Twenty years ago today, on a sun-drenched Tucson afternoon, with Keith Jackson on the call for ABC, the Arizona Wildcats played one of their greatest games.

In the kind of defensive slugfest that would be unrecognizable by today’s standards, Arizona upset No. 1 Washington 16-3, ending the Huskies’ 22-game winning streak.

The newly-minted Desert Swarm defense suffocated quarterback Mark Brunell, running back Napoleon Kaufman and the Huskies offense, Arizona punter Josh Miller routinely bailed the Cats out of field-position trouble, and a run-first offense kept hammering away.

What was the game plan on offense?

“Run inside and when it didn’t work, run inside again,” UA coach Dick Tomey said Nov. 7, 1992.

This is how Ivan Maisel, then of the Dallas Morning News and now of ESPN, started his game story:

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How different would the fourth quarter have been had Nick Foles connected on this third-down pass to Juron Criner in the end zone? Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Let’s start at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Score tied. Arizona poised to take the lead against Washington.

Feeling pretty good right about then, huh?

The Wildcats’ frustrating season, which had been given a double-shot of gusto after the firing of coach Mike Stoops, still had a chance to turn around at that point. A win at Washington would be two in a row under interim coach Tim Kish and fire up talk of sneaking into the postseason at 6-6.

Instead, Arizona took a 42-31 loss at Husky Stadium.

Back to the beginning of the fourth quarter; it was second-and-goal from the Huskies’ 5-yard line.

Freshman Ka’Deem Carey lost 1 yard on a run. Nick Foles missed Juron Criner in the end zone on third down.

It was a missed opportunity, Arizona settled for a 24-yard field goal from John Bonano — at least he’s taken most of the nail-biting out of place-kicks in the past two weeks — and the Cats had a 31-28 lead.

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Arizona forward Kevin Parrom (left) congratulates Derrick Williams after Williams' last-second block.
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona’s Derrick Williams has won games with his offense. With his right hand, left hand, inside, outside, from the foul line, on the glass.

Add, now, with one shining moment of defense.

On ESPN, in the biggest game of coach Sean Miller’s two seasons with the Wildcats, with Arizona protecting the Pac-10 lead and aiming for a top 10 national ranking, Derrick Williams used his wrapped right hand to swat a potential game-winning shot out of bounds in the final second.

A walk-off block.

That block of Darnell Gant’s short jumper from the right side preserved 12th-ranked Arizona’s 87-86 victory over Washington at McKale Center. The white-clad crowd of 14,619 went wild as the final 0.2 seconds ticked off after a final in-bounds pass, and the Wildcats buried Williams under a celebration pile, with trainer Justin Kokoskie rushing over to hold Williams’ hand — still wrapped to protect what has been called a finger injury — away from the mass of humanity.

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Mike Thomas (10) and Willie Tuitama (7) were key to the 2007 comeback against Washington, which helped lead to the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl/Photo by Kirby Lee, US-PRESSWIRE

Coach Mike Stoops’ tenure with the Arizona Wildcats is clearly divided into two areas: Before and after the game at Washington on Oct. 27, 2007.

Stoops, near the near of his fourth season, had a 14-28 record at that point while trying to rebuild the Wildcats from the John Mackovic wreckage. Since rallying in the fourth quarter to beat Washington nearly three years ago, Arizona is 24-12.

From 33.3 percent to 66.7 percent.

“I don’t know if desperate was the right word,” said co-defensive coordinator Tim Kish, reflecting on the game. “We were trying to win any game we could get our hands on, so if that’s desperate, it’s desperate. Yeah, I remember it well, it was definitely a pivotal game for us.”

Arizona trailed by 15 points early in the fourth quarter, and Stoops’ apparently was losing his grip on his first head coaching job.

And then the Cats rallied to begin a three-game winning streak that ended with a 34-24 home victory over No. 2 Oregon. Arizona used that momentum to launch to back-to-back 8-5 records and this year’s 5-1 mark at the halfway point of the season.

But, first, was the comeback against Washington. Here is an excerpt of a story I wrote for the 2008 print edition of the Tucson Citizen, looking back at the most critical game of the Stoops era:

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The Pac-10 games are wrapped up for the decade and not even a late surge could save Arizona from the bottom of the 10-year standings. Thanks, John Mackovic.

