With new leadership and a new attitude, this year’s Arizona team will be a far cry from last year’s squad, which Oregon flattened 48-10.
Mike Stoops has turned a team that gave up points at will last season into a team that has become more than respectable, though Arizona’s 1-4 overall and 0-2 Pacific-10 Conference record doesn’t show it.
“I think they are a dramatically improved team that has great speed on defense,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “They are five plays away from being undefeated.”
The Wildcats, other than Saturday’s 37-17 loss to UCLA, have been in every contest this season. They were a last-second field goal away from beating No. 10 Wisconsin, and a late fumble cost them the Washington State game.
“We’re certainly two plays away from being 3-2 at this time,” Arizona head coach Mike Stoops said.
Stoops, who was the defensive coordinator under brother Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, has brought a defensive tenacity and discipline to Arizona. The Wildcats are third in the Pac-10 in total defense and average the second-fewest yards in penalties per game.
Bellotti said Stoops has brought his Oklahoma-style defense to Arizona.
“They remind me of Oklahoma because they do recruit speed on defense and they’re allowing that speed to run and play,” Bellotti said.
Stoops doesn’t see the comparison between the two defenses.
“I don’t think it can (be the same defense) unless we can borrow some of (Oklahoma’s) players,” Stoops said.
“We’re not that blessed,” Stoops said. “We have to work harder and create negative plays.”
The Wildcat defense has received a boost from junior strong safety Lamon Means’ play. He leads the team in tackles with 35 and has a sack and a recovered fumble.
“Lamon Means is a great football player,” Bellotti said. “He makes a lot of plays and against Wisconsin he had a monster game.”
Means had a career-high 12 tackles against the Badgers, including eight solo tackles and two for a loss.
The defense as a whole has stepped up as they are allowing 151 yards less per game than last season.
Arizona’s defense will be put to the test Saturday because Oregon’s offense was revived last weekend as it put up a massive 646 yards of total offense on Washington State, the then-No. 2 defense in the conference.

Stoops said Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens’ performance wasn’t surprising.
“He’s a gamer,” Stoops said. “I like the way he plays. He’s hard to bring down. He buys time, and he is a very talented player.”
While the talk about the impressive numbers has run rampant the last week, Clemens knows they have to put it behind them.
“It’s not going to do us any good if we don’t beat Arizona,” Clemens said. “We can’t get too high in the wins or too low in the losses.”
A key for the Oregon offense is keeping a balanced attack. While the talk was about Clemens’ performance, Terrence Whitehead put together a quiet 237 all-purpose yards.
While the Ducks offense has put it into third gear, the Wildcat offense hasn’t gotten out of the driveway yet.
Arizona’s offense sits at the bottom of the Pac-10 in passing, scoring and total offense.
The main problem seems to be its passing game. The Wildcats ran for 263 yards last week, but quarterback Kris Heavner and the rest of the Arizona offense could only mange 93 yards through the air.
Though his statistics aren’t very impressive, Bellotti said that
Heavner isn’t the root of the passing problems.
“He’s been efficient as far as getting the ball to the wide receivers,” Bellotti said, “but he has had some dropped balls. Their (receivers) are open and the passes are on the money, so if, in fact, they begin to catch some of those passes, they will be an entirely different football team.”
The running game for Arizona
has led the offense with Mike Bell as the focal point. He is sixth in the
conference in rushing, averaging 78.8 yards per game.
“He was their guy last year,” Bellotti said. “I think he has become a bigger factor this year.”
But for Oregon to be successful, it must correct its penalty woes. They are currently the most penalized team in the Pac-10.
Bellotti said he has told his team to watch the “stupid” penalties.
“You say ‘don’t do that’ and we have done so rather forcefully,” Bellotti said. “We’re also instituting a personal responsibility for penalty
reduction, which is a site tour of Autzen Stadium after practice for those who continue to transgress.”
According to Bellotti, this game is a dangerous one for Oregon because Arizona is still looking for a Pac-10 win.
“Arizona is very, very hungry, much like we were a week ago, to get their first Pac-10 win,” Bellotti said. “I think this will be a battle. I can honestly say the team who has the least amount of penalties and the least turnovers will win this game.”
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