The Arizona Wildcats got off to a fast start, leading 11-2 at the first media timeout, and then they stiff-armed Oregon the rest of the way.

Sophomore Kevin Parrom finished with a career-high 20 points off the bench, leading Arizona in scoring. The Wildcats won their Pac-10 opener 76-57 and improved to 12-2 on the season. They move on to Oregon State on Sunday night.

Parrom also had eight rebounds. Jesse Perry, making his second start for the Cats, had nine points and eight rebounds.

* * *

Arizona has put this one away, leading 72-50 with 3:25 to play. Kevin Parrom is up to 20 points. Eight of the regular 10 players have scored. No points for Jamelle Horne or Brendon Lavender tonight.

The sophomore class has scored 55 of the 72 points.

* * *

Sophomore Kevin Parrom has a career-high 16 points. His previous high was 14, set against NAU earlier this month.

* * *

Arizona leads 60-46 with 7:30 to go. I don’t see a final run in the Ducks.

* * *

Wow. Kevin Parrom with four 3-pointers tonight. You never know who is going to get hot from the outside for the Cats.

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Arizona senior Brooks Reed earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors this season.
Photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com

Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops, for whatever reason, did not do his usual postgame radio interview with 1290-AM, but senior defensive end Brooks Reed stepped in following the Alamo Bowl.

Reed, a Sabino High graduate, has been a three-year starter at defensive end. Known for his energy and hustle, he is small for defensive end standards in the NFL, and likely will have to start making the transition to an outside linebacker role in a 3-4 scheme as he prepares for the draft.

Reed, one of the team captains, spent a few minutes talking with Dana Cooper after the 36-10 loss to Oklahoma State:

“Definitely not the way we wanted to finish out, losing those last five games. It’s sad to see all the seniors leave on that note, but besides that, I’ve had the time of my life. It’s something I will never forget. I’ve made so many friends and met so many people through this program. It’s been such a positive experience in my life.”

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Mike Stoops can yell all he wants; Arizona still gets an 'F' for execution in the Alamo Bowl.
Photo by Matt Strasen-US PRESSWIRE

The Arizona Wildcats outgained Oklahoma State 370-312 in the Alamo Bowl and had possession of the ball for 37 minutes, 31 seconds.

And they still lost 36-10 on Thursday night in the Alamodome in San Antonio.

It was a similar story throughout Arizona’s five-game losing streak to end the season.

Get this:

In that stretch of losses, Arizona was out-gained by only 51 yards while being outscored by 74 points.

That’s hard to do.

It’s been a series of costly turnovers, red-zone failures, special teams misadventures, penalties at the worst possible times and just a general collective failure to make plays in critical situations.

While the Wildcats weren’t a bad team, they sure spent a lot of time playing like one.

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One of the many, many — and we do mean many — missed opportunities for Arizona came late in the first half when it reached the Oklahoma State 39 in the final minute.

The Wildcats trailed 23-7 at the time.

On third-and-10, Nick Foles connected on a deep pass to Travis Cobb near the goal line, but Cobb was penalized for pass interference.

On third-and-25, Nic Grigsby ran for 13 yards, getting close to the Oklahoma State 40-yard line with about five seconds left. Arizona had a chance to call a timeout and try a Hail Mary pass.

On the sideline, coach Mike Stoops was taking off his headphones and beginning to walk to the locker room. Players or other coaches might have been trying to call timeout, but not Stoops. The clock ran out.

“I thought the couple scoring drives before the half, not getting points, really hurt us,” Stoops said in the postgame news conference.

“We had a couple opportunities there. You know, the play before the half, I thought it was fourth-and-25. That was my fault. Again, I thought offensive interference lost a down. So we just missed those opportunities to close it to a two-score game.”

Oklahoma State recovers the ball after Bug Wright muffed the catch on the first punt of the game. Photo by Matt Strasen-US PRESSWIRE

It’s over. Oklahoma State wins 36-10. Give credit to the Cowboys, but Arizona has no shortage of turnovers, penalties, etc. to regret for the next nine months.

See you Sept. 3 against NAU.

And then comes a game at — gulp — Oklahoma State.

Related: Mike Stoops on letting first half expire: ‘I thought it was fourth-and-25′

Related: Arizona football: Sometimes, stats do lie

* * *

Now, that’s fitting. Nick Foles hits Richard Morrison with a 44-yard touchdown pass with 4:13 left … but it’s called back by a holding penalty on guard Conan Amituanai.

* * *

It’s almost over. Oklahoma State scores again on a 44-yard field goal with 5:53 to go, taking a 36-10 lead. If the Cowboys add a touchdown, the Wildcats will lose another bowl game by 33 points.

* * *

It was fourth-and-13 from the OSU 17 … but why is Mike Stoops trying to kick field goals? Alex Zendejas misses from 34 yards.

* * *

Headed to the fourth quarter. Arizona down by 23 points. Three touchdowns, two two-point conversions and an extra point.

* * *

Pretty much figures. Arizona gets a defensive stop on fourth-and-1 from its 48, but linebacker Derek Earls is flagged for a face mask penalty. OSU converts that into points with a 50-yard field goal from Dan Bailey, the winner of the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s best kicker.

OSU leads 33-10 with 3:20 to go in the third quarter.

I’ll keep watching because I have to … what about the rest of you?

* * *

A third interception for Nick Foles. An unhappy Texas homecoming for the kid from Austin.

* * *

Oklahoma State responds to Arizona’s piddly field goal with an easy touchdown drive, capped by a 3-yard pass to Justin Blackmon, to take a 30-10 lead with 5:16 to play in the third quarter.

Arizona coach Mike Stoops has opted for field goal attempts of 47 yards (no good) and 42 yards (good) when facing fourth-and-5 situations. This game — which clearly was going to need 30-plus points to win — called for touchdowns not field goal attempts.

