UA defensive end Ricky Elmore fires up his teammates late in the game against Iowa.
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Senior defensive end Ricky Elmore was the last Arizona Wildcat off the field last Thursday night. Helmet still on, Arizona State fans celebrating in the stands, he trudged toward the locker room.

“I just didn’t want to leave,” he said later in the interview room, choking up on the emotion.

“I wouldn’t have come off unless they had made me. I would have sat out there and just waited for everyone to leave. It’s rough. It’s the last time I was going to play in front of those fans. The last time I was going to play on that field.”

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Arizona swarms to the ball to take down Washington running back Chris Polk/Photo by Chris Morrison, US PRESSWIRE

The focus, deservedly so, was on Arizona Wildcats quarterback Matt Scott in the 44-14 victory over Washington, but don’t forget about the standout performance by the defense.

Arizona, as I noted last week, had held four of its first six opponents to their season-low point total and had (in a different combination of teams) held four foes to their season-low yardage total.

How did the Cats do against Washington?

The Huskies’ 14 points tied their season low (against Arizona State) and their 290 yards were their second-lowest total of the year.

“As we keep going,” said senior defensive end Ricky Elmore, “every win gets more satisfying, makes us hungier and makes us want to work harder.”

It helped that Washington quarterback Jake Locker was bothered by a rib injury, which limited what the Huskies could do with him in the running game. He was 17 of 29 passing for 183 yards, and the Cats sacked him four times. He had only two other runs.

“He’s beat up,” said Washington coach Steve Sarkisian. “His ribs are hurting and I didn’t want to expose him.”

Arizona is seventh in total defense (13.43 points per game) and 10th in total defense (285.14 yards per game). Both marks lead the Pac-10.

It would be a quick show of hands from those who saw that coming.

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With plays like this, Arizona held Iowa to its season-low for yardage/Photo by David Kadlubowski, Arizona Republic

Worried about Arizona’s quarterback situation? Will some positive defensive numbers make you feel better?

The Wildcats are at the halfway point of the regular season and the unit that everyone was worried about in the preseason — the defense — ranks seventh in the nation, allowing 13.3 points per game. Arizona is 10th in total defense at 284.3 yards allowed per game.

“So far, so good,” co-defensive coordinator Tim Kish said after Monday’s practice.

“I really feel like we have a group of guys who like playing football together, and they have a real passion for the game. We’re preparing well, and that will be a major issue for us this week to prepare for these guys.”

These guys would be Washington, featuring senior dual-threat quarterback Jake Locker, sophomore running back Chris Polk (on his way to his second 1,000-yard season) and big-play receiver Jermaine Kearse (19 touchdown receptions in 30 career games).

It’s still tough to shake away the memories of Oregon State quarterback Ryan Katz having the game of his life against the Wildcats, passing and running at will two weekends ago, but check out how the Wildcats have done against other foes this season:

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Juron Criner is off to a fast start with 10 catches against Toledo/Rick Osentoski/US PRESSWIRE

I can imagine it’s a daunting task to rank all the senior wide receivers in high school, but it’s nearly impossible to fathom that Juron Criner was rated the nation’s 167th-best wideout after the 2007 season.

Yep. That was the judgment of Scout.com, which gave him a two-star rating, which is pretty much the basement-level rating for any recruit that signs with a major-college team.

You know who else was once a two-star recruit? Arizona junior cornerback Trevin Wade (by Rivals.com) in the 2007 class.

I was thinking about all this while contributing a story on Criner for FoxSportsArizona.com — Criner making the leap to elite receiver. There are some kids the recruiting services just miss on, for whatever reason.

But I think it’s worth noting that while fans cheer, puff out their chests and mock their rivals when their team signs four- and five-star recruits, a good eye for talent and player development is an acceptable substitute.

This is where Arizona coach Mike Stoops and his staff come in.

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Coach Mike Stoops would like to see Nic Grigsby have more room to run, like he had here against Toledo/Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona wants to get pushy this week.

While de-constructing his team’s performance at Toledo, coach Mike Stoops, while otherwise pleased with the effort and most of the results, saw two notable areas in need of an upgrade.

