Columnist Steve Guiremand: Arizona on verge of first Rose Bowl appearance

Steve Guiremand's college football notebook appears Fridays. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-2324.

The University of Arizona is the only team in the Pac-10 Conference to have never played in the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl.

But that could change this year if the Wildcats (5-0, 2-0) can upset third-rated UCLA (3-0, 1-0) Saturday night in Tucson.

Simply put, Dick Tomey's club will be in the driver's seat to Pasadena if it can find a way to slow down Cade McNown and company.

A win over the Bruins would give Arizona the key head-to-head tiebreaker with UCLA, which is 0-4 in the '90s in Tucson. And thanks to last weekend's dramatic, last-second 31-28 victory over Washington in Seattle, the Wildcats also would have a huge edge in the scheduling.

Arizona has only two Pac-10 road games left and those are against arguably the two weakest teams in the conference, Oregon State and Cal. The Wildcats get a big break in that they don't play USC this year. And their two toughest remaining conference games, Oregon (Oct. 31) and Arizona State (Nov. 27), are in Tucson. The Wildcats also host Washington State and Northeast Louisiana.

UCLA, meanwhile, hosts Oregon next week and ends the season with back-to-back games against Washington (never easy, especially in rainy mid-November) and USC. The Bruins also figure to reschedule their game with Miami for early December.

USC? The Trojans still have tough road games at Oregon and UCLA as well as a home game against Washington. And even if Paul Hackett's squad found a way to run the table --- very unlikely considering the state of their running game and offensive line --- Arizona would hold the edge in the tiebreaker by virtue of its nonconference record.

Barring a stunning upset by Northeast Louisiana, Arizona will be undefeated in nonconference action while USC, which still has a Nov. 28 date at the Coliseum against Notre Dame, has already lost to Florida State.

High-flying Oregon (4-0), the other team that could make a run at the roses, has perhaps the toughest schedule of all with consecutive games against UCLA, USC, Arizona, Washington and Arizona State, with perhaps the two biggest, UCLA and Arizona, on the road.

So Saturday night's game between the Wildcats and Bruins could be the game of the year in the Pac-10 this season.

Thinking out loud

The suspension of Jermaine Lewis actually may help UCLA Saturday because it means true freshman DeShaun Foster, a Freeman McNeil-clone, will get more carries. ...

ESPN analyst Lee Corso's statement that one of the main reasons for Tennessee's success this year was the addition of offensive line coach Mike Barry "because he brought that USC toughness" to Knoxville had many Trojan fans hurling. Barry is the reason the Trojans' offensive line is in such disarray. He also passed on the best tackle in the Pac-10, if not the nation, UCLA's Kris Farris (6-9, 310), because "he wasn't tough enough" to play at USC. USC finished eighth in the Pac-10 in rushing (3.6 yards per carry) last year with Barry in his fifth year as line coach. ...

Ortege Jenkins' game winning, forward somersault touchdown at Washington wasn't too bad for someone who was considered a better basketball than football prospect coming out of Long Beach (Calif.) Jordan High School. ...

Why is UCLA continuing to drag its feet on rescheduling the Miami game? The argument that it's a key recruiting weekend doesn't hold water. That can be easily rescheduled to later in December. Ditto the final exams excuse, which a lot of teams have to overcome during the season.

Once around the WAC

AIR FORCE: The Falcons had an amazing 16 different ball carriers while rolling up 352 yards rushing in their 56-14 win over New Mexico. QB Blane Morgan led the way with 113 yards on 8 carries.

BYU: Cougars (2-3, 0-1 WAC Pacific), 31-21 losers at Fresno State last weekend, have lost six consecutive road games for the first time since 1970.

COLORADO STATE: For the second straight game, an opponent was ejected for a late hit on a Ram. UTEP center Carey Clayton got the heave-ho for throwing a roundhouse punch to the stomach of CSU defensive end Joey Porter during Rams' 20-17 win last Saturday. UNLV's Randy Black had been ejected a week earlier for his hit on QB Ryan Eslinger.

FRESNO STATE: Thanks to their 31-21 upset win on Saturday night, Bulldogs now lead all-time series with BYU, 5-4.

HAWAII: Rainbows, who have lost last 21 WAC road games heading into tonight's game at San Diego State, have not scored a point in their last nine quarters.

UNLV: Disappointing start apparently hasn't hurt recruiting. About 20 prospects, including two of the top players from southern California prep powerhouse Los Alamitos, quarterback Ryan Hanson (6-2, 215) and running back Josiah Doby (5-9, 200), took in Saturday night's 31-20 loss to Nevada-Reno.