But Stoops has never really been a gambling coach. He should have been in this game.

* * *

It’s good! Alex Zendejas kicks a 42-yard field goal with 9:01 to play in the third quarter. The Arizona defense has done a nice job since halfway through the first quarter, but the UA offense hasn’t been able to do much damage and, as it has all season, is struggling when it gets anywhere close to the goal line.

The Cats trail 23-10.

* * *

Arizona has committed three false start penalties on third down.

* * *

No dice for Arizona on what I would say was a critical opening drive of the second half. It didn’t help that the Cats were called for a false start on third-and-3. Nick Foles can’t connect on third-and-8 … and now OSU has the ball after a punt.

Can the Arizona defense can up with a big play?

* * *

Tweets George Schroeder, the sports columnist at the Eugene Register-Guard: Arizona is one big discombobulated mess.

* * *

Arizona trails 23-7 at halftime, and it could have been worse.

Let’s see …

Arizona:

–Lost the ball on a muffed punt after the first drive of the game, leading to an Oklahoma State touchdown.

–Misfired on a fourth-down pass on its first drive of the game.

–Allowed a 71-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Justin Blackmon on a busted coverage in the secondary.

–Threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

–Threw an interception at the Oklahoma State 2-yard line.

–Missed a 47-yard field goal.

–Got nothing after reaching the OSU 39-yard line in the final minute, even failing to call a timeout to set up a fourth-down Hail Mary throw.

Anything else?

As coach Mike Stoops said in the halftime interview, the Wildcats need to take the opening kickoff and get a touchdown. The game isn’t out of reach … yet.

* * *

A 47-yard field goal attempt from Alex Zendejas goes — predictably — wide right. On fourth-and-6 from the 30, I think I would have gone for it with 2:26 left in the first half. No, I know I would have gone for it.

* * *

The hopelessly optimistic view with six minutes to go in the half: An Arizona touchdown and a two-point conversion here makes it a one-score game.

* * *

There goes another Arizona opportunity. Nick Foles is picked off for the second time, with this interception coming at the OSU 2-yard line. It is Foles’ first game this season with more than one interception.

* * *

Tweets Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com: When does the Arizona plane land in San Antonio? They’re going to be late for the bowl game.

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Motivation isn’t hard to come by for the Arizona Wildcats.

“We lost four straight,” said senior running back Nic Grigsby, “and we don’t want to end on a fifth one.”

Doesn’t get much simpler than that for tonight’s Alamo Bowl matchup against Oklahoma State.

The Wildcats have been claiming that their preparation has been much better than last season. Arizona was past its expiration date when it showed up for the 2009 Holiday Bowl against Nebraska, having spent more than a week in San Diego over the Christmas Holiday.

This time around, coach Mike Stoops worked the team hard in Tucson before giving them a few days off before Christmas.

“The focus has been tremendous with our players,” defensive coordinator Tim Kish said at an Alamo Bowl press conference this week. “The energy level has been up, the enthusiasm has been up.”

A better prepared team doesn’t necessarily mean a winning team, but at least the Wildcats might have a fighting chance against the 10-2 Cowboys — unlike last year in a 33-0 bowl loss to Nebraska.

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FoxSportsArizona.com has compiled what it thinks is the top 10 plays of the Arizona Wildcats football season (also known as the Juron Criner highlight reel).

You can watch the top 10 plays and vote for your favorite here.

My pick isn’t on the list. In terms of what it meant, combined with a high degree of difficulty — considering Nick Foles had to rifle a third-down pass through a small window between defenders — I’ll take the game-winning touchdown pass to Bug Wright to beat Iowa as my Arizona play of the year.

You can see that one as part of the highlight package below.

Ricky Elmore (left) and Brooks Reed have been three-year mainstays at defensive end.
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops was selling the future in his early days in Tucson, and recruits were listening.

His 2006 group was the highest rated among his seven recruiting classes — ranked 18th nationally by Rivals.com and 19th by Scout.com. That doesn’t always translate to success on the field, but, in this case, it did.

That 2006 class — “they’re the cornerstones,” Stoops said — makes its final stand Wednesday night in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State.

With a foundation that includes Colin Baxter, Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore — plus departed standouts Earl Mitchell, Devin Ross, Nate Ness and Cam Nelson — that 2006 class helped Stoops turn around the program.

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Nick Foles hopes to be celebrating at the end of Wednesday's Alamo Bowl as he was after the Iowa game this season.
Photo by David Kadlubowski, The Arizona Republic

Arizona Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles says he is 2-1 as a quarterback in games played in San Antonio’s Alamodome, but the most recent one was the loss.

It was Dec. 23, 2006, in the Texas Class 5A state title game. Foles’ team from Austin Westlake High played the powerful South Carroll High Dragons, who were in the midst of the one of the most dominant eras of Texas high school football.

And that’s saying something.

“Oh, it was big,” Foles said last week.

“We were going against the No. 1 team in the nation and we were the big underdogs. We were beating them pretty bad through the third quarter, and they got some big plays and ended up winning the state championship.”

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Rob Gronkowski celebrates with fans after New England's victory at Buffalo.
Photo by Luc Leclerc-US PRESSWIRE

The Arizona Wildcats have sent a few solid receivers into the NFL, but none did what Rob Gronkowski has done in his rookie season.

Gronkowski caught two touchdown passes from Tom Brady in the New England Patriots’ 34-3 victory at Buffalo on Sunday, giving the tight end nine touchdown receptions this season.

No other former Wildcat has ever had more than seven in a season.

“(Gronkowski) had a great day today,” Brady said in his postgame news conference. “He’s had great days all season, and he’s been a great player for us.”

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