Arizona has been without its best player, tight end Rob Gronkowski, all season.

Its top running back, Nic Grigbsy, managed only 26 carries in conference games due to a shoulder injury. Backup running back Keola Antolin was in and out of the lineup because of ankle and shoulder injuries.

Starting defensive end Brooks Reed, the team’s returning pass rusher, missed almost of five games with a sprained ankle.

Arizona lost in the most painful of ways at Washington — a controversial tipped pass off a shoe for an interception return for a touchdown. Arizona later followed up with a loss to Cal when quarterback Nick Foles was called for an illegal double-pass late in the game.

The double-overtime 44-41 loss to Oregon will tear at fans’ hearts for years.

And yet it’s time to celebrate.

The season went from “OK but frustrating” to jubilant when the Wildcats, inept offensively throughout the second half against USC, pulled out an 80-yard drive when they absolutely had to have it late in the game.

Arizona converted three third-downs along the way, and then Foles lofted a perfect pass to Juron Criner along the left sideline. Criner came down with the ball, and then tip-toed and twisted his way into the end zone for a 21-17 lead with 3:14 to go.

A defensive stand made that score hold up, and the Wildcats beat coach Pete Carroll and the Trojans for the first time in coach Mike Stoops’ six seasons.

Arizona finished the regular season at 8-4 overall and 6-3 in the Pac-10, tied for second behind Oregon. The Holiday Bowl extended an invitation to Arizona before the team left Los Angeles.

The game is Dec. 30 in San Diego against a Big 12 opponent.

UPDATE: With Nebraska’s last-second 13-12 loss to Texas in the Big 12 title game, the Cornhuskers figure to be UA’s opponent in the Holiday Bowl. That is a rematch of the 1998 game, which Arizona won 23-20 to finish a 12-1 season.

“This is a big step,” Stoops said in his postgame radio interview. “To go 6-3 in this conference, second in the Pac-10, it’s pretty special in a lot of different ways.

“The way we competed all year is probably the thing I am most proud of. When you look at the entirety of the whole season, the way our kids played, I really have a lot of respect for them and their coaches for enduring everything we have been through and never really quitting.”

The alternative to Saturday’s result was losing at USC, finishing sixth and going to the Poinsettia Bowl. That’s also in San Diego, but a couple of steps down in postseason prestige.

But instead of posting another 7-5 season, the Cats did one game better and took another step up the bowl ladder after going to the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl.

When the All-Pac-10 teams are released early next week, there won’t be many — any? — Wildcats on the first team. If Dick Tomey was coaching this team, he might call it a “Team of Joes.”

The most significant part of Stoops’ rebuilding hasn’t been in star power, but in depth. There are players of nearly equal ability through the two-deep. No big drop-offs. That speaks to savvy recruiting and some good jobs of coaching ‘em up.

Example: Junior cornerback Marcus Benjamin, whose name hasn’t been mentioned at all this season, came in during the fourth quarter for Trevin Wade (concussion) and made a couple of key plays.

“We weren’t great in any one area,” Stoops said of his team, “but we’re a good football team.”

Good enough to beat USC for the first time since the 2000 season. Good enough for the program’s best Pac-10 finish since 1998. Good enough to make back-to-back bowls for the first time since 1997-98.

Good enough to provide more evidence of progress.

Seven of Arizona’s nine conference games went down to the final few minutes, or even the final play. UA was 4-3 in those games. A couple of plays away from greatness. A couple of plays away from disaster.

It all adds up to the Holiday Bowl.

“It makes you feel like you made history,” Criner said on the postgame radio show. “You can’t really describe that.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 6:02 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Juron Criner, Mike Stoops, Nick Foles, Pete Carroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.