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Year in review: A SEASON TO REMEMBER

AP Photo | Louie Traub
Arizona head coach Mike Stoops raises his arms in celebration after the Las Vegas Bowl NCAA college football game on Dec. 20. Arizona beat Brigham Young 31-21.

By Nick Prevenas, Green Valley News

Published: Saturday, December 27, 2008 7:27 PM MST

Mike Stoops took over the Arizona football program after the 2003 season, when the calamitous John Mackovic era bottomed out after a dismal 2-10 campaign.

While his reclamation project isn’t quite complete, Stoops and his staff made 2008 a year to remember for Wildcat fans.

Arizona (8-5, 5-4 Pac-10) not only broke its decade-long bowl drought with a 31-21 win over No. 17 BYU at the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 20, it secured its first winning season since 1998 and established itself as a threat in the 2009 Pac-10 race.

Shortly after the bowl win, Stoops inked a contract extension with the university, securing his position with the school until 2013. His name had started to surface regarding a handful of coaching openings (most notably at Iowa State), but Stoops appears set to stick around for the foreseeable future — just one season after his job security was a heated topic of discussion among Wildcat fans.

While Stoops’ recruiting efforts have dramatically bolstered Arizona’s talent level, it wasn’t pure athleticism that led to the school’s most successful season of this millennium. A pair of outside factors joined forces to give the Wildcats an unexpected boost this season.

Outside factors

First, Arizona played a weak non-conference schedule.

Last year’s Wildcats opened the season at BYU — a formidable place to play for any opponent. The team had yet to work out the kinks within Sonny Dykes’ brand-new spread offense and failed to move the ball with any consistency in a 20-7 loss. The year before, the Wildcats traveled to Louisiana to take on eventual national champions LSU and suffered a 45-3 shellacking.

Losses like those can really destroy a team’s confidence. Both the 2006 and 2007 squads couldn’t regain any sort of momentum after those losses until the second half of the season.

This year, Arizona didn’t have to worry about that.

The season-opening 70-0 drubbing of Idaho was merely more than a glorified scrimmage against a 2-10 team who didn’t have the athletes to compete with the Wildcats. The 41-16 victory over a 3-9 Toledo squad didn’t provide much resistance, either. It wasn’t until the turnover-plagued loss at New Mexico when Arizona finally found a stiff challenge.

However, that loss didn’t seem to have the same confidence-ruining affect as it would have in previous seasons. Part of the reason had to do with a more mature roster and excellent senior leadership. The other part had to do with reason No. 2:

Second, the Wildcats benefited from a down year from the Pac-10.

In previous seasons, the Pac-10 would be full of high-flying offenses and blinding speed at the skill positions. This year, it seemed like half the conference was in rebuilding mode.

Both Oregon and Oregon State boast excellent head coaches and terrific talent, but both teams were also vulnerable on defense. California had its normal assortment of offensive weapons (led by Jahvid Best), but they weren’t quite the wrecking crew Jeff Tedford had assembled in years past.

Stanford appears to be heading in the right direction, but failed to qualify for postseason play again. UCLA will need another year or two under Rick Neuheisel to get back to where it once was. Arizona State might have been the most underachieving team in the nation.

And as for the two Washington schools? Well, let’s just say the other eight Pac-10 teams had two easy conference wins this season.

Obviously, USC was on a different level. Outside of the shocking loss to Oregon State earlier in the season, the Trojans rolled to another Pac-10 championship behind a defense that will likely send more than a half-dozen players to the NFL.

The Wildcats took advantage of the Pac-10’s down year and squeaked out a winning conference record.

Taking advantage

Of course, these benefits would’ve meant nothing had the Wildcats not had the ability to capitalize on them.

Fans knew this season was different from previous let-downs on Oct. 18. Despite a 4-2 record, the Wildcats had rolled up gaudy statistics against lackluster competition and still displayed the penchant for shooting themselves in the foot.

The 24-23 loss at Stanford the week before did little to dispel that notion. The Wildcats held a six-point lead with 5:48 remaining, but suddenly lost the ability to tackle. Third-string quarterback Alex Loukas and bruising tailback Toby Gerhart rumbled their way down the field for the game-winning touchdown.

In order to turn the season around and regain the confidence of the Wildcat faithful, Arizona would need to defeat the No. 25 Golden Bears.

It didn’t look good through the first half, as Cal rolled to a 24-14 lead.

However, the next 15 minutes turned out to be the most impressive display of football Wildcat fans had seen in ages.

Many of the team’s major playmakers (Mike Thomas, Devin Ross, Willie Tuitama, Keola Antolin, Rob Gronkowski) stepped up and pulled this team out of another tailspin.

With the 42-27 win over a quality opponent in the books, this team now had the confidence to compete with anybody.

