Third-year coach Stoops looks for right formula
It’s year three of the Mike Stoops era at Arizona, but this was supposed to be, in a sense, year one of the turnaround.
The Wildcats had struggled for two seasons, bogged down by youth and growing pains. This year was supposed to be different, however. Quarterback Willie Tuitama had ditched his redshirt halfway through 2005 and led his team to a 52-14 win over then-No. 7 UCLA. As a sophomore, he was to lead an improved Arizona offense and the defense – Stoops’ specialty – would again be solid.
Arizona was picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll, theoretically meaning that it was considered to be a bowl team this year.
Eh, maybe not just yet, as it turns out.
“We’ve just had a hard time getting over that hump,” said Stoops, whose team comes to Pullman with a 3-5 record. “I knew it was going to be difficult. But I thought we were making a lot of progress when you look at the way we’ve played and the competitiveness of this league. I really felt we’ve closed the gap on everyone we’ve competed against and we have.”
The head coach isn’t wrong. Arizona hasn’t lost ugly on the scoreboard save for an embarrassing 45-3 blowout at LSU in September.
The defense hasn’t been bad, either, allowing more than 21 points in just one of five Pac-10 games so far.
As for the offense? Well, that’s been a different story.
“Our scoring offense average isn’t too great, and that’s what we have to do to win games,” said cornerback Antoine Cason, who played as a true freshman in Stoops’ first season and is now a junior. “We’ve got to score to win.”
Cason may sound harsh, but he’s probably being charitable. Arizona’s offense has been miserable this year – and really in all three years under Stoops. In 30 games since his arrival, the Wildcats are averaging 17.1 points a game, and that number goes down to 16 after eliminating three games against Division I-AA opponents. In 21 Pac-10 games, Arizona has scored 30-plus points just twice.
That tenure includes last season, when offense ruled and defense was nonexistent across the conference. This year, the Wildcats offense is down to 12.1 points a game.
“In this conference you’ve usually got to score at a reasonable rate to keep up with the competition,” Stoops said. “And that’s been our biggest deficiency when you look at the way we’ve played over the last three years.
“Our production offensively has not kept up with the rest of the teams in this conference.”
It hasn’t helped that Tuitama has had a pair of concussions this week and third-string quarterback Kris Heavner had to start the team’s last game, a 17-10 loss to Oregon State. (Tuitama has been cleared to play this week.)
According to Cason, things are not yet perfect in the locker room either. The junior spoke of “cancers” that needed to be weeded out – and that it may not be over yet.
“It’s still a process,” he said. “There’s always a couple things you have to clean up to win. There are always going to be problems and nothing’s going to be perfect. We have to work through it and keep going.”
Even at 3-5, Arizona can still finish with a winning record if it wins out – a goal that Cason said is still the standard in the locker room. But after failing to meet the preseason hype, there aren’t many believers behind those walls, and until the Wildcats find a way to score points, they’ll probably be stuck looking up at most of their Pac-10 competition.
“You see where we’re at defensively, we’re in the top half in every defensive category,” Stoops said. We’re at the bottom, in ninth or 10th in every offensive category. … You look at every other team, they’re usually good on both sides and you’re not going to win many one-sided games.”