Matt Scott has completed 254 of 413 passes for 3,008 yards this season. Photo by Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Quarterbacks want to be known for their throwing, not their heaving.

But Arizona Wildcats senior Matt Scott can’t escape discussion of the latter. The TV cameras captured him throwing up on the field again last week at Utah; the producer in the truck called for multiple replays and cued up the video of Scott doing the same vs. USC on Oct. 27.

Thanks for that.

“I heard that so much today with people coming up to me saying, “I’ve seen you on TV” and them replaying it,” Scott said after Monday’s practice.

“It was pretty funny. But I’m done hearing about it.”

Moving on …

Scott has played in two games against Arizona State, but his first start against the Sun Devils will come Friday night (8 p.m., ESPN).

“I’ve been here five years now, and I can’t even explain how I feel about these guys,” Scott said. “Obviously, we don’t like them and they don’t like us.”

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Arizona’s Matt Scott gets ready to fire the winning touchdown pass in overtime vs. Toledo. Photo by Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

The Arizona football team is better than it should be, not as good as it could be.

The Wildcats — part encouraging, part frustrating, rarely boring — suffered their third consecutive loss last Saturday, leaving them at 3-3 overall at the midway point of the regular season.

Which is basically on par with preseason expectations.

Are you a glass-half-full fan?

Rich Rodriguez took over a 4-8 team that lost four NFL players, including quarterback Nick Foles, upset No. 18 Oklahoma State and, amid an injury crisis, came within a play or two of beating ranked Oregon State and Stanford. With a smile from the football gods, the Cats would be 5-1.

Or are you a glass-half-empty fan?

The Wildcats are disappointing because they haven’t made a play in crunch time in the past two weeks, a leaky defense has little chance of getting better in the second half of the season, and Arizona will run out of gas before getting to bowl eligibility. Wait till next season. Or maybe 2014.

As the Wildcats sit out this weekend before resuming play against Washington on Oct. 20, let’s take stock at the season’s halftime.

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Arizona's Jonathan McKnight tackles Washington's Jesse Callier last season. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops walked up to a waiting group of reporters after Thursday’s practice and opened with this: “More bad news,” he said.

It sure was.

Sophomore Jonathan McKnight, a starting cornerback and projected to be the team’s primary punt returner, suffered a torn ACL in Wednesday’s practice and is out for the season.

“It’s disappointing for Jonathan,” Stoops said.

“He’s a terrific player and he had a great camp. It is just one of those things. We feel very disappointed and sad for him and our team. He’s a great leader for us and an outstanding football player.”

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WR Richard Morrison, celebrating a touchdown in the spring game, is a prime candidate at punt returner. Photo by David Kadlubowski, The Arizona Republic

One of the people we caught up with for a few minutes after Arizona’s first fall practice was assistant Jeff Hammerschmidt, who coaches special teams and defensive ends.

We’ll save some of the talk about the defensive ends for another time as Arizona shifts through replacements at those positions for three players who are now in NFL camps.

As for special teams, Hammerschmidt is working with a new punter (Kyle Dugandzic, who was here in the spring), new returners (look for speedy Garic Wharton on kickoffs) and possibly a new placekicker. Junior college transfer Jaimie Salazar is here to compete with incumbent Alex Zendejas.

Here is some of our conversation with Hammerschmidt following the first practice, which began at 6:15 a.m. at the Rincon Vista Complex:

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Coming off a disappointing junior season, Trevin Wade was more dedicated this spring. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Here is the ninth part of our Arizona Wildcats football preview in collaboration with our Gannett partner, The Arizona Republic.

We write the words, and they have taken the cool photographs and put it all together in a slick presentation at azcentral.com.

Check back here and at azcentral.com every Friday as we roll out more of our preview every week, all the way into August.

This week: I talked with new secondary coach Ryan Walters to get his breakdown of a position group that should be the strength of the defense.

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Marquis Flowers hopes to be turning some heads if he sees extended time against Iowa/Photo by Brad Allis, WildcatSportsReport.com

Arizona Wildcats sophomore safety Adam Hall, recovering from a shoulder injury, seems probable to play against Iowa this weekend. Marquis Flowers will be ready, just in case.

As co-defensive coordinator Greg Brown said, “This is why we recruited Marquis Flowers.”

Flowers was the high school headliner in coach Mike Stoops’ class of 2010, and he has made good on that promise by playing right away as a reserve in the first two games.

“The first two games definitely taught me the game speed of college and how it is,” Flowers said. “It definitely taught me the physicality, what you need to do. It’s been a little rough, but I’m getting used to it and I like it.”

Stoops loves Flowers’ potential, but the coaches would be much more comfortable with Hall (6-foot4, 212 pounds) starting in the team’s nickel package Iowa. Stoops said that Hall’s playing status could be a game-time decision.

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