The following week, that confidence almost helped this team pull off the impossible.

With the mighty USC Trojans looking flat on offense and ripe for an upset, the Wildcat defense submitted its finest outing in years. However, Tuitama and company couldn’t get anything going against a defense that ranked among the best in the nation, ultimately losing 17-10.

A pair of gut-wrenching losses against the Oregon schools didn’t help Ariozna’s cause, either. The defense nearly fell apart in the first half against the Ducks, giving up 45 points before intermission. It appeared as if a completely different team came out of halftime, and nearly completed a comeback for the ages. The Wildcats were one Antolin dropped pass on fourth down away from making it happen before losing 55-45.

The 19-17 loss at home against Oregon State might be the one that stung Stoops the most. Playing without Lyle Moevao and Jacquizz Rodgers, the Beavers looked eminently beatable for most of that game. But after Justin Kahut’s kick sailed through the uprights as time expired, it looked like this team might have run out of gas, mentally and physically. Sure, the Wildcats could blow out the Washington schools, but outside of Cal, they hadn’t been able to beat a decent team all season.

That perception changed after dismantling their arch-rivals and bringing the Territorial Cup back to Tucson.

In one of Corky Simpson’s most memorable columns this football season, he called the UA-ASU rivalry one that elicits all-out hatred. “Nowhere is the atmosphere as intense, so impassioned and extreme as it is at the Arizona-Arizona State game,” Simpson wrote in the Dec. 3 edition.

The Wildcats took that to heart and finally got the best of their in-state nemesis for the first time since 2004, securing a bid to the Las Vegas Bowl and keeping the Sun Devils out of postseason play.

The leaders

The 2008 Wildcats achieved success behind the right arm of Tuitama.

The senior signal-caller had been a lightning-rod for criticism during his UA tenure. A string of concussions his sophomore year set him back, and it appeared as if the highly touted quarterback would never live up to the immense promise he displayed as a freshman.

This year, he responded by making the All-Pac-10 Second Team, passing for 3,093 yards and 23 touchdowns to only eight interceptions while completing 65 percent of his passes.

His favorite target, Thomas, made another All-Pac-10 First Team. While his numbers (74 catches, 797 yards, four touchdowns) didn’t quite reach the jaw-dropping heights he posted his junior year, Thomas still set the tone for the Wildcat offense and developed into a deadly weapon as a kick returner.

Gronkowski shook off the ill effects of an early season illness to make the All-Pac-10 First Team, as well. Despite missing the first 3 games due to mono-like symptoms, “Gronk” still caught 47 passes for 672 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The two-headed rushing attack of Nic Grigsby and Antolin gave this year’s offense much better balance than they had during Dykes’ first year on the job. Despite occasional fumble problems, Grigsby collected 1,153 yards on 214 carries (5.4 yards per carry) and scored 13 times. Antolin added 525 yards on 117 carries and 10 touchdowns.

Of course, none of this would’ve been possible without the stellar play of Arizona’s offensive line. Anchored by All-Pac-10 First Teamer (and sure-fire first-round NFL draft pick) Eben Britton, Grigsby and Antolin often had enormous running lanes. In addition, this line kept the famously immobile Tuitama upright for most of the season.

The defense had its share of rough moments this season (New Mexico, Stanford and Oregon ran the ball seemingly at will), but ultimately out-performed last year’s underachieving unit. Despite losing standout performers like Antoine Cason and Spencer Larsen, the remaining Wildcats joined together and enjoyed some success in 2008.

Ross stepped up to fill the void left by Cason and Wilrey Fontenot to make the All-Pac-10 Second Team, collecting 50 tackles and three interceptions — including the game-changing touchdown-for-interception he came up with against Cal.

Earl Mitchell made the move from H-back to defensive tackle as seamlessly as could be asked, as he anchored the interior of the defensive line. Ronnie Palmer did an admirable job stepping in for Larsen, piling up a team-high 85 tackles. Brooks Reed provided the team with a much-needed edge rusher, tallying a team-high eight sacks.

Yes, 2008 was a standout year for Wildcat football, but next year doesn’t figure to see any significant drop-off.

The team loses Tuitama and Thomas to graduation (and possibly Britton to the NFL) on offense, along with vital defensive cogs Palmer, Nate Ness and Marquis Hundley, but if Matt Scott is ready to take over at quarterback, it looks like this team might be even better next year.

The schedule is much tougher (home opener against a tough Central Michigan team, at Iowa, at Oregon State, at USC, at Cal, at Arizona State), but Stoops and company have built a foundation that will allow this team to compete on a high level for the next few years.

Things aren’t perfect (witness the number of mistake-filled losses the last five years), but things are certainly better than they were in 2003. This was a fun, exciting year that never lost fan interest.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747


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