NEW MEXICO: Rocky Long's aggressive, blitzing defense, which produced 40 turnovers a year ago at UCLA, has managed just three takeaways in five games so far this season. Lobos are a dismal minus-9 in turnover margin, last in the WAC and 108th nationally.

RICE: Owls, who travel to San Jose State this week, used bye week to work on their passing game problems. Rice is last in the nation in passing efficiency.

SAN DIEGO STATE: Aztecs (1-3), who were forced to move this week's matchup with Hawaii to tonight because of the National League Championship Series, have won eight straight over the Rainbows.

SAN JOSE STATE: Spartans rank 111th out of 112 Division I teams in net punting with a 28.3 average.

SMU: Mustangs are honoring legendary running back Doak Walker with a commemorative "37" on their helmets. Walker died last week at the age of 71.

TCU: Frogs already have intercepted more passes (8) in four games this year than they did in the entire 1997 season (7).

UTEP: Although a crowd of 19,003 was announced for last Saturday's loss to Colorado State, reporters estimated that less than 5,000 fans were actually in their seats in the 51,118-seat Sun Bowl at the time of kickoff.

TULSA: Four games into the season, Golden Hurricane (2-2) are still waiting for their first field goal. Tulsa had two costly misses --- from 29 and 35 yards --- in 24-14 loss to San Diego State last week.

UTAH: Utes got good news this bye week. Quarterback Darnell Arceneaux's broken finger has mended and he will play Oct. 17 vs. Fresno State.

WYOMING: Saturday's game against SMU is the 250th to be played at War Memorial Stadium. Wyoming has overall record of 176-66-7 in the facility which was opened in 1950, including 49-14-1 over the last 10 years.

Once around the nation

ACC: Florida State coach Bobby Bowden called a team meeting Monday to scold his players for sniping at each other on and off the field during tougher-than-expected 24-10 win at Maryland. Seminoles, who face arch rival Miami Saturday, have won just once (1995) in last 14 years at the Orange Bowl.

BIG 12: No. 5 Kansas State (4-0), which hasn't won at Folsom Field since 1973, can tie school-record 13-game winning streak set in 1909-10 with win over No. 14 Colorado (5-0) Saturday.

BIG EAST: It will be interesting to see how many fans show up at Veterans Stadium Saturday when Temple (0-5), coming off a 45-38 loss to mighty William and Mary, hosts No. 16 West Virginia. The last time the teams met in Philly, the crowd was announced at 2,500 ... and it was Temple's Homecoming.

BIG TEN: Ohio State's 28-9 win over Penn State finally nudged John Cooper's record against ranked teams in Columbus over the the .500 mark. Cooper is now an unimpressive 23-22-3 in his 11 years at Ohio State against Top 25 competition, but 20-9-1 in last six years.

BIG WEST: Money isn't everything at the University of Idaho. Vandals wisely dropped a 1999 date and $250,000 payday with Kansas State --- can you say roadkill? --- and instead will play Montana in Missoula.

CONFERENCE USA: Tulane (4-0), by virtue of its 21-7 win over preseason conference favorite Southern Miss, is rated No. 25 in this week's polls, the first time since 1979 the Green Wave has been ranked.

MAC: Marshall (5-0), entertaining hopes of a 11-0 season, travels to arch rival Ohio Saturday in the annual "Battle for the Bell." The winner receives a bell trophy from an Ohio River tow boat, symbolic of the river that separates the two schools, located just 80 miles apart.

PAC-10: It was a big week for USC fans. Besides dramatic 35-24 come-from-behind win over Arizona State, the Trojans also landed an oral commitment from arguably the West Coast's No. 1 defensive prospect, tackle Bernard Riley (6-2, 305) of Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School. Some scouts believe Riley is the best defensive line prospect to come out of southern California since ex-Trojan Darrell Russell.

SEC: Georgia WR/DB Champ Bailey, college football's version of Cal Ripken Jr., was in for a remarkable 95 plays in the Bulldogs' 28-27 upset of LSU.

WAC: Air Force leads the nation in rushing offense (302.8 yards per game and hosts No. 2 Navy (302.3) in a real land battle Saturday.

INDEPENDENTS: Notre Dame will be facing Arizona State for the first time in school history Saturday. However, the Irish are no strangers to Sun Devil Stadium having lost to Colorado in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl, while also defeating West Virginia there in 1988 en route to their last national championship.

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