When offensive lineman Cayman Bundage wasn’t celebrating a touchdown with Ka’Deem Carey, he was helping clear space for him up front. Photo by Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

Ball at the 25. Three-point lead. Four minutes and 40 seconds left against USC.

A true freshman is at left guard. The left guard is at left tackle. The center and right guard are injury replacements. Arizona’s backup quarterback, B.J. Denker, had just come into the game for an ailing Matt Scott.

No way were the Wildcats going to pass the ball.

“When everyone in the stadium knows you are going to run it, that’s the time you have to do it,” Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said.

For a team that plays fast and ranks high in all the national stats in offense, it was the ensuing 19-yard drive — before a delay-of-game penalty at the end — that will go down as one of the season’s highlights.

“It’s satisfying for the offensive line because we pride ourselves in getting better in the run game,” said starting junior guard Chris Putton, who also has been rotating at left tackle with Mickey Baucus.

“We put our minds to it. Come off the ball. Whoever wants it more is going to win it.”

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Rich Rodriguez might have a slightly healthier team this week. Photo by Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

One week off was good. Two or three would have been better.

The Arizona Wildcats returned to practice Sunday after their bye week, with coach Rich Rodriguez hoping to get several injured starters back for this Saturday’s game against Washington.

“We probably needed more time,” Rodriguez said.

“I think there were something like 13 starters that were out last week, and six or seven of them didn’t play in the last game. I’m hoping with one more week, we get a couple of them back.”

Arizona was without five starters at Stanford on Oct. 6 — center Kyle Quinn (ankle), right guard Trace Biskin (toe), safety Jared Tevis (ankle), defensive tackle Reggie Gilbert (ankle) and defensive end Dominique Austin (foot).

A few others, including slot receiver Johnny Jackson, left the Stanford game with various injuries. Jackson, who had 10 catches vs. Stanford, didn’t practice Sunday, Rodriguez said, although an official injury update won’t be released until Thursday afternoon.

Expect a lot of “questionables” on that report.

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Cayman Bundage

If you had pondered the question, “Which Arizona Wildcats freshman is going to make the biggest impact?” a month ago, you might have mentioned one of the linebackers.

Or one of several defensive backs, the kind of players who can always help on special teams, too.

Or Kyle Kelley, a high school pass-rushing demon on a team in high demand for a pass-rushing demon.

Or quarterback Javelle Allen.

Or a Griffey.

The one area in which Arizona seemingly needed no help from newcomers was the offensive line. The starters returned intact from last season, key backups were still around, and a trio of redshirt freshmen — Lene Maiava, Jacob Arzouman and Faitele Faafoi — was there to push the veterans.

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Rich Rodriguez was fired up after a fourth-quarter TD in his Michigan debut, but the Wolverines still lost to Utah. Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

We know fireworks will accompany the Arizona Wildcats’ entrance onto the field on Saturday night. After that, who knows?

“With the first game there are always so many things you’re unsure of,” first-year Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said Monday.

He will make his UA debut this weekend against Toledo at Arizona Stadium, hoping for a better result than he had when the curtain went up at West Virginia in 2001 and at Michigan seven years later.

In Rodriguez’s first game as a Division I-A college head coach, his Mountaineers team gained just 316 yards, scored a mere 10 points and lost by more than three touchdowns at Boston College.

In Rodriguez’s first game as the head coach at Michigan in 2008, the Wolverines managed a scant 203 yards and lost, in the Big House, 25-23 to Utah. Headline the next day in the Detroit News: Will Rodriguez be a Michigan Man?

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