How will coach Mike Stoops and the Wildcats handle all the congratulations from last week?/Photo by Chris Morrison, US-PRESSWIRE

The Arizona Wildcats have been saying all the right things this week.

“We understand we are not where we want to be,” said quarterback Nick Foles. “We have nine games left and we’re a long way away from our goal. … We’re starting the Pac-10 schedule now, so now is where it really counts.”

There has been a lot of that kind of talk this week, and Arizona has to turn words into action Saturday night against Cal.

The Wildcats are at their highest point, coming off a victory against ninth-ranked Iowa.

The Bears are at their lowest point, coming off a 52-31 loss at Nevada.

Do the Cats have a hangover? Are the backed-in-a-corner Bears especially dangerous?

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Arizona junior quarterback Nick Foles is on the fringes of the Heisman Trophy discussion, ranking 17th in a voter’s poll at StiffArmTrophy.com.

Foles was unranked last week … and then he passed for 303 yards and the game-winning touchdown against Iowa on Saturday.

The poll includes 68 Heisman voters from 36 states … and the geography shows the regional bias (out here, we call it East Coast bias). Based on the criteria listed for the website’s preseason poll, voters are asked to list 15 names on this weekly survey, and none of the eight voters from the Northeast included Foles.

Check out the link above for the full breakdown of the poll and visit foles4heisman.com

Nick Foles celebrates the win over Iowa/Photo by Rob Schumacher, The Arizona Republic

I know. It’s a bit early for Heisman talk. It’s still September. Teams have played only three games. Washington State hasn’t even been eliminated from the Rose Bowl race yet.

But this is the kind of stuff we — the media, fans — do in sports. We pick. We project. We discuss. We dissect.

Besides, everyone seems to be giddy over Arizona’s 3-0 start and victory over ninth-ranked Iowa, so why not? Heisman … Nick Foles. There. I said it. In the same sentence.

Now go visit foles4heisman.com.

The Arizona Wildcats quarterback should be in the discussion. These days, the award almost always goes to a star quarterback for a highly rated team. That pretty much describes Foles and Arizona right now.

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Nick Foles celebrates as he leaves the field after the win over Iowa/Photo by David Kadlubowski, The Arizona Republic

Good thing for the Arizona Wildcats that quarterback Nick Foles is a better passer than a poker player.

“I know Nick well enough now that I can tell when he’s bluffing,” said wide receiver David Douglas, who is Foles’ roommate. “When I see he’s bluffing, I’ll kind of bait him in so he puts in a lot.”

Defenses are having a harder time figuring him out. Foles, after completing 28 of 39 passes for 303 yards with two touchdowns and one interception against Iowa, is the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week.

More than the numbers, Foles directed the Wildcats on a late game-winning touchdown drive in the 34-27 victory over the ninth-ranked Hawkeyes.

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The Wildcats aren't No. 1, as offensive lineman Phillip Garcia is indicating, but No. 14 isn't bad/Photo by Chris Morrison, US-PRESSWIRE

The Arizona Wildcats show up on all 60 AP ballots this week, moving from No. 24 to No. 14 after its 34-27 victory over ninth-ranked Iowa on Saturday night.

The Hawkeyes dropped to No. 18.

This is Arizona’s highest ranking in the AP poll since the 1999 preseason poll, when the Cats were ranked fourth heading into their opener at Penn State, which stomped Arizona 41-7.

Curiously, the coaches were less reluctant to move Arizona ahead of other teams that won Saturday, albeit against lesser competition. They elevated the Wildcats only two spots, from No. 18 to No. 16.

Arizona’s best AP ranking this week comes from Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He picks UA sixth.

You have to wonder about the 10 voters who had Iowa ranked higher than Arizona on their ballots. The Hawkeyes hung tough on the road (and I don’t think they deserved to drop nine spots) but how do you ignore the head-to-head result, especially when Iowa doesn’t have a high-quality victory to point to?

Other oddness: Rob Long of a radio station in Baltimore picks Arizona State as No. 23 in the country. He was the only one who ranks ASU, which has two wins over lower-division teams and a painful loss to Wisconsin. A nice showing, but it’s still a loss without anything else resembling a quality victory.

Video from Fox Sports, via YouTube.

Story at FoxSportsArizona.com — Wildcats say ‘we’re here to stay’ is from me.