Arizona’s 4-20 conference record under Mackovic from 2001-03 was the second-worst three-year mark for any team in the Pac-10. Only Washington State in the past three years (4-23 playing a nine-game league schedule) was worse.

What Mackovic razed, Mike Stoops has raised. Perhaps the 2010s will be better for Arizona.

The chart below is the breakdown of how the Pac-10 fared this decade, with only this season’s bowl games to be played.

Pac-10 All-Decade standings

DECADE NOTES
Best travel pair: Not even USC could lift Los Angeles to this title. The Oregon-Oregon State pairing was the decade’s best with a combined 108 conference victories. The Los Angeles schools were next with 105.

Wither the Washingtons? The Washington schools had a combined 42 league victories in the first four years of the decade, then had a measly 22 in the next six seasons. That’s 1.8 conference wins per team for six long seasons. The last winning league record for a Washington school was WSU’s 6-2 mark in 2003.

Tough to stay on top: Only two of the seven teams that had winning conference records in the 1990s followed up with winning Pac-10 marks this decade — USC and Oregon.

TEAM NOTES
Arizona: The Wildcats are 14-8 in conference games dating to late in the 2007 season. Before that, Arizona was a miserable 16-48 in league games this decade.

Arizona State: Finished with a winning conference record just three times, and went only 2-18 in conference games in the state of California.

Cal: Conference record looks like better when starting with the Jeff Tedford era in 2002: 41-27.

Oregon: The Ducks were superb in the first two years of the decade and in the final two years, posting a 29-5 conference record in those four seasons. In the middle, Oregon was fairly average.

Oregon State: It seems almost impossible to believe that this is the same program that went 13-65-1 during the 1990s. From one decade to the next, the Beavers went from having a 17.1 winning percentage to a 60.7 winning percentage.

Stanford: In a six-season span (2002-2007), the Cardinal won only 13 conference games.

UCLA: The Bruins have lost at least four conference games in every season except 2005, when they were 6-2. UCLA can still add to its bowl total as it will be invited to the EagleBank Bowl if Navy beats Army on Saturday, thereby eliminating the Black Knights from bowl eligibility.

USC: The Trojan Decade ended with a thud, but the streak of seven consecutive league titles and seven consecutive seasons with double-digit victories was utter dominance. Those 15 first-round picks are more than twice any other Pac-10 team.

Washington: The far-and-away Pac-10 King of the 1990s (58-21-1) would have tied for last this decade if it hadn’t defeated Cal on the last weekend of the regular season.

Washington State: From 2001 to 2003, no team had more than the Cougars’ 19 conference victories (USC did, too). Those memories will have to keep Wazzu warm; in the seven other seasons, WSU managed a mere 14 league wins.

If you see any corrections, send them to me at anthonygimino (at) gmail.com.

Vote for the top UA football stories of the decade at our sports network partner wildaboutazcats.com

Arizona has the Leap by the Lake — Ortege Jenkins’ game-winning flip into the end zone to beat Washington in 1998.

And now it has something completely different.

What to call this one?

The Defeat by the Cleat?

In one of the most freakishly painful losses in UA history, receiver Delashaun Dean tipped a pass off his left hand, off his shoe (or off the turf right next to his shoe) and into the eternally grateful hands of Washington linebacker Mason Foster.

Foster turned and ran 37 yards for a touchdown with 2:37 left, giving the Huskies a 34-33 lead. Washington added a two-point conversion to cap a 15-point outburst in 18 seconds, and then the Huskies came up with a fourth-down interception to thwart Arizona’s final drive.

Washington won 36-33 … and this one will rip at the hearts of Arizona fans for, well, for as long as they’re fans.

It was a game in which Arizona had time of possession for more than 39 minutes.

It was a game in which Arizona had a 461-256 edge in total yards.

It was a game in which Arizona didn’t commit a turnover until less than three minutes to play.

It was a game in which Arizona had eight trips inside the Washington 20-yard line, thereby putting itself in position for 56 points. It came up with only 33 — three touchdowns, four field goals and one horrible drive in which it was stuffed at fourth-and-goal with three inches to go.

It was a game Arizona absolutely should have won.

So, let’s play the blame game.

For Arizona to lose, a series of things had to wrong. It wasn’t just one freak play.

I completely don’t mind the play call that led to the interception return for a touchdown.

