Instant Analysis: California-Arizona

It would have been so easy for a long-struggling Arizona team to fold up the tent against the highly-touted toughs from Berkeley on Saturday.

The Arizona Wildcats spilled a lot of adrenaline in the first half of their Pac-10 clash with seventh-ranked California, but had a 17-3 deficit to show for it. Mike Stoops' troops played hard and contained the Bears' thermonuclear offense, but a punt coverage collapse and other breakdowns put the Wildcats in a 14-point ditch at halftime. And after clawing within seven points, the Cats watched in shock and disbelief as their tight end, Brandyn McCall, dropped an easy ball that would have resulted in a 50-yard touchdown pass. So many events happened in this game that would have broken the will of other, lesser teams, but after suffering a stomach punch, the Cats had the guts and grit to get off the deck and overcome the mistake they just made, or some of the lightning-bolt daggers California rammed into their midsection.

As a peaceful afternoon in Tucson became ever more dramatic, the Wildcats would continue to find the resolve and perseverance needed to pull through.

After McCall's dropped touchdown pass, Zona quarterback Willie Tuitama completed a ballsy 3rd and 6 pass to Earl Mitchell to keep the drive alive. A handful of plays later (and after an admittedly wretched pass interference call that jobbed the Bears out of a goal-line interception on a fade route), the Cats stuck the ball in the end zone on an impressive run around the left corner by Chris Henry. They had been wounded on many prior occasions, but the boys in red and blue paid attention to their school's fight song. For 60 minutes, Arizona would indeed Bear Down in a Desert duel filled with countless ups and downs.

Arizona wasn't done digging deep after tying the game at 17. Whereas other teams would step off the gas pedal after climbing back to tie a team as formidable and potent as the Berkeley boys, the Cats just kept on coming. Antoine Cason stepped in front of a Nate Longshore pass to produce a pick-six that gave the home team a 24-17 lead. Then, after a 44-yard pass from Longshore to Lavelle Hawkins set up the Bears on the Wildcat one, a group of eleven youngsters conveyed to Cal the meaning of "Bear Down, Arizona."

It wasn't quite as momentous as Dave Bunz and the San Francisco 49ers against Pete Johnson and the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, but the Cats--on three plays--stuffed Jeff Tedford's offense, knocking Marshawn Lynch on his back with unmistakable force. On 4th and goal just inside the 3, Tedford--in a decision that will haunt him throughout the week--chose to kick a chip-shot field goal. When Zona's Ronnie Palmer picked off Longshore at the Wildcat 20 with 1:32 left, the Bears' BCS title hopes had been dashed.

On a Saturday that has seen pulse-pounding action and white-knuckle anxiety across the nation, the value of mental toughness has been proven to the -nth degree. On a glorious afternoon in the Desert Southwest, it was Arizona who refused to blink in the shadows of the OK Corral. The Wildcats' resilience and toughness carried them to the biggest win of Mike Stoops' head coaching career.