One was the offensive line. The Wildcats failed to get enough push up front in the running attack, especially in the power run game.

That should be easily solved this week against The Citadel. Fullback Taimi Tutogi, who didn’t play much in the opener because of an ankle injury, is slated to return as a lead blocker.

That means A.J. Simmons doesn’t have to be in the backfield and can return to his natural tight end spot on the line, replacing Jack Baucus. The redshirt freshman was a tad “star-struck” in his first game, Stoops said, and Simmons is more comfortable and effective up front.

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Adam Hall had an interception return for a touchdown in the team's scrimmage/Photo by Brad Allis, WildcatSportsReport.com

Fall camp is usually a back and forth between the offense and defense. Finally, the Arizona Wildcats’ defense went forth and got back at the offense.

“All the coaches have been riding us to get better,” senior defensive end Ricky Elmore said after Wednesday night’s closed scrimmage, “but I think we came out and answered that call.”

Elmore said the first-string defense did not allow a touchdown to the first-string offense Wednesday night, and that sophomore safety Adam Hall returned an interception for a touchdown. That was a big change after the more-experienced offense had its way in the first two scrimmages.

“I think they came on a lot today and had a great day,” quarterback Nick Foles said of the defense.

The defense, replacing seven starters, has been a work in progress during fall camp, but the coaches have been paring down the practice rotation this week and settling guys into roles.

“We’re trying to give guys opportunities, but we got to a point where we have to solidify the first 11 because they have to build up that camaraderie and get familiar with playing with each other,” co-defensive coordinator Tim Kish told me earlier this week.

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UA assistant coach Jeff Hammerschmidt is working with perhaps the best group of defensive ends in the Pac-10/Photo by Nico Gimino

I caught up recently with Arizona assistant coach Jeff Hammerschmidt, who is in charge of the defensive ends and special teams. Not a bad gig this season.

At defensive end, he has senior starters Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore, each capable of double-digit sack totals. And there is also senior D’Aundre Reed, often overlooked, but coaches consider him to be a co-starter.

In fact, D’Aundre Reed, at 6-4 and 258 pounds, has the right combination of size and speed to move to a defensive tackle position when the Wildcats want to go “Cheetah.” That’s the name of their speedy pass-rush package that the coaches experimented with in the spring … and they continue to do so in fall camp.

(Arizona worked on this scheme in its two-minute drill Monday night, with D’Aundre Reed and fellow end Apai Tuihalamaka moving inside.)

“It’s just a matter of getting comfortable with it,” Hammerschmidt said.

On special teams, punt returner Bug Wright and kick returner Travis Cobb each had a return touchdown last season. Senior punter Keenyn Crier (42.9-yard career average) has one of the best legs in the Pac-10. Sophomore placekicker Alex Zendejas’ last kick in a game beat Arizona State on the final play.

John Bonano is back to handle the kickoffs, and Hammerschmidt said the team will be adding a walk-on who can also kickoff and provide some depth at punter.

A few questions for Hammerschmidt:

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Freshman receiver Austin Hill makes a catch over the coverage of freshman Jourdan Grandon/Photo by Brad Allis, WildcatSportsReport.com

The alarm clocks rang early.

“I try to wake up as late as I can, but I woke up at 4:45 to be on the bus at 5:30,” said Arizona senior defensive end Ricky Elmore. “You wake up and stumble into the locker room and try to get to the bus on time.”

The Arizona Wildcats began fall camp Thursday morning at 6:15 a.m., and other than a little to-be-expected rust, coach Mike Stoops liked what he saw physically.

“Overall, I’m pleased with what our guys look like,” Stoops said.

“Our young guys, watching them move around for the first day, there are going to be some guys who are going to help us from the recruiting class of a year ago. I can see that already.”

It was only the first day, so we’ll just have to wait a little bit on exactly who those guys are … but certainly freshman safety Marquis Flowers is one to watch (especially if the Wildcats seem intent on using a lot of nickel coverage).

