AG's Wildcat Report

ESPN GameDay is bringing its popular Saturday morning pregame show to Tucson this week for the Arizona-Oregon game.

Chris Fowler

Even with Arizona’s loss at Cal on Saturday, the UA-Oregon matchup is still for control of the league race and is the best game of the day. Although ESPN on Sunday morning was still promoting the falsehood that Arizona’s loss meant that only Oregon was in the driver’s seat, the reality is that both teams are in the same position — win out and they will go to the Rose Bowl to play Big Ten champ Ohio State.

This will be the first appearance ever for GameDay in Tucson.

The big question: Will Lee Corso put on a Wilbur the Wildcat mascot head or an Oregon duck head to signify his pick to win?

Corso, in Saturday’s show, predicted Cal would beat Arizona, after which host Chris Fowler turned to him and said, “And if we’re there, they’ll remember you picked against them.”

Well, they will be here, so get your signs ready for the TV cameras and get ready to pack Arizona Stadium in what is the most important home game UA has ever played this late in the season.

The game will begin at 6 p.m. and be televised by ABC. The university is billing this as a “Red Out,” with fans encouraged to wear red. Also, 10,000 red rally towels will be distributed to the Zona Zoo student section.

See, I told you that there was no cause for doom and gloom after the loss to Cal. As I wrote: “By the end of this week, excitement should overcome the fans’ bitter reaction to the Cal loss.”

Fowler and an ESPN announcing crew were here two years when Oregon, then ranked No. 2 in the nation, played at Arizona on a Thursday night. Helped by a knee injury to Ducks quarterback Dennis Dixon, the Wildcats pulled off the big upset, 34-24.