By John Moredich
Wildcat player says team 'not used to winning'
Moving forward is the aim for the University of Arizona's football program. It's difficult to put the past in the rearview mirror when the Wildcats keeps making the same mistakes in the present. Arizona did it again - losing to an overlooked opponent when Stanford scored with 25 seconds left for a 24-23 victory Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif. "Yes, we overlooked them," safety Nate Ness admitted on Monday. "We got a little comfortable. "Nobody has gone to a bowl game and (we) are not used to winning. When we started winning a lot of guys were happy we were finally winning. The coaches were happy. Sometimes we got relaxed and teams came up and won."
The Wildcats are actually catching a break with No. 25 California coming to Arizona Stadium on Saturday for a 7:07 p.m. kickoff. Arizona has played better under coach Mike Stoops against ranked foes, knocking off a top 10 team the past three seasons. Nothing is a sure thing, however. Stoops has to make sure all the fundamentals are covered, and create a way to stop the run. Stoops needs to go deeper in the coaches' playbook to make sure players don't dwell on past failures, but at the same time take the winless Washington States as serious as the Californias and USCs. Arizona didn't do that against Stanford or New Mexico earlier this season. They lost to both a year ago, too. Even Stoops admits to second- guessing himself and the plays after a tough loss. "It's human nature," Stoops said. "I think you can do it until you are sick, and can't sleep and can't function. You have to let it go, good or bad."
Stoops says the coaches spend the first half of Sundays looking at the past game, and the rest of the day developing a game plan for what's up next. Players get a day to relax or seek medical treatment if needed.
"You have to move on," Stoops said. "This business has gotten a little difficult. You have to have balance in your life and try to do the best job you can. I try to work as hard as I can to prepare our kids. You just play the games. “It is not life or death, it really isn't, not as much as some people think. It is still a game and you have to enjoy it. It is hard because we are so close." Every time the Wildcats seem to be ready to break through, they take a step back. "How can we lose to a team that we felt we were going to beat?" UA defensive end Brooks Reed said. "I don't have an explanation." The Wildcats' fate has become difficult to predict. They are two wins away from becoming bowl eligible. That's huge since Arizona hasn't played in the postseason since 1998.
Two wins. Six games left. That should be nothing. Wait. Don't jump ahead. We have all seen what has happened before. Arizona players said they felt "invincible" after defeating Idaho and Toledo, but then New Mexico physically beat the Wildcats at the line of scrimmage and forced five turnovers for a 36-28 victory.
Stanford and New Mexico did the job by exploiting UA's defense and running up the gut. New Mexico rushed for 221 yards. Stanford had 286 yards of its season-high 438 total yards on the ground. That's the physical reason the Wildcats lost. There seems to be mental issues. "When we play teams with a losing record . . . We play down to their level all the time," defensive end Ricky Elmore said. "We have to play at a high level all the time. It is a sick feeling."
The ESPN "College Gameday" crew discussed talked Saturday about the Wildcats being the surprise of the Pacific-10 Conference. Analyst Kirk Herbstreit said Arizona was going to show if it was a pretender or a contender against Stanford. The Wildcats hope that question was not answered.
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