lost wearing blue shirts since the Oregon State home loss three years ago. Somebody alert the team’s fashion consultants.

The best part about Robert Golden’s touchdown wasn’t the interception, it was the fact that he eluded Andrew Luck on the return. When you pick off a short throw near the sideline the quarterback is the only guy who can stop you from scoring. If you don’t have room to get around him you need to slow up and let one of your blockers catch up and flatten him.

In the Texas/Oklahoma game we saw what often happens. Late in the game a Sooner defensive back got too excited after a pick and let Colt McCoy bring him down while a wall of would-be blockers trailed a step behind. Sure enough, Mike Stoops’ brother’s team failed to score on that possession and ended up losing by a mere three points. The cardinal rules of returns: Don’t let the punter push you out of bounds, and never get tackled by the quarterback.

Is it considered nepotism when you throw two touchdown passes to your roommate? David “Roomie” Douglas’ 43-yard catch-and-run was the longest touchdown reception of the year thus far. I’d pay his half of the cable bill this month.

After the red zone struggles against Washington it was a relief to see the Cats score before they got inside the 20…but then Zendejas’ extra point attempt was blocked. Even when we score a touchdown it turns into two field goals.

I love the new offensive package with Antolin in the backfield and Grigsby split out wide. It allowed us to run the end-around with a real running threat and I’m sure we’ll throw it out to Nic for the quick screen a time or two as the year goes on.

Speaking of our battered backs, Keola and Grigs combined for 129 yards on 15 touches against Stanford. Imagine if they were both healthy.

Speaking of only 15 touches, that brings us to this week’s…

Things Nobody Else Does
-Go from a running team to a Run ‘N’ Shoot team in three weeks
In the first three games the UA averaged 39 rushing attempts a game and our starting quarterback completed an average of just 12 completions a contest. The Foles Era has seen the ball go in the air 46 times a game and in the Stanford game we called a whopping 11 running plays. Somewhere Mouse Davis is smiling.

What on earth was that long inflated flesh-colored thing the Zona Zoo was bouncing around? Let’s just say it didn’t seem very Family-Weekend-friendly.

With his team down nine and Stanford seemingly about to put the game away, Mike Stoops busted out the gather-the-entire-team-on-the-field-during-a-timeout routine before the fourth quarter. That never works…except when you hold your opponent scoreless the rest of way and you score two long touchdowns to steal the game.

UCLA comes to town this week and it’s a huge game no matter what your expectations are for this team. Because of the way the schedule lays out the eight-game roadmap is the same for a 7-5 season, a 10-2 season, and everything in between. The Wildcats have to get to 6-2 which means they needs win #5 this week.

If you’re the kind that likes to worry you’ll be happy to know Arizona is 0-1 in letdown games this year. Oregon State could have been a momentum-building win but we all know what happened at Washington. Can the team use the euphoria of the Stanford victory as motivation instead of distraction?

We’ll have to wait and see. Or we can just wait and see what the team is wearing.