Arizona was making a living off that screen pass all game — it was what Washington was giving the Cats. “We saw they were stacking the box to protect against the run,” coordinator Sonny Dykes was quoted as saying in the Seattle Times.

It’s a “safe” play. I don’t think UA could have made a first down and run out the clock by rushing the ball.

The Wildcats weren’t getting a push up front all game, and at that point of the game, it looked to me as if third-string running back Greg Nwoko — forced into yeoman’s duty because of injuries to Nic Grigsby and Keola Antolin — was gassed.

I think Arizona had it right earlier in the fourth quarter when it went on passed on six of eight plays to easily march to the UW 14. Here’s where Arizona blew it by getting too conservative.

The Wildcats were up 30-21 at the time, with about five minutes left in the game. A touchdown would have put the game almost out of reach, requiring two touchdowns and two two-point conversions just to tie the score.

With the passing game working, it seemed as if the coaches were content for a field goal, calling for two safe handoffs to Nwoko before completing a pass short of a first down. The field goal made it 33-21.

From there, everything went wrong. A short kickoff. A stupid 15-yard personal foul penalty on linebacker Vuna Tuihalamaka, who clocked a Washington receiver after the pass had gone by incomplete. A 25-yard touchdown pass from Jake Locker on third-and-10.

And then came the ill-fated deflection. Coach Mike Stoops called it a run/pass option, and blamed himself on his postgame radio show for giving quarterback Nick Foles the option to pass.

Washington defended the play well for the first time all game, jumping into the route, which threw off the timing off the play. Foles, however, had a lane to throw to Dean, but Foles tossed the ball behind him and at his feet — possibly just trying to throw an incompletion and move on the next play.

Dean reached back and tipped the ball off his shoe — and perhaps off the turf, although the replay officials never took an extended look at it — and that was that. Foster’s TD gave Washington a 36-33 lead.

To me, the game was lost on all those squandered points in the red zone. This team really misses tight end Rob Gronkowski, but that can’t be an excuse five games into the season. The coaches have had ample time to find players/plays that work in the red zone.

Too bad, though. The Cats win this game easily with Gronk in the lineup. If he’s not catching TD passes in the end zone, he’s occupying two defenders so someone else can get open.

Can’t wait until Foles and Gronkowski are in the lineup together in 2010.

But that’s next year.

There is still a lot left of this season. I wrote last week that Arizona, with the exception of the Washington State game, can expect to play seven more games like the nail-biter at Oregon State.

Well, this was one of ‘em.

Arizona has three consecutive home games — Stanford, UCLA and Washington State — and could get itself right on this homestand.

But it’s as 1290-AM game analyst Lamont Lovett said about the Wildcats after the game: “They are going to cry when they look at this film.”

The Agony of the Cleat.

The unofficial motto of the Arizona defense: Make ‘em earn it.

That’s the thing defensive coordinator Mark Stoops likes best through four games.

“I think every team we’ve played, they’ve earned every yard they’ve got,” he said. “I think that’s a sign of a good defense — just not blowing things and giving things. They’re earning their yards.”

Translation: The other team isn’t getting long, cheap plays that can be back-breakers, momentum-changers and game-winners.

Is he right?

He is.

Arizona has allowed only four big plays (three came against Iowa, which helps explain the loss):

–A 43-yard run to Iowa running back Adam Robinson.
–A 34-yard pass to Iowa’s Marvin McNutt.
–A 29-yard pass to Iowa’s Allen Reisner.
–A 25-yard pass to Oregon State’s James Rodgers.

That’s it. One run of 20-plus yards. Three passes of 25-plus yards. We’ll use those lengths as definitions of big plays.

Compare that to Washington. The Huskies have allowed 11 big runs and 14 big passes. Not even Washington’s difficult schedule (LSU, USC, Stanford, Notre Dame) can account for the difference in those two defenses.

Checking all of the Pac-10 in combined big plays, the list looks like this, using per-game averages (I’d like to say I spent hours looking through every box score, but it’s a lot easier to do the research on cfbstats.com):

1. Arizona, 1.0
2. USC, 1.2
3. Oregon State, 1.4
4. Oregon, 1.6
5. UCLA, 1.75
6. Stanford, 1.8
7. Arizona State, 2.0
8. Cal, 3.2
9. Washington, 5.0
10. Washington, 5.4

“Surely, I would like some plays back, I would like some points back,” Stoops said.