And, as you can see from the photo snapped by Brad Allis of TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network partner WildcatSportsReport.com, freshman receiver Austin Hill made a couple of nice, difficult catches.

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Nebraska has Ndamukong Suh, the Associated Press Player of the Year as a defensive tackle. The Cornhuskers have the enduring Blackshirts nickname for their defense.

They have a defense that ranks second nationally, allowing 11.23 points per game. They have a defense that gave up just 202 yards to Texas in the Big 12 championship game.

Earl Mitchell (making tackle) and Ricky Elmore (No. 44) have been big parts of a stout Arizona defensive line/Wildcat Sports Report photo

They have another defensive tackle, Jared Crick, who was All-Big 12 as a sophomore and had five sacks against Baylor this season. They have two more players who were first-team all-conference — cornerback Prince Amukamara and strong safety Larry Asante.

And what will Arizona’s defense counter with in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday?

Although the bar wasn’t set high, this is UA’s best defensive line in at least a decade.

Defensive end Ricky Elmore finished the regular season with a Pac-10-best 10.5 sacks. Brooks Reed has been a factor since coming back from a mid-season injury. Defensive tackle Earl Mitchell is a possible mid-round NFL draft pick. Horton has been solid.

Arizona’s 34 sacks are the most since the 2001 season.

The Wildcats have been a self-described bunch of no-names all season — no first-team All-Pac-10 players on this unit — but that chip on their shoulder has served them well.

No need to brush it off now.

“Ndamukong Suh, he’s a crazy player,” said Arizona senior defensive tackle Donald Horton.

“He definitely plays hard and does his thing. But I feel that we have done, as a unit, just as much. At times, we can really dominate. There were times in the middle of the season when we got lackadaisical and fell off a bit, but I think we hit our stride the last couple of games and really tried to turn on the heat.”

Arizona will be trying to turn on the heat against a lukewarm Nebraska offense that grew increasingly conservative during the season, content to let its defense do the heavy lifting (and trying to avoid another eight-turnover disaster like the one in a 9-7 home loss to Iowa State).

After that, the Cornhuskers didn’t attempt more than 21 passes in any of their other six games. They scrapped the spread offense for a run-oriented attack, led by running back Roy Helu Jr. (1,139 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns).

Nebraska topped 300 total yards only twice in nine Big 12 games.

The team’s biggest playmaker is receiver Niles Paul, who has 36 receptions for 673 yards and is dangerous in the return game. Nebraska is expected use junior Zac Lee and true freshman Cody Green at quarterback.

“They’re not a complicated team offensively,” Horton said. “They don’t have a lot of shifts, and there aren’t a lot of adjustments we have to make. We just play our defense and be comfortable in it.”

The Wildcats don’t want to get too comfortable. Nebraska figures to be persistent with the run, pounding away, hoping to spring something big on the ground or play-action to Paul.

“They are very physical up front,” said UA defensive end Brooks Reed.

“They do a lot of traditional stuff. But if you can’t stop it, you can’t stop it. And they’re going to keep doing it until you can.”

It will be up to the no-names to stop it, to make a name in a game in which Suh is the undisputed star. He is the probable No. 1 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft … and when is the last time Arizona faced a defender this good?

Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington in 1999? Washington defensive tackle Steve Emtman in the early 1990s?

Horton said his father has had words of advice when it comes to Suh.

“He said, ‘All the attention is going to be on him, but you’re going to be at the stage, too. Make a name for yourselves, too, as a defensive front,’” Horton said.

“In my heart, I’ve been using that as a challenge.”

Related links from TucsonCitizen.com’s Sports Network:
AG’s Wildcat Report: UA’s Horton hoping a dream comes true in Holiday Bowl

Wild About AZ Cats: UA’s offense more of a challenge for Pelini this time around

AG’s Wildcat Report: Wildcats ready to shed the blue helmets for Holiday Bowl

AG’s Wildcat Report: Holiday Bowl flashback: What the Nebraska ‘N’ really stood for

Wildcat Sports Report: Cats close to completing recruiting class

UASports.net: Breaking down the Holiday Bowl inside and out