Cats ranked No. 22 in first BCS poll (UPDATED)

When the season’s first BCS poll was released on Sunday, Wildcat football fans were in for a surprise. They had never seen their team’s name listed in the rankings — until now.

Thanks to a 4-2 overall record and a surprising strength of schedule (rated third by Jeff Sagarin’s USA Today computer rankings), the Wildcats open the BCS poll ranked No. 22 — the first time the school has been in the top-25 since the BCS’ creation in 1998.

“It’s a big positive for our program,” said head coach Mike Stoops. “We take a lot of pride in it and we’ll hopefully use it as motivation going forward. It shows that people out there have a respect for the schedule we’ve played.”

Arizona (4-2, 2-1 Pac-10) opened the 2009 season with two big wins over Central Michigan and Northern Arizona, but the strength of schedule took a huge leap forward when the squad took on Iowa on Sept. 19. Despite losing 27-17, the Hawkeyes have run their record to 7-0 and find themselves ranked No. 6 in the BCS poll with a legitimate chance to run the table this season.

The Wildcats’ other loss, 36-33 at Washington on Oct. 10, didn’t hurt them in the computer rankings, either, given the Huskies’ 16-13 win over No. 7 USC earlier this season.

The Cats won’t see a big dip in the quality of competition, either, given the surprising overall strength of the Pac-10, which is first in Sagarin’s conference rankings — even ahead of the SEC. Sagarin’s computers are also kinder to Arizona than the BCS, ranking the Wildcats 14th, thanks to the squad’s 2-2 mark against the BCS top-30.

The human polls aren’t quite as kind to the Wildcats, however. In The Associated Press poll, Arizona received 25 votes this week, good for 32nd. Ironically, Central Michigan — the squad Arizona defeated 19-6 to open the season — is ranked one spot higher, thanks to the Chippewas’ impressive six-game winning streak.

The USA Today coaches’ poll likes the Wildcats least of all, with UA earning only seven votes — two fewer than Oregon State, 27 fewer than Central Michigan — for 40th place.

If the Wildcats hope to maintain their momentum in the polls — computer and human — they’ll need to take care of business in the remaining games of this homestand.

The Cats battle UCLA at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday (full preview on www.gvnews.com on Thursday), then face off against Washington State on Nov. 7 after the team’s second bye week.

UCLA and Washington State are currently the only two Pac-10 teams without a conference victory.

After those two contests, the schedule gets much tougher, as the Wildcats finish the season at Cal, at home versus No. 11 Oregon, at rivals Arizona State and at No. 7 USC — just a brutal stretch to end the season.

But before the Cats start thinking that far ahead, they can take a moment to appreciate their placement in the BCS top-25. Few thought UA would be here at this point in the season — especially without Rob Gronkowski and with Nic Grigsby missing significant chunks of time with a sprained shoulder.

“We still think we can play better than we have,” Stoops said. “We’ve endured some injuries, but perservered and found our rhythm. College football is just a collection of one-week seasons, so we need to keep our intensity up.”

Foles to the rescue

The main reason Arizona finds itself in this surprising position is the remarkable play from quarterback Nick Foles.

Foles was named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for 415 yards and three touchdowns in Arizona’s exciting 43-38 comeback win over Stanford on Saturday.

Since taking over the starting quarterback job from Matt Scott on Sept. 26, Foles has a quarterback rating of 151.9 — tops in the Pac-10. The sophomore transfer from Michigan State is completing nearly 74 percent of his passes — tops in all of college football.

“A lot of things need to go right in order to complete 70 percent of your passes,” Stoops said. “He has terrific instincts and the game seems to come naturally to him.”

A big reason why Foles has completed such a high percentage of his passes is because he’s not spending much time picking himself up off the turf. Foles wasn’t sacked a single time against Stanford, and the Cats have only allowed four sacks all season — even with the offensive line going through some personnel shifts.

“I think we’ve started four or five different units this year,” Stoops said. “They’ve seen a bunch of different blitzes and have done an outstanding job picking them up. They’re playing as solid as any group on our team this year.”

Offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes is also doing Foles a favor by calling many quick passes designed to get the ball out of Foles’ hands in a hurry.

Arizona needed its offense to come through on Saturday, as Stanford moved the ball at will the first three quarters.

Since tailback Toby Gerhart requires so much focus, Stanford’s wide receivers found themselves matched up in single coverage against cornerbacks Devin Ross and Trevin Wade.

Even though both of them got beat at various points of the game, each came up with huge plays in the fourth quarter to seal the victory — Wade, in particular.

“We put a lot of pressure on those kids to produce, and for the most part, they do it,” Stoops said. “We wouldn’t win the games we do if they weren’t strong-willed kids.”

However, if the Cats hope to keep winning Pac-10 games, they’ll need a much stronger pass rush than what they’ve been getting. Leading pass rusher Brooks Reed has been sidelined since the Iowa game, and Ricky Elmore has been the only productive defensive lineman for the squad the last three weeks.

“The best pass defense you can have is by rushing the passer,” Stoops said. “Defensively, our pride is hurt. We have to play better.”

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