But it’s hard to complain too much about UA’s defense. It’s working. Make the other team try to put together long drives. If they can do so without breaking down with a penalty or turnover or dropped pass or whatever … more power to them.

Sometimes, the opponent can do it. But at least Arizona is making those guys on the other side earn it.

Oregon State scored four touchdowns against Arizona, but had to be consistently efficient to get into the end zone. The Beavers’ TD drives:

–14 plays, 83 yards
–11 plays, 71 yards
–9 plays, 65 yards
–12 plays, 62 yards

Iowa’s three touchdown drives averaged 10 plays, 73 yards.

NAU had a touchdown drive of 14 plays and 79 yards. The Lumberjacks also scored late after an interception on a 19-yard drive.

Other than that, the UA offense has been doing its part, too — not putting its defense in bad field position.

Washington offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier had this to say about Arizona to the Seattle Times:

“They run around and play very, very aggressively. They have very good team speed. They play a lot of zone coverage with their eyes on the quarterback — they’ve got six interceptions — so they are very talented in the back end and their up-front guys get after the passer. They get after you, but they cover in the back end so it’s hard because you want to get the ball off but they cover well.”

Arizona’s big-play stinginess stacks up favorably against the nation’s best.

–No. 1 Florida has allowed four long plays in four games … the same as Arizona.
–No. 2 Texas has yielded five big plays in four games.
–No. 3 Alabama has allowed eight long plays in five games.

“I think we’re playing up to expectations,” Stoops said.

“I don’t think we have the kind of defense that all of a sudden is going to wow you and be No. 1 in the country in total yards. That’s not us. Be we need to be good and sound and tough, and I think we’re doing that.”

It is customary for a college football head coach to talk up his weekly opponent. The gamesmanship is just part of the game.

Mike Stoops

But without a touch of insincerity, Arizona coach Mike Stoops raved and raved Monday about Washington junior Jake Locker, mentioning the quarterback in the same breath as Florida’s Tim Tebow (one of the greatest college quarterbacks ever) and John Elway (one of the greatest quarterbacks ever).

“I think people used to laugh at you when you compared him to Tebow a couple of years ago,” Stoops said at his weekly news conference.

“But watch him play. There is not a throw on the field he can’t make. Some of throws he made in the USC game to give them a chance to win were phenomenal. …

“One of his strongest attributes is his ability to scramble and keep plays alive and keep looking downfield to throw the ball. We’re talking that this kid might be the best quarterback in the country. He possesses arm strength and makes throws a lot of guys can’t make. He just flicks the ball and it just gets there very quickly.”

One of the reasons Stoops might be such a big fan is that Locker had — statistically — his career game against Arizona as a freshman in 2007 in Seattle. Locker passed for 336 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 157 yards and two scores, but the Wildcats rallied to win 48-41 and probably saved Stoops’ job that day.

Locker was out with a thumb injury when Arizona routed Washington last season.

“I don’t want to get crazy, but the guy has got an Elway-type of release and arm strength that not many people have,” Stoops said. “His mobility … John was a lot like that when he was younger.”

Locker (6-3, 226) played in only four games last season because of the thumb injury, and he entered this season below 50 percent in career accuracy. Things are different this season under first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian, who tutored Heisman-winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC.

With improved mechanics and working in a pro-style offense, Locker has completed 57.7 percent of his throws through five games.

“I read somewhere we he lost 10 pounds or so. You can tell,” Stoops said.

“He’s not as bulky as he was, and he’s much more fluid in what he is doing when you watch him play. … Accuracy is somewhere where he struggled, but his accuracy is much different. He’s working with a guy who has worked with a number of top quarterbacks throughout his career.”

If you don’t believe Stoops’ flattery, how about the praise from USC’s Pete Carroll? He said this about Locker — before the Huskies upset the Trojans in Seattle last month.

“That’s the best quarterback we’ve played in nine years here,” Carroll said. “He’s the most extraordinary athlete at the position we’ve seen, and I saw that as a freshman.”

That “extraordinary athlete” thing includes Texas QB Vince Young.

And what are Stoops’ final words on Locker?

“Hopefully, he will leave after this year,” he said.

