Instant Analysis: California-Arizona

Two years ago, the Arizona Wildcats upset Cal at home, but that conquest didn’t translate into a winning season for Mike Stoops’s program, which has languished in mediocrity ever since Bob’s brother came to Tucson. Saturday evening, however, the U of A did the deed again, and this time, a breakthrough against the Berkeley boys seems to have signaled a new day in the life of Arizona football.

A lot of hype has surrounded the 2008 edition of the Wildcats, armed with a potent offense and the will to do better. Mere desire, however, doesn’t punch a ticket to a bowl game. Loads of promises don’t make a hoped-for resurgence turn into reality. For Arizona to touch Dick Tomey territory and recall the happier times of the 1990s, the Cats had to score a sizeable scalp in their pursuit of real progress. A team whose best win in 2008 had been the beaten-up Bruins of UCLA needed to climb higher if it expected to produce a winning record in this, a make-or-break campaign for Stoops and the rest of the program. The No. 25 Golden Bears—the last Pac-10 team without a conference loss—offered Arizona its chance to make a significant statement.

Sixty minutes later, it can safely be said that the Wildcats—foiled and frustrated throughout this depressing decade—finally spoke with clarity and conviction on college football’s version of the witness stand. When asked to give a credible presentation under pressure, Mike Stoops and his kids calmly conquered their fears and frailties.

Arizona knocked off Jeff Tedford’s troops for two simple reasons: poise and playmaking. After a wobbly first half marked by two early turnovers and a shaky defense that sagged under the Bears’ sustained assault, the Cats—down 24-14 at halftime—had to regather their focus and strike back in the second half. Denied the sizzling start they hoped for, the boys in red had to avoid an emotional letdown and prove that their dedication to improvement really meant something. Sure enough, the home team—in keeping with its school’s fight song—managed to “Bear Down” after the Bears landed a flurry of first-half punches.

Because the Wildcats remained competitive, their opponent from the Bay Area could never feel entirely comfortable, and when freshman running back Keola Antolin raced 59 yards to the Cal 3 midway through the third quarter, momentum finally and fully found the Arizona sideline. As all good teams manage to do in crucial contests, the Wildcats maximized their mojo and prevented the Bears from reclaiming the slightest shred of hope the rest of the way. Mike Stoops would watch with pride as his pigskin pupils, who poked and probed in the game’s first 35 minutes, suddenly exploded in a short stretch that turned tension to triumph in Tucson.

Antolin’s 59-yard bolt, just past the eight-minute mark of the third quarter, unleashed the full force of Arizona’s arsenal. Two snaps after that run, which generated ample juice in the Wildcat huddle, Antolin finished the job to give Arizona a 28-27 lead. On the very next play from scrimmage, the Wildcats’ Devin Ross outfought a receiver to intercept Cal quarterback Nate Longshore, and take the stolen loot into the end zone for a pick-six and a 35-27 advantage. In the face of freight-train momentum, Cal faltered on the following series of downs, and after a three-and-out gave the ball right back to Arizona, Cat quarterback Willie Tuitama found his trusted tight end, Rob Gronkowski, for a 35-yard touchdown. Less than eight minutes after a Cal field goal had given the Bears a 27-21 edge early in the third quarter, the Wildcats—on the strength of their blindingly fast 21-0 run—had attained a 42-27 advantage they wouldn’t relinquish. Propelled by their 28-point third quarter, the home team didn’t need to tally a single point in the fourth, as the Cats’ cranked up the defensive intensity to keep the Bears off the scoreboard and wind up in the winner’s circle.

And so it is true: Arizona stands at 5-2, with lowly Washington State being one of the Wildcats’ five remaining opponents. A non-losing season is all but assured for a program that has toiled in the Saturday shadows for far too many seasons. With a .500 mark virtually in their pocket, the Wildcats need to claim just one other game—against the two Oregon schools, USC, or Arizona State—in order to register a winning record for the first time in the 21st century.

The last time an Arizona team went bowling was 1998. A decade later, a third-quarter deluge against Cal has the Wildcats in line to put the past behind them and write a happier history in the Desert Southwest.