Nick Foles was the first QB to pass for more than 300 yards against Iowa since the end of the 2007 season/Photo by Chris Morrison, US-PRESSWIRE

It’s one of those classic “movie” moments. Game on the line. Quarterback gets into the huddle and says the most perfectly inspirational line. Something about heart and determination and respect and all that.

So what did Arizona Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles say to his teammates in the huddle late in Saturday night’s game against the ninth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes?

“I love ya’ll,” he said. “Let’s go do this.”

Foles doesn’t need someone else to write his lines.

That was perfect.

Speaking of love, just how much are you loving Nick Foles right now?

Foles didn’t crack under the pressure Saturday night, even after the Wildcats were trying to put a pretty bow on their gift-wrapped present to the Hawkeyes. Penalties. Turnovers. More penalties. More turnovers.

Arizona, which had been up 27-7 at halftime, was tied at 27. Momentum gone. Cue the panic in Arizona Stadium.

Not from Foles, keeping his offense loose on the sideline.

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Fans celebrate with Nick Foles after the 34-27 win over Iowa/Photo by Chris Morrison, US-PRESSWIRE

A thriller. Arizona coach Mike Stoops sat down at a table for a postgame press conference and, in one word, summed up the 34-27 win over ninth-ranked Iowa. “Whew.”

“I don’t even know where to begin,” he said. “I’m really kind of speechless right now trying to figure out what just happened.”

It was a crazy game, filled with details we’ll be talking about for years, but the upshot is that it feels just about as good as anything that has happened around Arizona football in about a dozen years, since the 12-1 season of 1998.

“It says we’re here to stay,” said sophomore linebacker Jake Fischer. “We just have to keep working hard and not get big-headed. With the guys we have in the locker room, that’s not going to happen. It’s going to make us work harder, and we’re still hungry, no matter what.”

Quarterback Nick Foles directed the game-winning drive, which spanned 72 yards on nine plays, capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass to Bug Wright on a slant pattern.

“That was a special play,” Stoops said. “You have to make that against Iowa if you want to beat them.”

More TC.com coverage:

Javier Morales: Sacks break Hawkeyes’ backs in “program-changing” win for Arizona

Steve Rivera: Arizona a football school? Go with me on this

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(NOTE: We bring you an Iowa view from our Gannett sister paper in Iowa City. For more, visit Hawk Central, a collaboration of Gannett’s Des Moines Register and Iowa City Press-Citizen).

Iowa left guard Julian Vandervelde carries the Cy-Hawk trophy off the field after defeating the Hawkeyes beat rival Iowa State 35-7 last Saturday/Photo by Matthew Holst, Iowa City Press-Citizen

By Andy Hamilton
Iowa City Press-Citizen

TUCSON, Ariz. — Adam Robinson turned on his television a couple weeks ago in time to see something that boggled his mind during the highlights of Iowa’s first game.

The sophomore running back couldn’t see it under a pile of bodies after one of his runs against Eastern Illinois, but there it was on the screen — offensive tackle Riley Reiff driving two defenders downfield, one with each arm.

“I was already down, everybody was on the pile and Riley was still blocking two guys,” Robinson said. “He had one hand on one guy and the other hand on another. That just showed me this guy is going to battle for me, and the whole offensive line is like that. That blew my mind.”

The offensive line was supposed to be the X-factor for the Hawkeyes this season. The prognosticators figured if the group came together with three new starters, then so would Iowa’s chances of solidifying itself as a top 10 team.

Through the first two weeks of the season, the offensive line has gone from an asterisk to an asset for the ninth-ranked Hawkeyes.

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Will Mike Stoops be angry or happy at the end of Saturday night?/Rich Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

I have been going back and forth with the Arizona-Iowa game all week. So have the gamblers and oddsmakers.

The Hawkeyes started as 1-point favorite, then the line switched to the Wildcats as a tiny favorite. Basically, it’s a toss-up.

Iowa out-played Arizona last season in Iowa City, winning 27-17, but it wasn’t as if the Wildcats didn’t have their chances.

Maybe if they don’t let Adam Robinson run for 43 yards on third-and-23 … or maybe if they score a touchdown when they have first-and-goal from the 1 … or maybe if they convert a fake field goal …

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