INJURY NOTES
Stoops said that all his injured players have a chance to be back this week, with the exception of tight end Rob Gronkowski and receiver Bug Wright.

Gronkowski is out for the season after back surgery; Stoops said it would be 2 to 3 months before he could resume physical activity. Wright, who had arthroscopic knee surgery, could be back for the Oct. 17 home game against Stanford (which, by the way, will start at 4:30 p.m. and be telecast on Versus, it was announced Monday).

Running back Nic Grigsby would not have contact today in practice as he tries to come back from a shoulder injury, Stoops said. Other players trying to make it back are defensive end Brooks Reed (ankle), offensive guard Vaughn Dotsy (concussion), offensive tackle Mike Diaz (concussion), running back Keola Antolin (ankle) and receiver Delashaun Dean (thigh).

Washington will play Arizona next Saturday on a two-game losing streak, including Saturday’s thrilling-to-watch overtime loss at Notre Dame.

Now, do those two losses make Washington angry and hungry? Or it has it deflated the Huskies’ confidence after they beat USC?

Washington junior quarterback Jake Locker was so upset after the loss that he asked to not speak to media for the first time ever.

Last week, Scott Terrell of our partner UAsports.net figured it was best to root for Notre Dame because “I’m playing the ‘I hope the Huskies face the Cats riding a two-game losing streak with their confidence in the toilet’ card,” he wrote.

Doesn’t matter to me. It’s hard enough to predict games without trying to predict a team’s emotional mindset. Let’s just call next week’s game in Seattle another major tussle … and go from there.

That’s the way the Pac-10 is. With the exception of its game against Washington State, Arizona can expect to play seven more games like the one against Oregon State — hard-fought, physical, down to the wire.

You either make a handful of plays and win.

Or you don’t and lose.

The Huskies could have/should have beaten Notre Dame — how in the world did the officials take a late TD away from Washington on a replay ruling? — and will be kicking themselves for getting stuffed repeatedly at the goal line.

I wouldn’t expect any hangover. A night game Saturday at Husky Stadium will be the cure.

“If you take anything for granted, you’re going to get slapped around,” UA coach Mike Stoops said during the bye week. “We understand. We’re not good enough to beat anybody unless we’re at our absolute best.”

I’m writing this as the USC-Cal game is beginning, and one of those teams — who were Nos. 1-2 in the league in my mind before the season began — will have two league losses later tonight. That is the brink of elimination in the Pac-10 race. (No three-loss team has ever won the conference.)

But look who’s on top: Stanford. The Cardinal is 3-0 after Saturday’s 24-16 win over UCLA. As UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said last week about Stanford’s physical play: “You better put on your big-boy pads.”

Former UA coach Dick Tomey, whose San Jose State team has lost to USC and Stanford this season, was asked about the Trojans last week on a podcast at the Tucson-based radioexiles.com. Tomey instead talked about the Cardinal.

“We played Stanford, and I think Stanford may well be a better team,” Tomey said. “Stanford is a very good team.”

Stanford has its toughest challenges ahead, but will be a tough out. Same thing about the Huskies next week. Same thing for most teams every week. I hope Arizona got a good rest during its off week.

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Next Saturday’s game at Washington is set for 7:15 p.m. and will be shown locally on Fox Sports Net Arizona, although the announcers will be from Fox’s Northwest crew. UA’s home game against Stanford will either start at 12:30 p.m. (on ABC) or at 4:30 p.m. (on Versus).

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Washington lost starting free safety Justin Glenn, a redshirt freshman, to a broken fibula against Notre Dame. The Huskies might also be without their starting strong safety against Arizona. Nate Williams suffered a concussion against the Irish. Big-play receiver D’Andre Goodwin also suffered a concussion.

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I was surprised at this stat, given how mediocre Notre Dame has been recently: Including the overtime victory against Washington, the Irish have won nine consecutive games against Pac-10 teams not named USC.

Anyway, Notre Dame’s streak against the Pac-10 dates to an Oregon State victory over the Irish in the 2004 Insight Bowl. For what it’s worth, the Irish have won 14 consecutive regular-season games against non-USC competition from the Pac-10.

Granted, most of the opponents haven’t been the best Notre Dame has to offer, but this is a team that has lost to Syracuse, Air Force and Navy in recent seasons. Here is the list of Notre Dame’s Pac-10 conquests in its nine-game streak: